Hot vs. Cold Showers: Which Is Actually Better?
Dr. Berg’s Healthy Keto and Intermittent Fasting Podcast
Dr. Eric Berg
4.7 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 9 April 2026
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Which is better for recovery, a cold shower or a hot one? In this video, we’ll compare cold vs. hot shower recovery after a workout to see how they stack up. I’ll also share the best recovery method after a workout that many people don’t know about!
0:00 Introduction: Cold shower vs. hot shower for muscle recovery
0:20 Cold shower benefits
1:02 Hot shower benefits
1:26 Natural muscle recovery tips
2:20 The best recovery method after a workout
5:33 Enhancing muscle recovery
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Today, we’re going to compare cold showers vs. hot showers for muscle recovery. Surprisingly, cold therapy can slow down the benefits of exercise! In cases of overtraining, swelling, or pain, cold therapy can be beneficial.
While cold therapy may not be the best for muscle recovery, there are many cold shower benefits, such as improved cognitive and immune function.
Hot showers provide more muscle relaxation, blood flow, and oxygen. They relax the parasympathetic nervous system and can improve sleep quality by 20%. A hot shower is a better option for a muscle recovery shower.
For both cold water and hot shower benefits, you can do both! This creates vasoconstriction followed by vasodilation, increasing blood flow to your muscles.
Here are some great ways to enhance muscle recovery:
•Sauna followed by cold immersion therapy
•Foam roller 10 minutes after exercise
•Get 8 hours of sleep
•Test DNA for optimal exercise and recovery plan
Intermittent hypoxic training is one of the best things you can do for muscle recovery. This type of training involves restricting oxygen flow by using an air restriction mask or holding your breath.
Intermittent hypoxic training mimics the effects of endurance training! It’s performed by elite athletes worldwide. It mimics a high-altitude environment, strengthens the metabolism, enhances muscle growth, and decreases inflammation. It also increases growth hormone, which has fat-burning, anti-aging, and muscle-building properties.
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Dr. Eric Berg DC Bio:
Dr. Berg, age 60, is a chiropractor who specializes in Healthy Ketosis & Intermittent Fasting. He is the author of the best-selling book The Healthy Keto Plan, and is the Director of Dr. Berg Nutritionals. He no longer practices, but focuses on health education through social media.
Disclaimer:
Dr. Eric Berg received his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1988. His use of “doctor” or “Dr.” in relation to himself solely refers to that degree. Dr. Berg is a licensed chiropractor in Virginia, California, and Louisiana, but he no longer practices chiropractic in any state and does not see patients, so he can focus on educating people as a full-time activity, yet he maintains an active license. This video is for general informational purposes only. It should not be used to self-diagnose, and it is not a substitute for a medical exam, cure, treatment, diagnosis, prescription, or recommendation. It does not create a doctor-patient relationship between Dr. Berg and you. You should not make any change in your health regimen or diet before first consulting a physician and obtaining a medical exam, diagnosis, and recommendation. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | What if there was a recovery method that has been used for over 2,000 years? It's not a pill. |
| 0:05.7 | It's not a gadget. It's currently used by the elite Olympic athletes. Where you actually get to |
| 0:10.9 | tap into the core of your capacity to recover. Before we get into that, let me first answer the |
| 0:16.5 | question between cold and hot showers. What is better for recovery? Most people think it's the cold shower |
| 0:22.4 | because when you apply cold, you're going to reduce inflammation. How many times have been told |
| 0:27.0 | to put ice on an injury? But exercise is not the same as being injured. You're stressing the body |
| 0:32.3 | out and you're breaking certain things down for the purpose of your body adapting and recovering |
| 0:37.2 | and building things back up. |
| 0:38.7 | When you add cold therapy and you decrease inflammation, you are actually slowing down |
| 0:43.7 | the benefits of exercise, believe it or not. We actually want that inflammation to be there. |
| 0:48.2 | Now, there's some exceptions to this. If you overtrain or if you have swelling, well, then you |
| 0:52.9 | need cold. Or if you actually have pain, |
| 0:55.3 | well, cold is going to be better. But cold therapy has other benefits. It can greatly stimulate |
| 0:59.6 | your cognitive function and benefits for your immune system. Now, when we add a hot shower, |
| 1:04.2 | we're getting a different effect. We're getting more muscle relaxation, more blood flow, more |
| 1:09.2 | oxygen. We're relaxing the parasympathetic nervous system. |
| 1:12.2 | It's been known to increase sleep quality by 20% and even extend another 20 to 30 minutes of |
| 1:18.7 | sleep. If we compare both of them heat to cold, it's going to be the heat that's going to give you |
| 1:23.6 | a little more benefits to recover from exercise. Now, if you add them both as a contrast |
| 1:29.6 | therapy, cold and then hot, that would be even better because we're creating a vasoconstriction |
| 1:35.3 | and a vasodilation, so we get more blood flow. And before I get into the mind-blowing recovery technique, |
| 1:41.7 | I first need to tell you a few other recovery things that you can add to |
... |
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