How long should you stay in an ice bath?

There is no established ideal duration, but short to medium immersion times clearly work better than long sessions. Many studies combined, covering 44 studies, show that longer immersion gives no extra benefit for muscle soreness. The same applies to lowering a blood marker for muscle damage and to recovering endurance performance: shorter duration and lower water temperature are linked to the greatest gains, though no exact optimal duration has been identified.

For sports recovery, the effect on muscle soreness is impressive: cold-water immersion scores better than passive rest up to 96 hours after exercise. For muscle soreness, an ice bath is the best available method; for recovering muscle strength, a cryosauna (where you stand in chilled air) outperforms an ice bath.

There is one situation where a specific upper limit is well supported: in cases of dangerous overheating after exercise, water of around 10 degrees Celsius works effectively, but staying in for more than 10 minutes is actually less effective than a shorter session. In that emergency situation, the bath cools the body twice as fast as passive rest.

People who regularly take an ice bath after strength training are likely slowing their long-term strength development. After endurance training, an ice bath appears to neither harm nor improve performance. On the broader wellbeing front, studies show a temporary rise in markers of inflammation immediately after the bath, a mildly stress-reducing effect after around 12 hours, and possible improvements in sleep quality, though the evidence for this is thin.