I do not know whether the cold water in winter is good in the long term for my skin and tissue but I feel less cold after taking a bath and also more alert because of the shock treatment i.e fall in skin temperature, for a short period, from around 25+ C to what I would estimate as 15 C or even less (assuming water temperature to be about 10 degrees). And after the first impact has been absorbed, the cold water seems to be just sliding off the body, which seems to have got a protective coat.

If in need of higher voltage shocks, I start with hot water and pour cold immediately afterwards- a poor man’s ‘sauna followed by a jump into the freezing lake water’(also called Sauna(temperature vary from 60 C to 133 C) plus Polar Bear Club). I have become less prone to catching a chill when I go out and managed to bring down to zero my winter cold count.

Devverman, India’s new tennis star, talks of 15 minute ice bath needed daily to recover from the training fatigue. Overworked, sore muscles need hardening? If already warm, probably do not need hot water relaxation.

The medical thinking is that cold should be applied first to numb pain and make the swelling subside. The subsequent heat treatment would provide relaxation.

click A NYT article by Bryant Urstadt on art of finnish sauna