About Steven AitchisonBenefits of taking a cold shower
I have been taking cold showers for a while now and now have one every morning. I find it energises me and I feel awake instead of drowsy and I need this as I do research in the morning for the articles I write. I have not got used to jumping into a cold shower. I tend to take a normal shower and do my hair and body etc and then for around 5-10 minutes I adjust the temperature setting until it gets to the coldest setting and I stay under for about 5 minutes.
I remember, when I was younger, going on holiday and I was hung-over from the night before (you know the type of holiday the 18-30 type and every night is just drinking) I always dove into the pool in the morning, which was cold, it cured my hangover after 10 minutes swimming and my headaches would disappear. I did this a few times in the course of the morning.
There may be one drawback, if you are not religious like me you might find god very quickly when the cold water first hits me I tend to shout some expletive or ‘Jesus Christ!’, ‘oh my God!’
I have since found out there are many benefits to having a cold shower or a cold bath, I haven’t really done the latter, which I hadn’t realised until I did some research on the subject.
I found an article on CNN about a centenarian who attributes his long, healthy life to having a cold shower every morning read it here
How it helps the body
In an article from earthclinic the following benefits of cold water were noted
• Brings blood to the capillaries, therefore increasing circulation throughout the body.
• Cleans the circulatory system.
• Reduces blood pressure on internal organs.
• Provides flushing for the organs and provides a new supply of blood.
• Strengthens the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems.
• Contracts the muscles to eliminate toxins and poisonous wastes.
• Strengthens the mucous membranes, which help resist hay fever, allergies, colds, coughs.
Some evidence
A lot of people have reported that it helps panic attacks, although I haven’t seen any scientific backing for this it is purely anecdotal. However panic attacks bring blood rushing from areas of your body to those that need it most to get you ready for the flight or fight syndrome. Normally you would start to calm down after a while however if you suffer from panic attacks your adrenaline is still floating about in the body and your para-sympathetic nervous system does not shut down properly. It may be that a cold shower helps to shut down the system and readies it for heating your body up and getting blood to your vital organs.
Again some more anecdotal evidence, taking a cold shower every day helps to ward off colds. This is probably something to do with it strengthening the mucous membranes which, as mentioned above, helps to reduce fever, allergies and colds.
Try it for 21 days and see if you notice a difference.
If you enjoy this site please leave a donation for Steven, and you can enjoy the spirit of giving too.
Subscribe to CYT and
receive a FREE copy of
Volumes 1 & 2 of
The Best of CYT
I take cold baths every morning because of the benefits and what it does to my breathing–it is good for asthma.
there are a few levels of dificulty for taking cold showers
1. taking a warm shower first and then cold for 5 or so minutes(begginer)
and then the toughest level, waking up in the morning, right out of your comfy bed, turn the tap to COLD all the way , jump in. (hard) Your body is screaming nooo but you over come this and say yessss and do it, and it feels great ! and then you feel great and you feel like youve accomplished somthing , what a way to start your day, besides your skin likes it too, can you say mental toughness excersise? i think so
Wow! I’ve started taking cold showers, and its neat! I’m freezing, yet happy. But its really hard to breathe when the temperature is dialed all the way to ‘cold.’ Does anyone else have the same symptoms?
I have been taking cold showers some ten years now and can vouch personally for their beneficent contributions to my optimum health. I do not take any form of medication, neither have I had a cold, not to mention the flu, since this regimen started. More importantly, as others have already suggested, is the disciplining of the mind to do what it is that I, awareness, dictates that it do. The guernon, the reward, is an invigoration that I find it difficult to achieve in any other fashion. I almost feel guilty, as if I am on to something that the general population should know about. But, then, I come to my senses and know that the general pill popping population could not possibly expose themselves to this type of regimen. I use this technique: (1) left thigh gets it first, then, (2) right thigh gets it next, then, (3) naval section, then (4) chest area. The grand fanale is when I then turn around to expose the back area, shouting Praise be to God! I, then, count up to fifty while the cold water cascade over me, and then I turn around and allow my whole body, once, again to revel in this most enjoyable exercise. The water is as cold as it can be. Albert Jefferso, Atlanta, GA.
Wow, I didn’t know about all the benefits. I just took cold showers because they’re invigorating….they make you feel alive =-)
There’s nothing in the world like a cold shower.
hi everyone, i take cold baths because i believe it makes me tougher. When i come out my body feels like its been working out its great and i reccomend it to everyone/
I started cold shower bathing on July 23, 2007 for my asthma and to sleep better. I was taking asthma medication for a while until I stopped in January 2008. Since then my asthma has vastly improved. I sleep better. My mood and thoughts are stable and I have a better appetite. The cold shower has really improved my body.
I have taken cold baths before. A full body bath would be a messy job on the floor. So I rather stick with cold shower. It is less messy and has the same therapeutic effect. By the way I was taking a cold shower when I stopped taking asthma medication. So I should stick with that.
Hi,
i was shivering with hot bath and after changing to cold bath my shivering hands and body improved.its great feeling.even my nervous system improved….
The cold shower regime has improved my body everyday. I take them at 5am everyday and I get lots of energy all day and am ready for bed by 9pm. The cold shower has improved my health everyday. No flu no cold and no asthma or allergies. Ever.
Every Day i take a cold shower even in the winter time, i have seen many benefits like i hardly ever get a cold and i just love this energetic push true my body afterwards. hardest part though is to turn the tap.
Health benefits or not, there’s no way I’m giving up my steaming hot shower in a morning – it’s the only thing that gets me out of bed. If I thought I’d have to have a cold shower – I’d just stay in bed!
)
Sarborough Hotel:
Here’s what you need to know. There’s no reason you can’t have both! I love the soothing, warming feeling of a hot shower first thing in the morning. What makes the cold shower effective is the contrast! It’s like icing and heating a muscle strain; that’s what pushes the circulation deeper into the capillaries and heals it.
Just take a nice hot, (not too hot) one to three minute (or longer) shower, with your back to the water. You want to heat up the nerves, circulation and muscles around the spine. Then, you’ll start to feel a bit over it, like you’ve had enough. Don’t get out; quickly turn the hot water off, and the cold all the way up, let it run on your back, and the contrast is magical. Don’t judge it as good or bad, it’s just a sensation. You will feel the most amazing tingling in your back and through your body, as your circulation is stimulated from the nape of your neck, down to your tailbone, through your arms to your fingertips and through your glutes and legs all the way to your toes. You will not have cold hands or feet, you will leave the house even in winter so warm you’ll be taking clothes off! And, you’ll feel so wide awake, you’ll never need coffee (the worst way to wake up) ever!
You can also do this by degree: each day make the water colder, or each day stay in it a little longer. And, you can also just turn the hot back on. So you might do 2-3 minutes hot, then 30 seconds cold, then repeat that two to three times. You’ll still get many of the benefits. Just make sure you finish with cold!
The question is, what do you do when the cold water comes on, rather shocking your system? You breathe as rhythmically as possible, trying to control your breathing. Myself, I take breathe in a “pranayama” style (short fast breaths, pulling your navel in hard on each exhalation) for about thirty breaths, then I actually do little hops and twists, and then I turn around to let the water run on my front side, as I twist that way. When you get out and towel off, you will feel like you’ve never felt before. You know how you sometimes feel like the hot shower feels nice, but it would be nicer to go back to bed? You will not have that feeling! You’ll be ready for a nice big, healthy breakfast and to start your day and get things done.
Good luck! –TB
I have been taking cold showers since the age of 12 and I am 43 now. I used to just take cold showers for years and then switched to cold followed by hot. Either way the benefits are wonderful. No flus, colds, great mood improvement and good energy booster. I highly recommend it. I am told I look younger than my age too.
I’ve been taking cold showers for a while now, it’s getting into winter (an Australian ‘winter’ that is) and it’s a little harder to step straight inside the cold but I start off warm then go as cold as possible and stay there for 5 min. I love it, great exercise of self discipline. It’s an great example where you know your mind is in control and your body just tags along because it has to and it can, although it would have you believe otherwise. Where the mind goes the body will follow.
I only take cold showers, no more hot showers. If I take hot showers I feel worse even if I take a cold shower afterward. Also I use full spectrum light bulbs for vitamin D. With this two combination it works even better.
I have been taking COLD showers now for about 4 months. I started out not of my choice. Lost my job and my gas was shut off which heats my water. Its an absolutely envigorating feeling and now just jump on in without hesitation, but dont get me wrong, for some days its a little cooler than others because of the seasons and varying weather temperatures, and speak in tongue as I enter the cold, when this is true. I have not yet made it to the winter months yet but in hearing and reading all of the positive feedback from everyone here on this site, I am hoping to mentally continue to strive to perform this morning ritual when winter does arrive.
.-= b.dunn´s last blog ..Threadless Tshirt Giveaway at jaypeeonline.net =-.
I took my first cold bath three days ago and my first cold shower this morning, I’ve never felt so alive! It’s only just coming into the light for me what the benefits are, and I only wish I had started sooner before this allergy season, allergies are kicking my butt right now!
I’m also planning on going into the Air Force but my cardio stamina is horrible, it might be partly because of my allergies but it was a bit like this before; whenever I run for about 1/4 mile I get horribly out of breath, and if I push myself too much it feels like I’m going to faint, my cardio used to be able to beat my legs in a run, but not anymore. I think I might be getting asthma or some other breathing problem, but it’s so slight that I’m hoping it’ll be counteracted by cold showers, just how my body forces me to breath so fast when that cold water hits me feels like a workout for my lungs, I’m sure that’s what will help!
If you haven’t tried it, then try it! You come out of the shower invigorated and happy and excited to start the day rather than tired and groggy in the mornings, it’s not even a painful experience, you’ll completely forget about it once you get out and wrap your towel around yourself, it’s really great!
i just have read the article and all the comments.
now going to the bathroom. will check it out!
will thank you later, i suppose
I am sixteen years old, and was told about cold showers by a friend of mine from India. I have been taking cold showers for roughly a couple months (give or take). Its January now, and the coldest its been all winter, so yeah… the water has definitely been exceedingly cold.
The main reason I have been taking them is as a mental exercise, which, needless to say, cold showers work very well for (given the weather, such a task can be VERY trying of your will).
I first started out with the water steaming hot until I actually felt hot myself, then switching it to cold for as long as I could endure, before getting out. It felt great, but I have now stitched it to reversed order, starting out cold, then turning it to hot after a period of time and leaving it so until getting out (which incidentally, is much harder because it actually forces you to step into a jet of already-cold water; before one had only to turn a knob).
As I said, it works well for a mental exercise, and gives a great sense of accomplishment after it’s done. However I have to admit I no longer feel the health benefits, or even a noticeable difference in motivation throughout the day. I did at first, or at least I believed I did, but now… it wakes me up when I’m in the shower, but the effects don’t seem to last more than an hour. Also, I’m not sure if its worth mentioning, but I got a slight cold two weeks ago, and food poisoning a few days after (although I’m aware a cold shower shouldn’t really be able to prevent an illness like food poisoning). It all cleared up rather quickly (the cold only lasted 2 days, with the poisoning being over within 12 hours).
I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong, or if just like with drugs the body simply gets used to treatment so it no longer has as great an effect. It could be the change of order of the shower (cold then hot), and that I need to step it up and just leave the shower cold the whole way through; or that I’m not staying in long enough (I stand in the cold for roughly five minutes, and haven’t increased the time much since starting treatment).
I hope that I”m doing something wrong, and that my body hasn’t simply gotten used to it; I want the shower to feel like the miracle treatment its supposed to be.
Tomorrow I’ll have to take a straight cold one and see how I feel.
There’s a new article I read from Tim Ferriss about taking iced/cold showers to help lose weight!! http://augusteo.com/2010/12/20/how-cold-showers-can-make-you-healthier-and-slimmer/
I take a cold shower every morning. All I can say is its great. You feel really good and energetic. great article Btw !!!
since i started taking a cold shower a week and a half ago i feel a winner of some feat come out kicking and fighting chatting to myself mostly gibbesish… but the after effect is GREEEEEAAAAAT. and like everything with pratice you get use to it…. MENTAL CHALLENGE, cures my laziness too
hello, I am a muslim.Our religion suggested us to do ablutions (washing your hand and face before praying) with cold water and after have a shower and before coming out wash your body at least your feet with cold water. I knew it has some benefits surly and now I can realize that clearly.
very very thank you
Never thought about the aspect of having a cold shower. Next time I am having a shower I must turn that dial slowly to the cold mark on the dial and see if I can stand it.Wish me the best!!!