For centuries, cold temperatures have been used by humans for therapeutic health and sporting recovery purposes.

I had a series of videos on the sporting recovery case, starting with this one, and then another on immune function.

What else might cold be used for therapeutically?

Cold plunges do not seem to affect cholesterol or body weight nor blood pressures over the long-term.

Neither systolic or diastolic blood pressures were altered in the long term by cold water exposure.

After our first plunge or blood pressure may go up, but over time our body seems to adapt. During cold exposure,

our brain doesn't work as well, but there isn't much evidence of any residual effect,

besides a transient boost that covered before. Cold showers may help with priapism, which is a

prolonged erection persisting longer than four hours, I didn't realize that could turn

into a surgical emergency, but the prolonged lack of new oxygenated blood can cause some of

the penile tissue to die off. Before it gets to that, you can try ice packs or cold showers.

In this case, the patient was instructed to vigorously climb up and down a set

of hospital stairs for 10 minutes, and within seven he successfully deflated.

What about cold water for Burns? Misinformation regarding first aid for Burns is said to be

ubiquitous online. For example, due to the high frequency of toothpaste being applied

in burns, Colgate had to post something on their website urging people not to use toothpaste

for burn injuries. More serious is the suggestion to immerse a burn in ice water. Ice or ice

water can make matters worse, preventing blood flow and increasing burn depth and pain.

So what should we do for burns?

A full 20 minutes of cool running water has been proven to be the most effective first aid

intervention in improving burn outcomes associated with faster healing and decreased

odds of full thickness burns, hospital admission,

...