Cold Water and Decision-Making
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Cold-water immersion, Warm-water immersion (Control).
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Behavior, Stress, Quality of Life, Psychological Wellbeing. Basic parameters: 18 years — 40 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Germany
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
Unsure about the terms? Read our patient guide →
Official title
Voluntary Cold-Water Immersion Effects on Value-Based Choice
Overview
The behavioral within-subject cross-over design study "CoVa" aims to investigate the effect of a short-term full-body cold-water immersion vs. warm-water immersion control on value-based choice, psychological well-being, and peripheral physiology.
Detailed description
This randomized within-subject cross-over design behavioral study in cognitive neuroscience will employ an acute peripheral physiological intervention, i.e., a 10-minute full-body cold-water (10-16°C) immersion vs. a control condition (10 min @ 30- 36°C water) on two visits separated by approx. 30 days.
Forty eligible female and male participants will be subject to a head-out full-body cold-water immersion or a warm-water condition (control) on two visits. Participants will perform resting-state and task-based non-invasive electrophysiological recordings of the heart, pulse, respiration, skin conductance, and pupil, will undergo thermographic imaging, pre- and post-immersion blood sampling (4 time points), engage in two computer-based decision-making tasks (reinforcement learning task, risk decision-making task), a brief food choice task, and receive a battery of psychometric questionnaires. The visits are separated by approximately 30 days and do not differ in their timeline except for the primary intervention, i.e., cold vs warm-water immersion, and the medical screening on visit 1.
Interventions
- Behavioral Cold-water immersion
Single 10-minute acute full-body head-out single arm-out cold-water immersion at 10-16°C on the experimental day - Behavioral Warm-water immersion (Control)
Single 10-minute acute full-body head-out single arm-out cold-water immersion at 30-36°C on the experimental day
Primary outcome measures
- Risk propensity [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
- Behavioral range adaptation [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
- Food choice [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
- Heart-rate variability [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
- Heart rate [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
- Respiration rate [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
- Relative amplitude of the respiratory signal [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
- Event-related skin conductance responses [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
- Tonic skin conductance [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
- Pupil dilation [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
Secondary outcome measures (8)
- Trait autonomy questionnaire [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
- Emotion regulation questionnaire [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
- Causality orientation questionnaire [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
- Delay discounting questionnaire [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
- Interoceptive awareness questionnaire [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
- Generalized self-efficacy questionnaire [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
- Trait and state anxiety questionnaire [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
- Well-being questionnaire [Time frame: On day 1 and after 30 days]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- 18-40 years of age
- Consent to participate
- Fluency in German
- Physically and mentally healthy
- BMI 18-30 kg/m2
- Normal day-night rhythm
Exclusion criteria
- Raynaud syndrome
- Cold urticaria
- High resting heart rate (>160 beats per minute)
- Acute infection
- Diagnosed current or former illnesses of
- Brain and mind
- Heart and blood circulation
- Gastrointestinal system
- Endocrine system
- Other serious past or present medical conditions
- Wearing of medical devices (e.g., pacemaker)
- Fear of blood, needles, or phlebotomy
- Allergies to plasters, gels, and other medical equipment
- Allergies to commercially available liquid meals (e.g., shakes, yfood Labs GmbH)
- Recurrent intake of medication which affect metabolism
- Regular nicotine consumption (e.g., vaping, cigarettes)
- Excessive alcohol consumption (>14 servings/week)
- Recent illegal drug consumption (within 2 weeks prior)
- Strong mental or physical stress
- Excessive exercise (>2 h high-intensity exercise/day)
- Pregnancy or breastfeeding
- Inability to wear skin-exposing swimwear, e.g., for religious reasons
- Affinity for winter swimming, cryotherapy, breathwork (>3 times/year)
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Crossover
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
Study locations
Germany · 1 center
- German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke — Nuthetal
Identifiers
NCT: NCT06908447 · CoVa · 01GP2210C