Freezing your testicles – does it work?

People in the biohacking community have tried many shocking if not borderline-questionable things in an effort to improve their health and optimize for longevity; We are not exactly the most conservative of people after all – but messing around with testicles is a whole different ball game!

There are men in this space who expose their testicles to red light, and others who sun their genitals. And now, some are choosing to chill their testicles, literally.

Taking they’re meant to be a symbol of ultimate masculinity, testicles seem to be dainty sensitive body parts, Which makes it all the more strange that the boys seem so often determined to come up with new and inventive ways to torture their gobblers. I mean,  there was that strange trend involving soy sauce, and now, we have – drum roll, please – ICE TESTICLES.

No, we’re not using cool new slang for the Winter Olympics, and we’re not talking about the German term for a scoop of ice cream either. This is very literal: For at least a year now, some biohacking men have been using ice packs and cold showers to chill their testicles, all to achieve higher testosterone levels, better sperm quality, and greater sexual performance.

“Since heat is harmful to sperm quality, and my wife and I were trying to have a baby, I decided to apply ice packs, for a few seconds at a time, on my testicles during the 15 minutes I spent in the sauna,” said biohacker Vlad, a filmmaker who like Cher is not big on last names.

“At first, it was a little awkward, But I got into it quickly as it gives you a good buzz and clears your mind.”

According to urologist Dr. Lye Diwa, it’s true that too much heat is bad for your future babies; that’s actually why they hang where they do, tempting fate into the fresh air outside the body instead of staying inside at body temperature. But that doesn’t mean going all Elsa on it is a smart move either!

“Although there are small studies showing cold temperature can improved sperm quality, there are no large clinical trials that advise freezing as a means of improving sperm count”

Ideally the testicles should be cooler than body temperature, but only about 2.5°C. This might mean that a nice loose pair of briefs is a good idea, but you don’t need to turn your testicles into a trial pair of ice cubes for them to function at optimal capacity.

“Your testicles like temperatures slightly cooler than normal body temperature. But be careful about trying to cool your testicles too much,” notes the doctor.

Avoiding tight underwear and pants, as well as long soaks in a hot tub, can help reduce your risk of a low sperm count caused by overheating.

Also, there are risks of overcooling your tool.

“You probably don’t want to put the ice pack directly on the skin, as this can burn your skin if it’s too cold.”

So, back to our original question – does icing your testicles work?

There are plenty of guys who swear by this cold routine: ice balls, they say, have boosted their moods and energy levels, boosted their libidos, improved their sleep and even reduced the severity of their eczema.

Could this be a placebo effect?

Some doctors say yes.

If you’re cooling your testicles every day while living well, eating healthy, going to the gym, etc., you’re probably going to feel pretty good, but let’s face it: it might not be cooling your testicles that is completely responsible for this.

Still, it’s not the worst thing to happen to balls in recent years. And it’s also not the weirdest way they’ve been used to supposedly increase men’s “vitality”.

Biohackers are by nature their own test cases but freezing your testicles might not do much on its own. It could be beneficial if combined with other longevity and health practices, within safety parameters, or it could just leave you feeling cold.