The largest study with 3,000 participants was carried out in the Netherlands and found that people who took a daily cold shower (following a warm shower) of either 30 seconds, 60 seconds or 90 seconds for one month were off work with self-reported sickness 29% less than those who had a warm shower only.
Get the water cold enough that you start to feel uncomfortable. Then, stay underneath the water for 2 or 3 minutes. Breathing deeply will help decrease your discomfort in your mind.
Getting into a cold shower is never a pleasant experience, but there are a few health benefits you may gain from braving the experience. Cold showers can help reduce inflammation, relieve pain, improve circulation, lower stress levels, and reduce muscle soreness and fatigue.
Cold showers wake your body up, inducing a higher state of alertness. The cold also stimulates you to take deeper breaths, decreasing the level of CO2 throughout the body, helping you concentrate. Cold showers thus keep you ready and focused throughout the day. More robust immune response.
One study showed significant and prolonged increases in dopamine when people were in cool (60°F) water for about an hour up to their neck, with their head above water. Other studies describe significant increases in epinephrine from just 20 seconds in very cold water (~40°F).
A cold shower is a raw experience that disturbs you mentally before it begins, and physically when you're experiencing it. There is a primal sensation that brings people, closer than they could imagine, to a feeling of fighting for their life.
Additionally, cold showers can improve clarity and focus when we are experiencing brain fog. Dr. Talib explains this increase of oxygen levels acts as a “natural dose of energy,” which is why we feel so invigorated after a good plunge at the spa.
Cold water increases heart rate and metabolism, according to The British Journal of Sports Medicine. For that brief moment in the shower, your body becomes shocked into working harder to maintain a stable temperature, which actually burns more calories.
The cons of cold showers:
It could actually make you even colder and increase the amount of time it will take for your body to warm back up. They may not be a good idea if you're sick, either. Initially, the cold temperature might be too hard on your immune system, so it's best to ease into the cooler temperatures.
The takeaway here is simple: You can use cold exposure to boost your metabolism and fat burning, but a cold shower won't cut it. You're going to need to spend at least a few hours per day in shivering cold air and/or water, and the results will depend on your genetics.
Bae adds some in dermatology also theorize cold showers have even more benefits, too, such as "a little bit of (skin) tightening or at least also temporary decrease in redness of the skin. "If you are a healthy person, then taking a cold shower every day would be much better for your skin.
The benefits of a cold shower begin when the water temperature dips to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, says Carter. To put that in perspective, that's about 40 degrees F lower than your typical steamy shower. Give your body time to adjust as you drop the water temperature, advises Carter.
Cold exposure helps boost metabolism and fat burning, but the effects of a cold shower are minimal. Sure, a cold shower might help you burn a few more extra calories and keep you more alert, but it is not a long term, effective solution for weight loss.
Cold showers force you to take in deep breaths, and the energy you get by breathing properly—deeply and thoroughly—is enough to help you get through the rest of the day, even without your morning coffee. Nothing is more effective at pushing away the sleep and getting you into that killer instinct than a cold shower.
Stronger immune system
A study in the journal PLoS One found that people who take cold showers are 29% less likely to call in sick for work or school. The study enrolled 3,018 people who took a hot shower then used applications of cold water for 30–90 seconds based on their research group.
Benefits Of A Cold Shower Before Bed
When you sleep, your body temperature lowers. By taking a cool shower before bed, you're showing your body that bedtime is near by starting the temperature-lowering process. The cool water helps trick your whole system into sleep mode.
Being immersed in cold water stimulates leukocytes, the white blood cells that help fight off sicknesses. It also causes the lymphatic system to contract, forcing fluid through the lymph nodes. This process aids in detoxing the body and strengthening your immune system.
There are plenty, according to Dr Google: 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.
Taking cold showers has been linked to a stronger sex drive in men. Prolonged exposure to cold water has also been shown to increase testosterone production, boosting the libido and enhancing overall strength and energy in the process.
Many theorize that cold showers could raise our endorphin levels (our feel-good hormones). At the same time, they can also decrease our cortisol levels (a stress-inducing hormone). As a result, this increase in endorphins and decrease in cortisol can help symptoms of anxiety and even depression.
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. In short they relieve pain and boost your happiness. As such, endorphins ease symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Additionally, due to the high density of cold receptors in the skin, a cold shower is expected to send an overwhelming amount of electrical impulses from peripheral nerve endings to the brain, which could result in an anti-depressive effect.
“Cold showers are no fun, but they cause the body to adapt pretty quickly,” says John Castellani, a research physiologist for the U.S. Army who has studied how people respond and adapt to the cold. He suggests starting off with just a quick cold-shower exposure—say 15 seconds—and adding 10 seconds every day.