ArticleBiology2023
Short-Term Head-Out Whole-Body Cold-Water Immersion Facilitates Positive Affect and Increases Interaction between Large-Scale Brain Networks.
Article in Biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Cold-water exposure and psychological outcomes in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Pooled it
- Is cold exposure a viable lifestyle intervention for mental health? Reviewing evidence and mechanisms.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Neural Efficiency and Sensorimotor Adaptations in Swimming Athletes: A Systematic Review of Neuroimaging and Cognitive-Behavioral Evidence for Performance and Wellbeing.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Alcohol and substance use in extreme environment temperatures exposures, neural mechanisms, coping mechanisms, substance use disorders, and increased hospital visits.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Review
- Does acute stress induced via cold water immersion increase blood THC concentrations in regular cannabis users?Psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Exploring the Use of Sea Swimming as an Intervention With Young People With Mental Health Challenges: A Qualitative Descriptive Study.International journal of mental health nursing · 2025Article
- Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effects of cold-water exposure on mental health.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Short-latency afferent inhibition is reduced with cold-water immersion of a limb and remains reduced after removal from the cold stimulus.Experimental physiology · 2024Article
- Winter Bathing in Denmark: A Qualitative Case Study on Winter Bathing's Impact on Mental Health.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- How do women feel cold water swimming affects their menstrual and perimenopausal symptoms?Post reproductive health · 2024Article
- Cardiovascular and mood responses to an acute bout of cold water immersion.Journal of thermal biology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
An emerging body of evidence indicates that short-term immersion in cold water facilitates positive affect and reduces negative affect. However, the neural mechanisms underlying these effects remain largely unknown. For the first time, we employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify topological clusters of networks coupled with behavioural changes in positive and negative affect after a 5 min cold-water immersion. Perceived changes in positive affect were associated with feeling more active, alert, attentive, proud, and inspired, whilst changes in negative affect reflected reductions in distress and nervousness. The increase in positive affect was supported by a unique component of interacting networks, including the medial prefrontal node of the default mode network, a posterior parietal node of the frontoparietal network, and anterior cingulate and rostral prefrontal parts of the salience network and visual lateral network. This component emerged as a result of a focal effect confined to few connections. Changes in negative affect were associated with a distributed component of interacting networks at a reduced threshold. Affective changes after cold-water immersion occurred independently, supporting the bivalence model of affective processing. Interactions between large-scale networks linked to positive affect indicated the integrative effects of cold-water immersion on brain functioning.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.