Short-Term Head-Out Whole-Body Cold-Water Immersion Facilitates Positive Affect and Increases Interaction between Large-Scale Brain Networks

An increasing number of people are turning to cold showers or outdoor swimming to keep fit and for health benefits. After cold-water immersion, the swimmers reported elevated positive emotions and a decreased negative emotional state. The present study aimed to examine how mood changes after cold-water immersion are associated with changes in brain connectivity. Thirty-three healthy adults naive to cold-water swimming (age range 20-45, 16 females) undertook a 20 degrees C 5 min whole-body bath. We measured brain connectivity and self-reported emotional state before and after cold-water immersion. Our findings showed that participants felt more active, alert, attentive, proud, and inspired and less distressed and nervous after having a cold-water bath. The changes in positive emotions were associated with the coupling between brain areas involved in attention control, emotion, and self-regulation. A reduction in negative emotions did not show strong associations with changes in brain connectivity. The results indicate that short-term whole-body cold-water immersion may have integrative effects on brain functioning, contributing to the reported improvement in mood. An emerging body of evidence indicates that short-term immersion in cold water facilitates positive affect and reduces negative affect. However, the neural mechanisms underlying these effects remain largely unknown. For the first time, we employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify topological clusters of networks coupled with behavioural changes in positive and negative affect after a 5 min cold-water immersion. Perceived changes in positive affect were associated with feeling more active, alert, attentive, proud, and inspired, whilst changes in negative affect reflected reductions in distress and nervousness. The increase in positive affect was supported by a unique component of interacting networks, including the medial prefrontal node of the default mode network, a posterior parietal node of the frontoparietal network, and anterior cingulate and rostral prefrontal parts of the salience network and visual lateral network. This component emerged as a result of a focal effect confined to few connections. Changes in negative affect were associated with a distributed component of interacting networks at a reduced threshold. Affective changes after cold-water immersion occurred independently, supporting the bivalence model of affective processing. Interactions between large-scale networks linked to positive affect indicated the integrative effects of cold-water immersion on brain functioning.

Automated summary

An increasing number of people are using cold showers or outdoor swimming for fitness and health benefits. Cold-water immersion can lead to elevated positive emotions and reduced negative emotional state, and these mood changes are associated with changes in brain connectivity. Short-term whole-body cold-water immersion may have integrative effects on brain functioning, contributing to improved mood.