Cold Shock Proteins – What Are They and What Are The Benefits?
There is no doubting that taking an ice bath or submerging in a freezing lake produces a somewhat uncomfortable feeling, and if you are new to cold plunge there is definitely an element of shock involved.
This cold shock response holds the key to the majority of the touted benefits of cold water immersions. With the environmental stress of the cold water causing a cascade of intense and almost instant physiological response, the body is forced to adapt, known as a hermetic stress.
While the effects of a cold plunge can cause a number of physical presentations like red skin, shivering, blueish lips, hands and feet as well as a limitation of movement and speech, there’s also a plethora of processes happening below the surface that we cant see - one of these things is the release of cold shock proteins.
Cold shock proteins and their benefits have gained increased exposure and have been the topic of discussion for many advocates of cold water immersion and also the subject of an increasing amount of research.
Cold shock proteins are a fascinating mechanism of our incredible bodies and in this article we offer some insight into what cold shock proteins are, what are their benefit and how we can get more of them.
What Are Cold Shock Proteins?
Whether you are sitting in a hot sauna at 90 -100 degrees C or sitting in an ice bath at 5 -10 degrees C, the body is being hit with an extremely stressful situation that it is attempting to combat and preserve life through various mental and physical responses.
As a coping mechanism and adaptive response, the body produces or releases cold shock proteins. These cold shock proteins help us cope with the cold and also adapt to the sudden environmental change – essentially to keep us alive.
Cold shock proteins have been studied and recorded by scientists and have some amazing known and potential benefits. There are a few key cold shock proteins that are quintessential to the cold therapy practice.
Some key cold shock proteins identified and studied in humans are:
CARHSP1
Lin28
YB-1
RBM3
What Are The Benefits of Cold Shock Proteins?
Cold shock proteins from cold water immersion provide some pretty spectacular benefits for exercise recovery, reducing inflammation, wound healing and potential benefits for cancer and preventing tumour growth.
The main benefits of cold shock proteins which make them a highly desirable affect of a habituated cold therapy practice are: maintaining muscle mass, neuroprotective effects, wound healing and mitochondrial biogenesis.
There is evidence that cold shock proteins from taking an ice bath can help to reduce loss of muscle mass during bouts of decreased physical exercise. This can be a game changer during periods of injury or limited movement for athletes, in order to maintain muscle mass.
“CIRP and RBM3 predominately respond to hypothermia in mammalian cells. Specifically, RBM3 increases in response to hypothermia which leads to a decrease in apoptosis which could prevent a decrease in skeletal muscle mass”.
Dr Rhonda Patrick discusses the benefits of cold shock proteins on her podcast and website FoundMyFiitness, where she explains that they “promote cell survival, activates antioxidant enzymes and may offer neuroprotective qualities”. The cold shock protein RBM3, which we have discussed in our other article on the neuroprotective and neuroplasticity benefits of ice baths, have been directly linked to neurogenesis, facilitating the regeneration of damaged neurons. In this way, cold shock proteins may have exciting utility for treatment of neurodegenerative issues like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Traumatic Brain Injury.
The cold shock protein, YB-1 offers benefits in promoting wound healing and may also hold crucial information for cancer disease research. This same study discusses the potential future in cold shock protein research, stating “Beyond their diagnostic potential, we envision that therapeutic interventions targeting cold shock proteins may reduce disease burden”, and that “that cold shock proteins may regulate the formation of protein aggregates in neurodegenerative diseases”.
How To Boost Cold Shock Proteins?
There are a few key ways we can encourage the release of shock proteins: get outdoors, a morning cold shower, daily cold plunge, don’t rug up.
Basically, the idea to expose the body to the effects of cold. The absolute key is a temperature that creates a shock or shivering response. This shivering causes the release of succinate, which in turn activates brown fat, which holds strong benefits for metabolic health and metabolism.
Starting the day with a cold shower, or even finishing on the cold, has been shown to reduce the amount of sick days or time off required for cold and flu. A couple of minutes in a cold shower, provided you live in a climate that gets the cold tap water down to at least 15 degrees is a great way to start off with some cold shock proteins.
Getting outdoors without too many layers is providing that environmental stressor that causes the body to try to produce heat through shivering and non-shivering thermogenesis and also will promote shock protein release.
And the gold standard is a daily cold plunge. Having the ability to get the water temperature down to temperatures close to zero degrees and submerging the body in that water will produce the strongest cold shock protein release of all.
Activate Cold Shock Proteins in a Ritual Plunge Tub
The ‘activation’ of cold shock proteins can be done effectively and reliably from taking a regular ice bath. Many people start with taking a cold shower which has been shown to produce cold shock. The fact is, that the body will adapt to the temperature of cold showers, and to achieve the most benefit out of cold water immersion it is useful to do so with full body immersion up to the neck.
This is where a Ritual Recovery ice bath comes in. With a purpose built ice bath tub, you can effectively submerge the body into the cold, chilled by either ice added to the Easy Plunge or cooled by an automated chiller unit like those in our Stoic Portable, Warrior and Roman models.
Although the concept of deliberately inducing a stress response in the body from extreme temperatures may seem counterintuitive, this type of stress creates what is called a hermetic response.
Hormesis is basically an adaptive response to stress stimulus. It is very interesting in todays society we are constantly bombarded with advice to reduce as much stress as possible. This may be true for unnatural stressors and financial stressors thrust upon us by day to day life, but the cold hard truth is that deliberate exposure to some stressors is actually beneficial to the body and mind.
Using a cold plunge tub to subject the body to this hormetic stress is a useful way to provide a stimulus in a controlled environment that encourage the body to adapt and become stronger, healthier and more resilient.
Conclusion on Cold Shock Proteins
Cold shock proteins are the hottest topic for cold exposure, and for good reason. Cold shock proteins have some known and yet to be confirmed remarkable benefits. To get more of the benefits that cold shock proteins have to offer, we know that the best way to do so is by getting uncomfortable, even for just a few minutes, by taking a cold shower, doing a cold plunge or going out into the elements with layers and layers of clothing.
The easiest way to activate cold and heat shock proteins is by engaging in a regular ice bath. By immersing the body in cold water or even just taking regular cold showers, you will be helping to produce cold shock proteins that have many proven and potential benefits for the body.
