15 Benefits of Cold Showers That Will Blow Your Mind (Including Scientific studies)

Introduction

Many people roll with their eyes when they hear the words “cold shower” or “ice bath”. I did too… until I started taking them regularly.

Throughout the years, many studies have found many positive effects related to cold exposure, and I thought it would be nice to list them all here.

1. Cold showers build strong will power

It takes a tremendous amount of willpower to take a cold shower on a cold day. Getting out of that warm bed during a cold winter day, is already hard enough.

A small tip I can give you: start with a warm shower, but finish the last 30–60 seconds with a cold one. It’s not going to be easy, but the benefits are more than worth it.

2. They improve emotional resilience

Do you get flustered, anxious or pissed off easily? Cold showers train your nervous system to be more resilient to stress.

A study showed that cold showers can help develop a nervous system that is more resilient to stress. The effort alone serves as a small form of oxidative stress, which the body would adapt overtime and teach the brain to prepare for stress.

3. They reduce stress

Taking a cold shower helps you to bring your blood pressure down. Besides that, a cold shower helps your body to create endorphins.

Endorphins are naturally produced by the autonomic nervous system to make you feel less stressed and get you through pain. They are also called the happiness hormones.

4. Cold showers increase alertness

The cold water sends many electrical impulses to your brain. They boost your system to increase alertness, clarity, and energy levels.

Additionally, cold showers improve clarity and focus. because the “cold shock” causes an increase in breathing (and hence oxygen levels), which acts as a “natural dose of energy”.

5. They improve your skin and hair

As proven in this study, cold water tightens and constricts the blood flow which gives the skin and hair a healthier glow, and contributes to better skin hydration, while hot showers can lead to dried out skin.

See it as a free and simple way to look better!

6. Stimulate weight loss

A study found that cold-water immersion at 14℃ increased metabolism by 350%. Metabolism is the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy, so a higher metabolism roughly equals more energy burned.

7. For men: Cold showers increase testosterone & boost fertility

One of the coolest benefits of cold showers, is that they will cause a rise in testosterone levels, and increase your sperm count, which is better for fertility.

The logical explanation for this is that the male reproduction organ is “outside the body”, for the reason to keep it cooler than the rest of the body.

8. Cold showers improve blood circulation

Increased blood circulation is one of the top reasons experts recommend cold showers.

As cold water hits your body and external limbs, it constricts circulation on the surface of your body. This causes blood in your deeper tissues to circulate at faster rates to maintain ideal body temperature.

This blood circulation is the key to most of the other benefits mentioned in this article.

9. Cold showers improve immunity

Various studies have found that taking icy cold showers may heighten your immune system and make you more resistant to illness.

A study found that cold showers led to a 29% reduction in people calling off sick from work. Another study even connected cold showers to improved cancer survival!

The reason is that a cold shower increases the number of white blood cells in your body. These blood cells protect your body against diseases.

10. They drain your lymphatic system

Cold showers, when alternated between hot and cold water, will help your lymphatic system, by contracting the lymph vessels when exposed to the cold and relaxing them when exposed to the heat.

Simply said: it reduces swelling or inflammation by “flushing the waste out”.

11. Cold showers speed up muscle recovery

If you’re an athlete, then you know that taking an ice bath after intense training is one of the best things you can do to recover faster.

Studies have shown that cold showers help reduce muscle soreness after intense workouts.

When you immerse yourself in cold water, your body gets a shock, speeding up the delivery of freshly oxygenated, warm blood in your body. More blood starts flowing, to help bring the temperature back up, which speeds up your recovery.

12. Cold showers relieve depression

A study has shown that one of the most noted benefits of cold showers, is that they offer relieve for symptoms of depression.

Simply said, cold showers could raise our endorphin levels (our feel-good hormones), and at the same time, they can also decrease our cortisol levels (stress-inducing hormones).

As a result, this increase in endorphins and decrease in cortisol can help symptoms of anxiety and even depression.

13. They wake you up

Obviously, and ice-cold shower is going to get your ass up in the morning. You’re alert, you’re awake, you’re ready for the day.

14. They put you to sleep

Ironically, while they wake you up in the morning, cold therapy is also one of the best ways to get an incredible night’s sleep.

When you take a cold shower or spend a few minutes in your cold plunge, your body’s temperature will dramatically decrease. As a result, your body will release chemicals — such as melatonin — which researchers believe induces sleep.

15. Energized breathing

Step into a cold shower and the first thing you are going tot do is take a big, deep breath (or multiple breaths).

The cold stimulates you to take deeper breaths, decreasing the level of CO2 throughout the body, helping you concentrate, and bringing a higher level of alertness.

And last but not least…

Cold showers help me professionally!

For the past years, I’ve been working really hard on various jobs. Do you think it would be possible to just keep going, keep putting in the effort & energy without a healthy lifestyle? Perhaps, but it would be really, really hard!

You won’t be very productive if you’re not healthy, not energized or not concentrated!

YES, taking cold showers is painful, but has plenty of benefits that are definitely worth the pain: improved energy (!), alertness, concentration (!), better circulation, weight loss, improved immune system, better moods, reduced inflammation, glowing skin and hair, and reduced muscle soreness after exercise, to name a few.

What about you?

Do you have any experience with cold showers? Let’s share our stories & experiences in the comments!

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