Having a daily hot shower is a habit that is almost universally shared in developed countries and something most of us have never thought about, but it is normal to turn on the hot tap when you get into the shower?
For the majority of human existence having a hot shower was abnormal, primarily because it isn’t necessary and it was very costly and time consuming to warm the water only to throw it over you for a couple of minutes. So why has it become second nature to us today?
The short answer, in my opinion, is that it feels more comfortable than a cold shower and therefore naturally fits in with our more comfortable existence, but in this article, I want to talk about why comfort isn’t always a good thing.
Before I get into the details about the numerous benefits of taking a cold shower, I want to take a little more time convincing you that having a hot shower hasn’t always been the norm we consider it to be today. Nobody is probably surprised that Spartans always bathed in cold water, but you may be slightly more surprised that cold showers have a long tradition in Japanese and Scandinavian culture. In Japan, Shinto believers stand under icy waterfalls to help cleanse the spirit in a ritual called Misogi. In Finland, it is common for people to jump into an ice-cold lake or stream after a good sweat session in a sauna.
Hopefully you’ve now opened your mind – even slightly – to questioning the norm of hot showers in the rest of this piece I will:
Explain the 9-key health, well-being and mental resilience benefits of taking cold showers
Highlight some important considerations before you start regularly taking cold showers
Explain my current cold shower routine and why I’m doing what I am
Even if you think taking a cold shower sounds like the worst idea ever, I’d recommend reading on, some of the benefits are rather surprising and might make the pain and discomfort feel worth it.
Benefits
The benefits of taking cold showers are numerous, below I will cover the key 9 which I find most convincing and have the most evidence supporting them. In my view these benefits fall into two broad categories – Health & Wellbeing and Mental Resilience – but I’ll talk about these categories after I’ve explained each of the benefits in turn.
Increases metabolism – When exposed to cold water your core temperature will start to drop, this isn’t always a good thing, after all if your core temperature drops below 35 degrees Celsius you enter hypothermia. Thankfully your body is good at regulating and this will only occur if you are exposed to extremely cold water for a long period of time, a cold shower definitely doesn’t meet these criteria. To prevent your core temperature dropping your body burns calories to produce energy which will heat your body to raise your temperature back to normal levels. An increase in energy production through burning of calories is an increase in metabolism.
Makes you appreciate hot showers – In modern first world countries we – on the whole – live such privileged and comfortable life’s that we no longer appreciate many of the great things we have. Think how many billions of people would have given almost anything to turn on a tap and receive hot water immediately. Having a cold shower to reminds you for the beauty of warm showers. and makes you feel for thankful for what you have.
Improves circulation – Cold water improves circulation by signalling to the body that it needs to surround the vital organs with blood. This sudden increase in blood circulation leads the arteries to more efficiently pump blood, therefore boosting our overall heart health. Improved circulation can also lower blood pressure, clear blocked arteries, and help the body recovery more quickly after exercise, more on this benefit later.
Wakes you up & puts you to sleep – You will struggle to find almost anything else naturally available to achieve both of these. The cold water serves as a jolt to wake you up from your sleep, increasing your awareness and making you feel invigorated and energised for the day ahead. Conversely, when humans fall into deep sleep our body temperate falls, therefore having a cold shower before bed signals to the body that it should be shutting down for the night and will help you fall asleep faster.
Builds your endurance & will power – This is related to appreciation, having a cold shower helps you to build your endurance and your willpower, meaning that you’ll be better prepared to handle ‘stress’ or ‘discomfort’ in others parts of your life. This concept links in well with the teachings of stoicism. One of the core pillars of Stoicism is ‘Voluntary Discomfort’, putting yourself through voluntary discomfort will increase your appreciation for all the comfortable things you have in your life and increase your resistance should you be forced to live more uncomfortably in the future.
Strengthens your immunity – As a result of the cold water increasing your metabolic rate, your body warms itself which in turn activates the body’s immune system and releases more white blood cells into the bloodstream. White blood cells protect the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders, therefore increasing your white blood cell numbers in your blood improves your ability to keep the office – and other seasonal – bugs from knocking you off form.
Increases testosterone & fertility – It’s pretty common knowledge that the reason testicles hang from the body is because they aren’t meant to get too hot. What many don’t realise is just how much of an impact it makes on your fertility. University of California at San Francisco saw an increase of 491% in sperm count when hot baths were taken out of men’s standard daily use. Additionally, research by the Thrombosis Research Institute found that cold water waters increase your levels of testosterone production. Higher testosterone levels are associated with increased sex drive, strength and energy levels. These are obviously highly localised studies that don’t account for other things which impact the temperature of your testicles, e.g. clothing, outsider temperature etc., but still more than enough reason for me to turn the hot tap off more regularly!
Reduces stress – As well as improving your ability to adopt and handle adverse situations, taking cold showers can also lower your levels of uric acid, and boost levels of glutathione in your blood, both of which make you feel less stressed in all other aspects of life. Whilst you won’t feel very relaxed during your cold shower on day one, by the end of the month you’ll notice the new cooler, calmer and collected you.
Relieves depression – If all of that wasn’t enough, according to research from the Department of Radiation Oncology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine shows that cold showers can even help mitigate depression. They found that cold showers stimulate the brain’s primary source of noradrenaline. The primary function of noradrenaline is to get the body and mind up and going. With 1 in 4 people in the UK experiencing a mental health problem each year shows the importance of doing what we can to help the chemical balance in our brain keep us feeling good about ourselves.
Cautions & considerations
When you list out of the benefits of a cold shower and push the ‘but it’s really cold’ thought to the back of your head it’s easy to get fully caught up with the positives and forget the reasons why you need to be cautious before jumping into that cold shower.
If you suffer from any of the following do not start taking cold showers, at the very least without talking to a qualified medical professional. If you have a history with either of the top two running in your family I’d recommend the same advice.
Heart disease – The cold water gives a healthy heart enough of a shock, if your heart is diseased or damaged the shock could be too much for it.
High blood pressure – As highlighted earlier, the cold water causes your blood vessels to contract, if you have high blood pressure this can cause a stroke.
Cold or flu – This isn’t a long-term health condition like the first two, however if you if you have a heavy cold or the flu then temporarily stop taking cold showers. Cold water causes your blood vessels to constrict, but when you are feverish you need them to dilate.
If you have been searching the benefits of a cold shower elsewhere you may have seen that many people talk about the weight loss benefits of cold showers, I’m less convinced. While it might work in the very short term by acting as a shock to the system and forcing your body to burn additional calories to warm itself, there are two problems. First, the number of calories burned a low, easily made up for by a small amount of food. Second, once your body is accustomed to the new cold-water regime it will adapt and be more efficient at responding to the drop-in temperature, meaning any benefit will be short lived.
What I’m doing…
I didn’t realise this until I started seeing first-hand the benefits of having cold showers and I wanted to see if there was research to back-up what I was experiencing, but basically, I clearly just want to be James Bond! One of the many nuanced things that Ian Fleming gave his infamous creation was what has become known as the ‘Scottish Shower’. Every time James Bond took a shower, he started with a hot water shower, as most people nowadays do, and then for the final 2-3 minutes would turn it to cold.
This is now what I do, but with one significant caveat, I only do it on mornings when I’ve been to the gym. In my defence this is now at minimum twice a week, and normally 3 – 4 times, but still not every day.
Having a cold shower after the gym not only refreshes me and allows me to experience the benefits I’ve detailed above, it helps me survive the Northern Line on the London Underground. After an early morning gym session, I am extremely hot and have to rush to get ready and into work so I was finding that I wasn’t cooling down sufficiently before getting on the hot tube and would get into work looking like I’d swam across the Thames – not a pleasant sight for others, or a pleasant feeling for me. However, having a 2-minute cold water shower after my normal shower I found that my core temperature was reduced sufficiently to not perspire when getting on the tube.
When I remind myself of the benefits detailed above I do feel guilty, but I still don’t enjoy the cold shower experience enough (yet!) to handle the idea of getting up and without exercise turning the hot off and the cold all the way down, especially with the British winter around the corner. I am hoping to move to a 2-minute daily cold shower, but think it’ll be something I do slowly over a period of weeks/months.
I don’t use cold showers in the evening, but that is less to do with me being too scared and primarily because I’m very lucky in the sense that I fall asleep quickly – on the whole – therefore I don’t feel the need to have a cold shower before bed.
Finally, I would highly recommend building up steadily to the 2mins, if you choose to take the same approach that I have. When I first started I could barely handle 10 seconds, and would even have to turn the hot water back on before finishing in the shower to help me feel better. Once I’d managed to remove the need for that I built up adding 10 to 20 seconds each time until I hit my 2minutes.
Conclusion
I see the many benefits of cold showers falling into two broad categories: health & wellbeing and mental resilience.
Health & wellbeing: Providing you don’t have any underlying health problems or a short-term cold/flu the evidence is overwhelming, cold showers improve your general wellbeing, make you feel more energised, help you sleep better and can even boost testosterone levels in men.
Mental resilience: We live in a very comfortable period of history and while there is huge inequality in society today even the poorest have a better quality of life than richest did for the vast majority of human existence. It is too easy to fall into an easy slumber and take it all for granted, watch the waistline grow whilst slouching in front of the TV. Taking a cold shower regularly is one small way to can experience that pain/shock and build your mental resilience and will power. It takes mental effort to twist the hot tap off completely and embrace the freezing water, and that resilience and perseverance can help you in your professional and personal life as well.
If you are still sceptical, I suggest you just give it a go. You’ll hate it the first few times, I won’t sugar coat that for you, but soon you’ll be excited to do it, you’ll enjoy the refreshing feeling and feel a happier, more energised person. What have you got to lose?
