Six short cold dips roughly halved the breathing surge of cold shock for at least seven months
The 2000 European Journal of Applied Physiology study measured the first 30 seconds of a 10°C immersion in 12 men and retested them at intervals over 14 months.
The paper
Permanence of the habituation of the initial responses to cold-water immersion in humans
Tipton MJ, Mekjavic IB, Eglin CM. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2000;83(1):17-21.
See the study at a glance
- Design
- Controlled study of whether practice dips blunt cold shock
- People
- 12 men
- Who they were
- Healthy men: 8 in the habituation group and 4 controls.
- What they did
- Men sat in stirred 10°C water in swim trunks for three minutes with their heads out. The habituation group did six extra three-minute immersions at 15°C over four days, and everyone was retested at 2, 4, 7 and 14 months.
- How long
- 14 months
These numbers came out of it
47 → 24
After the practice dips, breathing in the first 30 seconds at 10°C fell from 47 to 24 breaths a minute.
72 → 31 L/min
Air breathed in during those 30 seconds fell from 72.2 to 31.3 liters a minute.
128 → 109
Heart rate in the first 30 seconds fell from 128 to 109 beats a minute.
7 months
The breathing reductions were still there seven months later.
The researchers did this
Cold shock is the gasp and uncontrollable heavy breathing that hit in the first moments of cold-water immersion. This study asked whether a few practice immersions could damp it down, and for how long.Source 1 · Clinical trialPermanence of the habituation of the initial responses to cold-water immersion in humansTipton MJ, Mekjavic IB, Eglin CM. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2000.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ Twelve healthy men sat in stirred 10°C water with their heads out for three minutes while researchers measured their breathing and heart rate.
Eight of the men then did six more three-minute immersions at 15°C over four days, while the four controls skipped them.Source 1 · Clinical trialPermanence of the habituation of the initial responses to cold-water immersion in humansTipton MJ, Mekjavic IB, Eglin CM. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2000.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ At the next 10°C test, the practiced men's breathing in the first 30 seconds fell from 47 to 24 breaths a minute. The air they took in dropped from 72.2 to 31.3 liters a minute, and their heart rate from 128 to 109. The controls' responses stayed the same.
The researchers retested the men at 2, 4, 7 and 14 months. The calmer breathing was still there at seven months.Source 1 · Clinical trialPermanence of the habituation of the initial responses to cold-water immersion in humansTipton MJ, Mekjavic IB, Eglin CM. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2000.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ By 14 months the breathing response had crept back up, although heart rate stayed lower.
A 2024 pooled analysis of 17 groups found that the cold-shock response eased after about four immersions. Heart rate responses fell by 14 beats a minute and breathing by 8 breaths a minute.Source 2 · Meta-analysisHabituation of the cold shock response: A systematic review and meta-analysisBarwood MJ, Eglin C, Hills SP, et al.. Journal of Thermal Biology, 2024.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗
The study can't tell you these things
- Only 12 men took part, and 4 of them were controls.
- The study included no women.
- Every immersion was short, and the men sat head-out in a lab tank.
- The study measured breathing and heart rate. It did not test whether habituation changes the risk of drowning.
We cited these sources
- 01Tipton MJ, Mekjavic IB, Eglin CM. Permanence of the habituation of the initial responses to cold-water immersion in humans. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2000;83(1):17-21. doi:10.1007/s004210000255 PMID 11072768
- 02Barwood MJ, Eglin C, Hills SP, Johnston N, Massey H, McMorris T, et al.. Habituation of the cold shock response: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Thermal Biology. 2024;119:103775. doi:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2023.103775 PMID 38211547