How Brief Cold Exposure Can Calm the Body and Mind

Not all stress is bad. Some stress can actually feel exciting, motivating, or inspiring; this is called eustress (Chu et al., 2024). Positive stress like this can give you more energy, help your heart, improve stamina, and make your mind sharper (Chu et al., 2024). It can keep you focused and motivated. On the other hand, distress is the kind of stress that negatively affects your body and mind (Chu et al., 2024). In this blog post, I will be going over a way to help shift your state away from distress, and towards a calmer state of being.

One simple and surprisingly effective way to do this is by using temperature. When stress hits, your body reacts with physiological changes like a racing heart, rapid breathing, or tense muscles. Briefly exposing yourself to cold, or even just a noticeable temperature shift, can interrupt that stress response and help your body relax.

Research supports this approach. For example, a study by Richer et al. (2022) found that applying a brief cold stimulus to the face, called the Cold Face Test, can stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system. This activation helps your body recover more efficiently from stress, slowing heart rate and supporting your body’s natural calming response. Even though the stress response is not completely blocked, the cold stimulus allows your system to return to baseline faster after a stressful event, which may also help reduce the physical intensity of stress.

Some easy ways to use temperature to calm yourself include:

• Splashing cold water on your face, which can help slow your heart rate and ground you in the present moment

• Holding an ice cube or cold pack, allowing the intense sensation to shift your focus away from stressful thoughts

• Stepping outside into cool air or taking a cool shower, as even a few moments in a cooler environment can help your body and mind settle

Temperature-based strategies are quick, easy-to-use, and can be surprisingly powerful. The next time you feel overwhelmed, try a brief temperature change to help reset your system and move toward a calmer, more focused state.

References:

Chu, B., Marwaha, K., Sanvictores, T., et al. (2024). Physiology, stress reaction. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK541120/

Richer, R., Zenkner, J., Küderle, A., Rohleder, N., & Eskofier, B. M. (2022). Vagus activation by Cold Face Test reduces acute psychosocial stress responses. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 19270. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23222-9