The benefit of cold showers
Cold showers, you’re maybe getting the chills just thinking about it. But cold showers are actually a proven to be really good for you. In my opinion it’s just a perfect start of your day.
According to the UCLA Health organization, cold showers can be good for you in the following ways:
- Bolster your immunity to common colds. Going from a hot to a cold shower might protect you from circulating viruses. The shock of cold water can stimulate the blood cells that fight off infection.
- Combat symptoms of depression. There is limited research on this benefit, but research suggests that cold water may boost your mood and decrease anxiety.
- Improve circulation. Cold water causes your body to go in survival mode, working hard to maintain it’s core temperature. This stimulates your body to increase blood flow circulation.
- Increase metabolism. You may get a small calorie burn in a cold shower because the body needs to work to stay warm. That’s already a workout done before you even stepped out the door.
- Reduce inflammation and prevent muscle soreness. Cold water make your blood vessels tighten up (vasoconstriction). Then, blood moves to your body’s core and vital organs. In this process, the blood naturally gets oxygen- and nutrient-rich. As your body heats up again, the blood vessels expand (vasodilation), bringing that packed blood to your tissues. This can help muscle soreness to go away faster.
- Relieve localized pain. Coldness decreases how quickly the pain sensation travels through your nerves. It basically dulls the nerve transmission sent to your brain.
Personally, I like to take my showers in the morning. My approach to cold water showers is to first use warm water. I have the feeling warm water helps the shower gel to work better, but don’t take this as a fact, this can totally be in my head. After that I take 3 deep breaths and on the third breath I turn the shower as cold as it can go. This approach creates the shock effect that we’re looking for. I stay in the cold shower for about a minute, then your body is used to the cold water.
This approach helps me get productive. It’s a great start of your morning, you’re awake and you’ve already done 1 task that you maybe didn’t really want to do. I would recommend anyone to take cold showers in the morning, you can slowly build up the coldness of the water and the time you stay under the cold water. After some time, you can also benefit from the things listed above, and that just in the first awake minutes of your day!