Cool Showers are Good, But a Healthy Cold Shock is Where the Real Magic Happens
A cool shower is clearly better than a hot shower, but flipping the dial all the way to the cold and getting blasted with an icy shock for the final 2 minutes of your shower is where the benefits come out. It will get your heart pumping and the blood flowing, shaking off any lethargy, and will leave you feeling invigorated and energized with an energy that can last several hours.
Immunity
Cold water therapy can boost immune function, decrease inflammation and pain,
and increase blood
flow. You’ll find athletes today taking ice baths to speed their recovery from injuries and
intense workouts.
10 minutes seems to be the rough amount of time before a cold shower
actually begins to become stressful on your body, so there’s no need to stay in a cold shower
for more than a few minutes.
Fat Loss
Exposure to cold could also increase your overall metabolic rate as your body may need to burn calories in order to produce warmth. It’s also possible that the sudden exposure to cold can raise your blood glucose very quickly, thereby having an appetite suppressing effect.
Stay Warmer
Although it seems counter intuitive, in the winter, cold showers are the best thing to keep you warm for the rest of the day. Cold showers provide a gentle form of stress that leads to thermogenesis (internal generation of body heat).
About a minute after flipping the water dial to full cold and being shocked awake, you’ll find the cold water starts to become more tolerable, and after 2 or 3 minutes you’ll feel your body getting warm by its own efforts. This is thermogenesis and it turns on the body’s adaptive repair systems
to strengthen immunity, enhance pain and stress tolerance, ward off depression, overcome chronic fatigue syndrome and stimulate anti-tumor responses. So endure the cold water until it starts to feel warm and be sure to exit the shower and enter a warm room where you can quickly towel off.
Improves Circulation
Cold showers increase blood circulation which helps flush out toxins everywhere in the body and is especially beneficial for the muscles and surface of the skin. Alternating between hot and cold water while you shower is an easy way to improve your circulation. (This is called a contrast bath and also has many benefits.) Cold water causes your blood to move to your organs to keep them warm. Warm water reverses the effect by causing the blood to move towards the surface of the skin. Cold shower proponents argue that stimulating the circulatory system in this way keeps them healthier and younger looking than their hot water-loving counterparts.
Anti Depressant
Cold showers have also been scientifically proven as an effective treatment for depression. Best of all it does not have side effects or cause dependence. It’s truly a marvelous natural non addictive anti-depressant! Exposure to cold is known to activate the sympathetic nervous system and increase the blood level of betaendorphin and noradrenaline. It also increases synaptic release of noradrenaline in the brain as well.
Testosterone
Increasing testosterone levels with 10 minute cold showers upon waking and before bed will not only boost a man’s libido, but also his overall strength and energy level.
Real benefit is in the habit
A cold shower has plenty of immediate benefits and provides a definite wake-up jolt, but the greatest benefits in long term health are only seen after several weeks of cold showering. Studies confirm that habituation itself is what is most beneficial.
Situations to Avoid Cold Showers
Like anything, there is a proper time and place for cold showers, and also a time to avoid them. If showering immediately after a vigorous workout you may want to start hot and finish cold to avoid muscle cramping.
For most people though, making a daily habit of cold showering has many amazing proven benefits and will undoubtedly boost your entire immune system. It can be so effective that some people even report not having any colds since starting cold showers.
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