Benefits of Cold Showers - How to Embrace the cold for Health and Happiness

Taking a cold shower can seem like a whole lot of NO.  Like how can a cold shower be good for you? Surprisingly though, being exposed to minor stress like the cold can actually have many benefits both on the mind and body. 

Many cultures around the world have used forms of cold therapy to heal.  This can come in the form of cryotherapy(entering a room -100C for up to 3 minutes) or even through the practice of winter swimming(swimming in bodies of water where the winter conditions make the water freeze).  Beginning in the 1970s cryotherapy was first used as a fixed for rheumatoid arthritis and had now evolved to everyday people using the cold as a way to improve immune function, increase energy levels, and have overall better performance.

Cold Shower Benefits

Energy Increase: Jumping into a cold shower gives your body a boost of energy.  For this reason, a cold shower in the morning can be a great way to wake up.  Some people even liken cold showers to having a cup of coffee! 

Increased well being: Although only a slight increase, this study showed that in all intervention groups(each group participated in cold showers, just in differing amounts of time), there was an increase of the reported quality of life.  Cold showers can have an even greater effect on reducing depression and anxiety as well.  

Improved Immune Function: Cold showers in combination with regular physical activity have been found to result in a 54% reduction of sick days taken.  

Pain Relieving: Cryotherapy was initially used for arthritis and later found to be beneficial for sports induced cell and tissues damage(DOMS, injury, etc.) in high-performance athletes.  This could mean that most people could also see improvement with pain or injuries after exposing themselves to the cold.

Reduced Stress: It was found that being exposed to the cold did not increase cortisol(stress hormone, responsible for fight or flight response) levels.  With regular and consistent exposure to the cold, cortisol can actually be decreased. Plus the benefit of cold showers is that you can’t think about anything other than the cold.  

Increased Willpower: If you can expose yourself to the cold regularly because you have to endure some level of discomfort, you can condition yourself to be able to do other challenging things easier. 

Weight Loss: Cold showers can help with weight loss in a few ways.  When practiced long term, cold therapy can actually boost your metabolism and in turn help with weight loss.  As well the increased will power can help you resist the urge to go for an unhealthy snack.    

Hair and Skin Health: Cold water tightens and closes your pores, which can prevent them from getting clogged.  Hot water, on the other hand, opens your pores and can actually cause your skin to dry out.  By closing your pores, you stop dirt and bacteria from entering your skin. On your scalp, cold water can help you to lose less hair in the shower than if you were to wash your head in warm or hot water.  

Better Circulation: The cold shock that your body receives when you expose yourself to the cold, actually improves circulation as your body is forced to keep your vital organs warm.  When your heart has to pump more efficiently like this it helps blood flow to all of your body.

Downsides

Trouble Sleeping: The only cases where insomnia was reported after taking cold showers, was in individuals taking cold showers in the evening.  A cold shower before bed could wake you up. This just further proves that cold showers can act as a stimulant to get you up and ready to go.  It could also help to cool you down and relax before bed.  

Lingering Cold: In some cases, after getting out of a cold shower, the cold feeling may not go away right away.  This should not discourage you from trying a cold shower because you can always warm up afterward by putting on clothes or snuggling up in a blanket.  

Discomfort: Although cold exposure was only found to cause discomfort during the experience,  this discomfort isn’t a bad thing. When you can deal with a more mild level of discomfort, you, in a sense, prepare yourself better for high-stress situations.  

Tips for Tolerating the Cold

It might seem a little intimidating to even think about hoping a completely cold water shower, here are some cold shower tips to get you ready to cool down:

Hype yourself up. Get excited about getting cold.  Make having a cold shower fun and exciting.  

Find a distraction. Don’t think about the temperature at all, listen to a podcast or your favorite song, something to make you not focus on the cold.  

Go slow. You don’t have to jump right to full on cold showers.  Start small, maybe only a few seconds of cold.

Turn it into a meditation.  Focus on your breath and the cold becomes less noticeable.

How to Take a Cold Shower

If your normal idea of a shower is hot and steamy, the idea of blasting yourself with cold water can seem really intimidating.  You can start easy, by only slowly decreasing the temperature of your shower until you get a feel for cooler water. You can keep decreasing the temperature until it is nearly cold, either by the course of a few showers or only one.  This way you work up, slowly, to being able to tolerate the cold.

You could also have your normal temperature shower and, at the end of your shower, turn the tap to only cold water.  This way is a pretty simple way to have a cold shower because it doesn’t have to take away from your normal shower temperature.  Stay in it for as long as you can. Work up time-wise from 15-30 seconds to upwards of 3-5 minutes.  

Winter Weather

You don't even need to jump into a cold shower to see the benefits of cold therapy. For those living in regions of the world that get cold, just going outside can be an effective form of exposure to the cold.  

Acting in a similar way to cryotherapy, just going outside in winter weather exposes you to the cold in a beneficial way.  Depending on how cold outside it is, you will need to wear some level of clothing. You don’t want to wear a big jacket or snow pants, instead opt for shoes, gloves, shorts, and a light or sleeveless shirt.  And just go outside for a minute or as long as you can comfortably tolerate.  

Ice Bath

There are two ways of doing this, the first an actual ice bath. Fill your tub about halfway with cold or cool water, dump a hefty amount of ice in, and jump in.  

If you are just looking for the skin benefits, you can also do this in a bucket or bowl, and just dunk your face in for as long as you can.  You can then go for another attempt and dunk yourself again, continuing for three or four times, or until you can’t anymore. (Not too many times and you don’t want to freeze!)

You could also submerge yourself in a natural body of water for some cold therapy(and grounding too!). This one is pretty straight forward, find a body of water(lake, ocean, etc.) and just go for a dip.  

Always make sure to check in with yourself and your body while doing any form of cold therapy as you don’t want to overdo it.  If you feel like you are unbearably cold, stop, get out and warm up.  

Cold therapy can be an interesting(and mostly free) way to improve your health and well being. There are no limitations to how you can incorporate it into your day.  When you can tolerate a cold shower and really get used to it, you feel like you can conquer almost anything. The cold can act in different ways for many people, so experiment with it.  

Try getting cold in different ways and try it for different lengths of time.  Learn to love the cold(even if it’s only sometimes).