The History of Cold Water Therapy: From Ancient Greece to Wim Hof

People have been using cold water for health purposes for thousands of years, across multiple cultures. The modern cold plunge trend is not a discovery — it is a revival. Understanding the history puts today's practice in context and separates what is actually new from what people have known for centuries.

The earliest recorded use of cold water for medical purposes comes from ancient Greece. Hippocrates, often called the father of medicine, wrote about the effects of cold water on the body around 400 BCE. He recommended cold bathing for specific conditions including lethargy, fatigue, and certain types of pain.

The Romans took the practice further. Roman bathhouses included both hot and cold rooms — the caldarium (hot) and frigidarium (cold). Bathers would move between them, which is essentially the same contrast therapy that people practice today. The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder wrote about the medicinal uses of cold baths.

The key difference is that for the Greeks and Romans, cold bathing was part of a broader health system that included diet, exercise, and massage. Cold was not a standalone miracle — it was one tool among many.

The modern scientific study of cold water therapy began in the 19th century. A German priest named Sebastian Kneipp developed a system of hydrotherapy that included cold water applications. Kneipp's methods became widely known across Europe and influenced the development of European spa culture.

At around the same time, Dr. James Currie — a British physician — conducted some of the first systematic studies of cold water's effects on the body. He measured pulse rate, body temperature, and respiratory changes during cold immersion. His 1797 book "Medical Reports on the Effects of Water, Cold and Warm" laid groundwork that would not be fully built on until the 20th century.

By the late 1800s, many European hospitals had hydrotherapy departments. Cold water was used for everything from fever reduction to mental health treatment (cold "hydrotherapy" for what was then called neurasthenia).

The 20th century saw two important developments. First, controlled scientific studies began to replace anecdotal reports. Researchers started measuring what actually happens to the body during cold immersion — the cold shock response, the cardiovascular effects, the metabolic changes.

Second, cold water therapy became specialized. It was used in sports medicine for recovery, in surgery for reducing inflammation, and in emergency medicine for hypothermia management. The general wellness applications that dominate today's conversation were largely set aside in favor of clinical uses.

Wim Hof emerged in the late 20th and early 21st century as the figure who brought cold exposure back into the mainstream wellness conversation. His method — combining cold exposure with specific breathing techniques — drew attention from researchers and the general public alike. Hof's claim to be able to consciously influence his autonomic nervous system was tested and partially confirmed in a 2014 study published in PNAS.

The last decade has seen a surge in cold water immersion research. The PLOS One 2025 meta-analysis — 11 studies, 3,177 participants — represents the largest systematic review of the topic to date. Dr. Susanna Søberg's research on winter swimmers has provided some of the clearest data on cold adaptation.^{[1], [2]}

What the current research shows is that many of the historical claims have partial support — cold water does affect stress, metabolism, and circulation — but the effects are more modest and more conditional than the historical claims suggested.

• Cold water therapy is not a fad. It has been practiced across cultures and eras for millennia. The current trend is a resurgence, not a invention.
• The claims have been remarkably consistent. The same benefits — better health, stress relief, recovery — appear in Greek, Roman, European, and modern sources.
• Modern research is validating some claims and complicating others. The evidence is strongest for stress reduction and weakest for the more dramatic health claims.
• Cold therapy has always been part of a broader health practice, never a standalone cure. The people who got the most benefit historically combined it with exercise, diet, and other health practices.