Showering is something most people do every day to stay clean and smelling fresh. Not much thought goes into it beyond that. You hop in, scrub-a-dub-dub, rinse off, and hop out. Well, there’s apparently a lot more science to showering than you thought.
In fact, if you’re taking hot showers every day, you are kind of doing it wrong. Okay, so there’s no “wrong” way to shower, but you could gain a whole bunch of benefits if you started taking the dreaded cold shower.
1. Cold showers make you less stressed, as they lower your uric acid levels and boost the glutathione in your blood, which calms your mood.
2. Taking a brisk shower boosts your willpower. Knowing that you are about to step into a freezing stream of water takes a lot of will, but once you start doing it regularly, it will seem like a breeze. It’ll give you a huge confidence boost in other aspects of life!
3. Short, cold showers have been shown to help relieve depression. The cool water stimulates the brain’s “blue spot,” which houses noradrenaline, a chemical that is thought to relieve depression symptoms.
4. Cold showers burn unhealthy fats. Your body goes into overdrive to warm itself in chilly temperatures, and it has to burn more fat in order to do so.
5. In one research study, people who took cold showers had increased levels of virus-fighting white blood cells, which boosted their immunity to illnesses.
6. Cold showers keep your skin and hair healthy. Hot water, on the other hand, dries out your skin and hair.
7. Cold showers increase fertility in men. Sperm counts lower when it’s hot. A study in 1950 (a little dated, I know, but still relevant) showed that men who took 30-minute hot baths every other day for three weeks were nearly infertile for six months!
8. You will breathe better if you regularly take cold showers. The cold water causes your body to go into a sort of shock. Your system will compensate by taking in deep breaths and increasing your body’s blood circulation.
9. Cold showers boost recovery after exercise, which is why you see athletes taking ice baths after strenuous workouts. You don’t have to go that far, but because of the increase in blood circulation, you will feel less sore.
10. It improves your circulation. Cold water causes your blood to move more quickly in order to keep your organs warm.
11. Cold showers increase levels of testosterone in men. Studies have shown that hot temperatures lower testosterone numbers in rats. When temps decrease, it boosts their testosterone levels. The same effect was shown in men of the human variety.
I think I’m going to give this a try the next time I hop in the shower. It’s very difficult at first, but once you get used to it, the benefits are clear and awesome.