Effect of daily cold water immersion on heart rate variability and subjective ratings of well-being in highly trained swimmers
Al Haddad H, Parouty J, Buchheit M
International journal of sports physiology and performance · 39 citations
Review labels
Neutral facts our review recorded about how this study was done. They describe method, never whether we like the result.
How it was studied
- Design
- Randomized controlled trial (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
Publication
- Published
- 2012-03-01 · Int J Sports Physiol Perform · vol. 7 · issue 1 · pp. 33–38
- Publisher
- Human Kinetics
- Cited
- 51 citations · more than 90% of similar papers · 2.4× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 34 works
- Access
- Paywalled
- Research areas
- Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control · Cardiovascular and exercise physiology · Sports Performance and Training
- Keywords
- Supine position, Morning, Medicine, Heart rate variability, Heart rate, Animal science, Physical therapy, Anesthesia, Internal medicine, Blood pressure, Biology
- MeSH
- parasympathetic nervous system, humans, hydrotherapy, cross-over studies, immersion, sleep, heart rate, swimming, physical fitness, cold temperature
3 authors
From FR
- Hani Al HaddadUniversité de Picardie Jules Verne
- Jonathan Parouty
- Martin Buchheit
Abstract
Purpose
We investigated the effect of daily cold water immersion (CWI), during a typical training week, on parasympathetic activity and subjective ratings of well-being.
Methods
Over two different weeks, eight highly trained swimmers (4 men; 19.6 ± 3.2 y) performed their usual training load (5 d/wk, approx. 21 h/wk). Last training session of each training day was immediately followed by 5 min of seated recovery, in randomized order, with CWI (15°C) or without (CON). Each morning before the first training session (6:30 AM) during the two experimental weeks, subjective ratings of well-being (eg, quality of sleep) were assessed and the R-R intervals were recorded for 5 min in supine position. A vagal-related index (ie, natural logarithm of the square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between adjacent normal R-R intervals; Ln rMSSD) was calculated from the last 3-min segment.
Results
Compared with CON, CWI effect on Ln rMSSD was rated as possibly beneficial on day 2 [7.0% (-3; 19)], likely beneficial on day 3 [20.0% (1.5; 43.5)], very likely beneficial on day 4 [30.4% (12.2; 51.6)] and likely beneficial on day 5 [24.1% (-0.4; 54.8)]. Cold water immersion was associated with a likely greater quality of sleep on day 2 [30.0% (2.7; 64.6)], very likely on day 3 [31.0% (5.0; 63.1)] and likely on day 4 [38.6% (11.4; 72.4)] when compared with CON.
Conclusion
Five minutes of CWI following training can reduce the usual exercise-induced decrease in parasympathetic activity and is associated with improved rating of perceived sleep quality.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher.
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