Can cold exposure help with depression?

Because norepinephrine levels play a significant role in depression,^[1] cold exposure has been investigated for some time as an additional treatment alongside standard therapies.^[2] The results to date have been encouraging. After adults diagnosed with depression were exposed to 10 cryotherapy sessions in a randomized controlled trial, significant improvements were noted in depression symptoms, disease acceptance, quality of life, and self-assessed mood.^[3] These results are consistent with reports of similar results from additional trials.^[4][2][5] Although promising, the studies on cold exposure and depression to date have been less rigorous and tend to involve small numbers of participants and short follow-up periods. More research is needed to determine the long-term efficacy and optimal cold exposure protocols for different populations.^[5]