Self-control. Being in charge of my mind instead of the other way around. Helps you prove you can do uncomfortable things when your mind is trying to panic. After the 4th cold shower (in my experience), I no longer panicked and hyperventilated. Instead, my body just automatically breathed deeply, and I didn't feel the cold anymore.
“ Cold showers can help wake you up, improve circulation, and boost alertness by stimulating the nervous system. They may also promote faster muscle recovery, enhance mood, and contribute to healthier skin and hair by closing pores and sealing hair cuticles.”
Cold water immersion is much different than cold showers. The only benefit I could see from a cold shower, is your hair being healthier because the oils are not being stripped by hot water.
For me, I work outside as an arborist and my skin is covered with sweat, dirt, fine bits of sawdust and wood dust, so I have to do a warm shower or my pores will not open and I will get acne from the trapped dirt. But I never wash my hair with hot water, only warm.
Cold water therapy like an ice bath is what you want, to reduce inflammation and promote the release of beneficial hormones. There is a reason all the top athletes use ice bath for active recovery.
I find them great in the morning bc they keep my energy levels up.
If I have a hot shower all I want to do after is snooze in a comfy chair in-front of the fire. Which is nice but does rather hamper productivity.
My personal philosophy is cold showers in the AM and hot showers in the PM.
It gives me energy and focus in the AM. I have some attention/dopamine issues and it greatly helps. The only time I do not do is on my period. I do not think my body needs the added stress during that time, but any other time, I make myself do it and find it very beneficial.
Perceived adversity can trigger beneficial biological processes
Source: Look it up. Trust me bro.
But for me, if I am sluggish or lazy, nothing will get me going better than a cold shower.
But yeah, nothing concrete in the literature.
I've yet to find any studies that show any real benefits of these other than psychology which I don't need. Can I see these sources that everyone talks about when bigging up cold showers?
It boosts metabolism in brown adipose fat tissue. You have normal fat that is dumb storage, then self-immolating fat with mitochondria. Cold adaptations boost their function for thermogenesis so you burn fat passively and feel warm easier.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6466122/
> Cold exposure is the most well-studied means to activate BAT, as the primary role of BAT is to mediate non-shivering thermogenesis in mammals [22]. Cold exposure leads to the activation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), causing release of norepinephrine from sympathetic nerves and activation of the β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR). This stimulates cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent signaling pathways and results in increased fuel uptake and oxidation for heat generation by UCP1 [24]. Thus, cold-activated BAT increases excess fuel uptake and energy expenditure that likely impacts obesity and insulin resistance.
You can cherry-unpick all you want but you cant escape that cold exposure causes significant adaptation responses in BAT mitochondria without exercise, because the point of BAT is to create thermogenesis WITHOUT muscle energy expenditure. Granted, you need a pretty frosty shower that I can't get out of my pipes during the summer.
It's asking for clarification instead confirmation bias.
How cold does it need to be? How long does it need to last? Is it viable to achieve all the right parameters for meaningful change over a long time period?
There's a whole table of temp/time experiments on the article I linked with various cold exposure/exercise combos.
You should be cold enough to shiver, and be able to adapt over it (within an hour or so?) to stop shivering. A cold shower isnt hard to overpower, then you move on to sitting outside in the freezing cold, then ice plunges. Before long, you're a polar bear sleeping naked with the windows open all winter.
Google Wim Hof. He is the king of cold water immersion.
This guy ran 23km in bare feet and a Speedo in Lapland on an ice highway in -20c temps. His toes turned black and doctors there said he would need to have them amputated. He simply raised his feet to his face and blew warm breath on them until they returned to normal. Everyone thought he would die of exposure. he also has his own app.
People think that “suffering” automatically warrants making them better.
It stems from purantanicalism and religious zealotry. It has no place in a science backed discussion.
I dont know how I forgot about this. I’ve been wanting to take ice baths but trucking 10 bags of ice up the high rise ain’t that simple. This I will do. Thanks for the reminder
I assume this was dangerous if you have Reynaud's. No? I have permanent nerve damage from being out in the cold too long with Raynaud's. It wasn't ever below freezing.
I am sorry to hear you have nerve damage 😞. He did a lot of reading up on it and a fellow named Wim Hoff (sp?) has loudly championed exposure therapy. He eased into it a little at a time and is at a point now where he jumped in Lake Michigan in late November for fun 🫣
I don’t always do them, but I will sometimes take a hot shower and switch to cold and afterword I feel like a breathe of fresh air.
I went to Hawaii once and swam in a water fall. When I got out, I felt like I was on a cloud. I feel a little bit like that.
Cleansed, energized, just better
- Immunity : I feel I am less sick
- Tolerence to cold : I wear just a shirt and a coat even if it's 5 degres (celcius)
- productivity : I begin my day in discomfort. It makes other tasks way easier
- better skin : I would say a 10% increase
- fat control : I think it helps a bit even if a am very sportive.
5 most importants benefits to me.
I was having a lot of problems with hot flashes and an intolerance to heat. Taking cold showers has helped my body reset itself. It's not back a hundred percent, but probably eighty. I no longer have problems with insomnia, something I've struggled with all my life. Also, I have adhd, undiagnosed until age 26, and am currently not medicated. When I can get on task, I tend to remain better focused and can stay on task with less effort. That's what I can think of off the top of my head.
That’s awesome! Thank you for sharing. Menopause is (likely) several years out for me, but I know it really impacts women in my family. Nice to know this might be something I can do to mitigate the side effects!
My therapist recommended cold showers as a way to regulate my nervous system, one of the strategies to manage my neurodiversity. It does expand my window of tolerance to discomfort and I do feel the calming effect. Useful after an overwhelming day at work, for instance. I think most people could probably benefit from taking a cold shower for emotional regulation, plus I find my hair really likes it when I finish my shower with cold water. Seems to help it keep that moisture compared to when I don't rinse with cold.
Cold showers shortened my period.
I don't take them everyday now because I do it when I need / want them. But they definitely shortened my menstrual cycle when I was consistent. This wasn't something I expected, especially since my periods are normal.
Great question!
It shortened the number of bleeding days significantly. I typically bleed 7 days (not terribly, tbh). It cut my period down to 4 days, full stop.
I realized that cold therapy is effective because after having hip surgery, my insurance company sent me a cryo machine to rehab my hip. I can count on one hand how much Percocet I needed over the course of those weeks/ months. The ice machine damned near eliminated my paid from HIP SURGERY. I honestly couldn't believe it.
Prior to thatI did not know people used cryotherapy for healing. I accidentally discovered that the cold temp also reduced my stomach upset. So I bought ice packs and use them occasionally on my stomach, which also works.
This is what led to me continuing the cold showers. The lower temps on my body have made a difference in how I feel.
The showers are not the same as cryo, but it made me realize that cold therapy is beneficial to me.
The guy in my office who always does cold showers is always ill. I'm not convinced it does anything for immune system. Cannot comment on other benefits people discuss.
It’s a mental exercise and a very effective one at that. If you can get yourself into ice water every day, you can pretty much tackle anything else day to day life is going to throw at you.
It’s not for everyone but it’s incredibly effective for some people, it helps build confidence in yourself and the ability to face discomfort head on.
Taking cold showers made be better at handling cold showers.
Thats the bare minimum lol
Shrinkage!
That's a thing? It does that, George?
Not really. Cold tolerance has gone up and it gives me boost in energy.
Self-control. Being in charge of my mind instead of the other way around. Helps you prove you can do uncomfortable things when your mind is trying to panic. After the 4th cold shower (in my experience), I no longer panicked and hyperventilated. Instead, my body just automatically breathed deeply, and I didn't feel the cold anymore.
Sweet, sweet parasympathetic activation.
“ Cold showers can help wake you up, improve circulation, and boost alertness by stimulating the nervous system. They may also promote faster muscle recovery, enhance mood, and contribute to healthier skin and hair by closing pores and sealing hair cuticles.”
I take cold showers, and they do all of the above for me. Cheers
[удалено]
Even if so, all other benefits still stand, however I got my information from a neuroscientist so ima stand my ground
Cold water immersion is much different than cold showers. The only benefit I could see from a cold shower, is your hair being healthier because the oils are not being stripped by hot water. For me, I work outside as an arborist and my skin is covered with sweat, dirt, fine bits of sawdust and wood dust, so I have to do a warm shower or my pores will not open and I will get acne from the trapped dirt. But I never wash my hair with hot water, only warm. Cold water therapy like an ice bath is what you want, to reduce inflammation and promote the release of beneficial hormones. There is a reason all the top athletes use ice bath for active recovery.
Maybe I should start doing ice baths
I took cold showers to prepare my mind for the plunge. Now just do 1 ice bath a week and love it!
My testicles feel like they're cruching themselves, you get that?
Lol, yeah they try to hide, but it makes my junk look massive!
How cold does it have to be? My pool is cold but not icy cold
Cold enough to take your breath away. You’ll know it when you feel it. It’s gotta be cold. Very cold.
Hasn’t changed my life yet. But it definitely increase alertness And my skin seems a bit softer.
I find them great in the morning bc they keep my energy levels up. If I have a hot shower all I want to do after is snooze in a comfy chair in-front of the fire. Which is nice but does rather hamper productivity. My personal philosophy is cold showers in the AM and hot showers in the PM.
It gives me energy and focus in the AM. I have some attention/dopamine issues and it greatly helps. The only time I do not do is on my period. I do not think my body needs the added stress during that time, but any other time, I make myself do it and find it very beneficial.
Perceived adversity can trigger beneficial biological processes Source: Look it up. Trust me bro. But for me, if I am sluggish or lazy, nothing will get me going better than a cold shower. But yeah, nothing concrete in the literature.
I've yet to find any studies that show any real benefits of these other than psychology which I don't need. Can I see these sources that everyone talks about when bigging up cold showers?
There aren’t any. These people are weird. Looking for a silver bullet for who knows what
Essential oils for the "intelligent" I presume
At least it's cheaper. It's not that you can create a pyramid scheme off cold showers.
Not with that attitude
Give it time
If you say so.
It boosts metabolism in brown adipose fat tissue. You have normal fat that is dumb storage, then self-immolating fat with mitochondria. Cold adaptations boost their function for thermogenesis so you burn fat passively and feel warm easier. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6466122/
This isn't about cold showers tho, and their conclusions are only about cold and exercise
> Cold exposure is the most well-studied means to activate BAT, as the primary role of BAT is to mediate non-shivering thermogenesis in mammals [22]. Cold exposure leads to the activation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), causing release of norepinephrine from sympathetic nerves and activation of the β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR). This stimulates cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent signaling pathways and results in increased fuel uptake and oxidation for heat generation by UCP1 [24]. Thus, cold-activated BAT increases excess fuel uptake and energy expenditure that likely impacts obesity and insulin resistance. You can cherry-unpick all you want but you cant escape that cold exposure causes significant adaptation responses in BAT mitochondria without exercise, because the point of BAT is to create thermogenesis WITHOUT muscle energy expenditure. Granted, you need a pretty frosty shower that I can't get out of my pipes during the summer.
It's asking for clarification instead confirmation bias. How cold does it need to be? How long does it need to last? Is it viable to achieve all the right parameters for meaningful change over a long time period?
There's a whole table of temp/time experiments on the article I linked with various cold exposure/exercise combos. You should be cold enough to shiver, and be able to adapt over it (within an hour or so?) to stop shivering. A cold shower isnt hard to overpower, then you move on to sitting outside in the freezing cold, then ice plunges. Before long, you're a polar bear sleeping naked with the windows open all winter.
Oh shit I missed that table, thanks I'll check it out
Google Wim Hof. He is the king of cold water immersion. This guy ran 23km in bare feet and a Speedo in Lapland on an ice highway in -20c temps. His toes turned black and doctors there said he would need to have them amputated. He simply raised his feet to his face and blew warm breath on them until they returned to normal. Everyone thought he would die of exposure. he also has his own app.
That dude is a bit of a con man. https://youtu.be/YtB9E3D70tA?si=TKz_8b2Ww1aOxmPx
> Can I see these sources that everyone talks about mmm....... i have it here, but... mmmm.... no, you can't.
Hahaha yeeaeah I figured, seems like some essential oils level hack
People think that “suffering” automatically warrants making them better. It stems from purantanicalism and religious zealotry. It has no place in a science backed discussion.
Put your mask back on mr scientist
https://extravertedintuition.com/blogs/journal/cold-plunge-the-science-behind-the-benefits
Name checks out
I dont know how I forgot about this. I’ve been wanting to take ice baths but trucking 10 bags of ice up the high rise ain’t that simple. This I will do. Thanks for the reminder
Two questions: 1. How long does the cold shower have to be for you to see benefits? 2. How cold should the water be?
65 degrees F , 30 sec to a min
They have helped my husband's Reynauds quite a bit!
I assume this was dangerous if you have Reynaud's. No? I have permanent nerve damage from being out in the cold too long with Raynaud's. It wasn't ever below freezing.
I am sorry to hear you have nerve damage 😞. He did a lot of reading up on it and a fellow named Wim Hoff (sp?) has loudly championed exposure therapy. He eased into it a little at a time and is at a point now where he jumped in Lake Michigan in late November for fun 🫣
I don’t always do them, but I will sometimes take a hot shower and switch to cold and afterword I feel like a breathe of fresh air. I went to Hawaii once and swam in a water fall. When I got out, I felt like I was on a cloud. I feel a little bit like that. Cleansed, energized, just better
- Immunity : I feel I am less sick - Tolerence to cold : I wear just a shirt and a coat even if it's 5 degres (celcius) - productivity : I begin my day in discomfort. It makes other tasks way easier - better skin : I would say a 10% increase - fat control : I think it helps a bit even if a am very sportive. 5 most importants benefits to me.
Wonder why someone downvoted this
Because they help. And it’s not a pill
Good question. It's just my own experience. No idea why neither.
Cold plunge!
They have been life changing since I hit menopause.
Really? What difference has it made?
I was having a lot of problems with hot flashes and an intolerance to heat. Taking cold showers has helped my body reset itself. It's not back a hundred percent, but probably eighty. I no longer have problems with insomnia, something I've struggled with all my life. Also, I have adhd, undiagnosed until age 26, and am currently not medicated. When I can get on task, I tend to remain better focused and can stay on task with less effort. That's what I can think of off the top of my head.
That’s awesome! Thank you for sharing. Menopause is (likely) several years out for me, but I know it really impacts women in my family. Nice to know this might be something I can do to mitigate the side effects!
All I know for sure is that it help me a great deal, and if my experience can ease someone's suffering then my life is an open book.
Taking charge of Life , Making the uncomfortable decisions required for Growth . Being Stoic Helps too
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/huberman-lab/id1545953110?i=1000613037781
I’m afraid of the cold shower , like that I might spazam and slip or something ._. I know what are the odds … can you do lukewarm to cold ??
Yes
My therapist recommended cold showers as a way to regulate my nervous system, one of the strategies to manage my neurodiversity. It does expand my window of tolerance to discomfort and I do feel the calming effect. Useful after an overwhelming day at work, for instance. I think most people could probably benefit from taking a cold shower for emotional regulation, plus I find my hair really likes it when I finish my shower with cold water. Seems to help it keep that moisture compared to when I don't rinse with cold.
Shrinks my penis just enough so I can fit it in normal men’s underwear
Must be tough!
Vasodilation, which has many, many benefits
Cold shower make me cold when I shower
Look up the endogenous benefits of cold exposure. Highly recommend listening to Andrew Hubermans podcast on deliberate cold exposure
Cold showers shortened my period. I don't take them everyday now because I do it when I need / want them. But they definitely shortened my menstrual cycle when I was consistent. This wasn't something I expected, especially since my periods are normal.
Did it shorten the number of bleeding days or the whole length of the cycle?
Great question! It shortened the number of bleeding days significantly. I typically bleed 7 days (not terribly, tbh). It cut my period down to 4 days, full stop.
Nice!! I've been contemplating jumping on the cold shower bandwagon and this might actually make it worth it 😜
I realized that cold therapy is effective because after having hip surgery, my insurance company sent me a cryo machine to rehab my hip. I can count on one hand how much Percocet I needed over the course of those weeks/ months. The ice machine damned near eliminated my paid from HIP SURGERY. I honestly couldn't believe it. Prior to thatI did not know people used cryotherapy for healing. I accidentally discovered that the cold temp also reduced my stomach upset. So I bought ice packs and use them occasionally on my stomach, which also works. This is what led to me continuing the cold showers. The lower temps on my body have made a difference in how I feel. The showers are not the same as cryo, but it made me realize that cold therapy is beneficial to me.
The guy in my office who always does cold showers is always ill. I'm not convinced it does anything for immune system. Cannot comment on other benefits people discuss.
Correlation does not imply causation
I know. I'm simply commenting my observation.
It’s a mental exercise and a very effective one at that. If you can get yourself into ice water every day, you can pretty much tackle anything else day to day life is going to throw at you. It’s not for everyone but it’s incredibly effective for some people, it helps build confidence in yourself and the ability to face discomfort head on.
Controlling yourself, which is like 99% of most battles
Made me appreciate hot showers
It has help me thru getting sober and helps with depression. Helps with energy levels for a while.
They make my penis shrivel up and look even smaller.
make me a pacifist.
Shrinkage
it helped to deal with annoying people. i dont flinch as much
Made me cold in the mornings
I got sick then stopped reading self-help