Why Are Ice Baths Trending in Bangkok?

Updated on: 5 FEB 2026

Heat and Humidity - It turns out that Bangkok is actually the perfect place to take an ice bath. Because it is hot and humid most of the time, ice baths are the perfect antidote.

The Benefits - We’ll talk more about the benefits later, but ice baths are one of the ultimate ways to de‑stress, which is especially important when you live in a busy, hectic city like Bangkok.

As the original ice bath and sauna community in Bangkok, we’ve already helped thousands of people discover ice baths through affordable and accessible guided sessions. It’s exciting to see more and more people wanting to give ice baths a try.

Ice Baths vs Cold Showers (Bangkok Edition)

Let’s face it: a cold shower in Bangkok isn’t really a cold shower. It’s unfortunately just not cold enough to have much benefit. If you want to get the full benefits of cold exposure in Thailand, you’ve really only got one option: ice baths.

What about cold plunges?

Cold plunges, typically around 14–17°C, do offer more benefits than Thailand‑esque cold showers, and if your goal is mainly recovery, they are probably sufficient. However, you still miss out on a wealth of benefits that you only get from true ice baths.

Benefits of Ice Baths

Boosts Energy, Motivation, and Mood

Plunging into cold water triggers a burst of adrenaline and norepinephrine. These brain chemicals make you feel instantly more alert and invigorated. After spending about five minutes in the ice, you can boost your dopamine levels by up to 250%. This increase in the “feel‑good” neurotransmitter can uplift mood, making you feel more positive and motivated.

Strengthened Willpower

Resisting the urge to immediately jump out of icy cold water strengthens mental resilience. Over time, this helps build grit and determination, allowing you to handle discomfort better.

Enhanced Stress Control

Ice baths are stressful. When you enter an ice bath, you activate your sympathetic nervous system — the fight‑or‑flight response. By deliberately putting yourself in a stressful situation and then calming yourself down with deep breathing, you learn how to manage your body’s stress response more effectively.

Metabolic Boost

You burn extra calories as your body struggles to warm itself back up after an ice bath. Repeated cold exposure can also activate more brown fat, which further boosts metabolism.

Increasing Brown Adipose Tissue

An interesting and exciting benefit of maintaining regular ice bath sessions is increasing brown adipose tissue (BAT), more commonly referred to as brown fat.

Brown adipose tissue has a much higher density of mitochondria. When activated by cold exposure, it acts as your body’s built‑in central heating system, burning more energy as your body tries to warm itself.

One study showed that people who accumulated at least 11 minutes of cold exposure per week — from a minimum of two separate exposures — were able to increase their brown fat after one month. This, in turn, increased their metabolic rate by as much as 14%. In other words, similar to muscle mass, the more brown fat you have, the more calories you burn.

Muscle Recovery

Perhaps the most well‑known benefit of ice baths: runners, martial artists, and other athletes have used cold therapy for recovery for decades. Ice baths help speed up recovery by reducing inflammation in the muscles.

The cold constricts blood vessels, flushing blood from muscle tissue.

Who Should Avoid Ice Baths?

While ice baths are beneficial for most people, certain individuals should avoid ice bathing.

Anyone with heart, circulatory, neurological, or respiratory conditions — or who is pregnant — should not participate without consulting a doctor first.

Also, if your goal is muscle gain, it can be helpful to avoid ice baths within three to four hours post‑workout, as this may reduce inflammation that is beneficial for muscle growth.

Menstruating Women

There are many rumours that women who are menstruating should avoid ice baths. The reality — as is often the case — is that you should listen to your body.

Those who experience heavy bleeding may be more prone to light‑headedness or dizziness and should exercise greater caution. For some women, ice baths can ease symptoms such as period cramps, while for others they may make symptoms worse.

Are Ice Baths Dangerous?

For most people, assuming there are no underlying health issues, ice baths are generally safe as long as temperature and duration are carefully controlled. Ice bathing is not a competition. The more you push yourself without listening to your body or without proper guidance, the greater the risk of something going wrong.

At Ice House, we offer guided beginner sessions to ensure people can enjoy ice baths in a safe and responsible manner.

What Are the Risks of Ice Baths?

While the vast majority of people who take ice baths will not experience problems, it’s important to remember that ice bathing does carry risks.

Cold shock puts strain on the cardiovascular system, so anyone with heart problems should seek medical advice first.

For generally healthy individuals, the two biggest risks of cold exposure are hypothermia and frostbite. These risks depend primarily on two variables that are fully within our control: temperature and time.

Ice Baths and Hypothermia

Severe hypothermia is a medical emergency that occurs when the body’s core temperature falls below a critical threshold and the body can no longer function normally. This is a life‑threatening condition.

Hypothermia occurs when someone is exposed to cold for too long. Everyone’s tolerance is different, so it’s difficult to define a duration that is 100% safe. That’s why it’s important to understand the symptoms of hypothermia and to practice ice bathing in a controlled, responsible environment.

Symptoms of moderate hypothermia include intense or uncontrollable shivering, pale or bluish skin, clumsy movement, slurred speech, and drowsiness. If you experience any of these symptoms, immediately exit the ice bath, dry yourself as quickly as possible, wrap yourself in a blanket, notify a friend or staff member, sip a warm drink, and wait for symptoms to subside.

At Ice House, we recommend five minutes immersed in an ice bath for most people, with a hard limit of ten minutes.

Ice Baths and Frostbite

Frostbite occurs when body tissue literally freezes. This requires exposure to water below 0°C for a prolonged period. At Ice House, none of our ice baths are at or below 0°C.

Ice Baths for Beginners

Doing your first ice bath can feel intimidating — especially in Bangkok’s tropical heat. Most of us have experienced an accidental blast of cold water in the shower or jumped into a cold swimming pool and found it unpleasant. Cold is something we usually try to avoid.

An ice bath is different.

Rather than being caught off guard, you enter the cold deliberately and with control. The cold is intentional — something to be embraced, not avoided. Through repeated ice baths, we learn how to control our stress response.

How Cold Is an Ice Bath?

As a general rule of thumb, an ice bath should be “uncomfortably cold but safe,” as described by Andrew Huberman. This is highly subjective, as some people are more cold‑adapted than others. However, anything warmer than 12°C is generally not considered an ice bath.

At Ice House, our ice baths range between 2°C and 6°C.

What to Expect from Your First Ice Bath

Cold Shock

When you first enter an ice bath, your body senses the sudden temperature change and you experience cold shock. Heart rate increases, breathing becomes faster and shallower, and you feel a strong urge to jump out. With deep breathing, you can manage this response and calm yourself quickly. One of the key benefits of ice baths is learning how to regulate stress.

Science explanation: Your sympathetic nervous system is activated, releasing adrenaline and norepinephrine, which increase heart rate and breathing. This is your body’s way of preparing to escape potential hypothermia.

Hands and Feet

As the initial cold shock subsides, you may feel discomfort in your hands and feet. If your hands feel too uncomfortable, you can lift them out of the water — like you’re impersonating a lobster. If your feet are uncomfortable, you can rest them on the edge of the bath.

If you keep your hands and feet submerged, keep two things in mind:

The discomfort will not get worse and will gradually improve.
Focus on deep breathing — it really helps.

You may also notice burning sensations or a pins‑and‑needles feeling in other parts of the body. These sensations are normal and do not indicate that something is wrong.

Around Two Minutes Onwards

After the initial cold shock, the body begins releasing dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, reward, and motivation. You may start to feel calmer or even slightly euphoric. Once you reach this stage, the experience usually becomes easier and more enjoyable. Eventually, you will begin to shiver — a sign that it’s time to get out.

Ice Bath Tips for Beginners

Getting Into the Ice Bath

We recommend entering the ice bath quickly and carefully. Many people instinctively go in slowly — dipping a toe first and gradually lowering the body. You can do this, but it’s similar to removing a bandage very slowly: it maximises discomfort.

Breathing

Deep breathing is your most powerful tool during an ice bath. Rapid or shallow breathing can amplify anxiety during the initial cold shock. Deep, controlled breathing helps calm the nervous system and makes it much easier to resist the urge to jump out.

Box Breathing

One popular breathing technique is box breathing, famously used by US Navy SEALs to stay calm under pressure.

The technique:

Breathe in for four seconds.
Hold for four seconds.
Exhale for four seconds.
Hold for four seconds.
Repeat.

The Mammalian Dive Reflex

Let me introduce your new secret weapon that will make you sound like a marine biologist when you mention it to others. The Mammalian Dive Reflex is a physiological response shared by aquatic mammals and humans that evolved to help conserve oxygen when diving underwater. The heart rate slows down and blood vessels constrict to preserve oxygen for vital organs — both of which are very useful responses for the ice bath.

You can activate this Mammalian Dive Reflex by wetting your face with cold water before you get into the ice bath.

Just five years ago, you basically couldn’t do an ice bath in Bangkok. That’s actually the reason Ice House was founded: to make ice baths more accessible and to educate people about the benefits.

Today, we see new ice bath and sauna places opening in Bangkok every few months. Why are ice baths becoming so popular now?