When was the last time you jumped into wild water ? Pretty cold right ? After a hot day in the summer it felt great to Cool Off. Don’t you remember that after a while your body acclimated and you felt great instead of freezing. Well, it was one moment you unconsciously enjoyed the Benefits of the Cold. What if you can have this great feeling everyday ? Hang on and find out in Cool Off: Cold Shower Benefits
Cold Shower Benefits
Improved Circulation: Your body is adaptive, when cold water hits your system, your body counters it with a increase in blood flow to warm your core and vital organs. More about improving your Circulation here.
Boost in your Immunity: The improved circulation provides more fresh, oxygenated nutritious blood to your organs, which keeps them working properly, as well as getting rid of the toxins in your body faster. In case, improves your immune system.
Workout Recovery: Cold temperature brings down your metabolism, as well as reduces swelling, tissue breakdown and shifts lactic acid away from your muscles. The improved circulation afterwards causes your muscles to relax.
Deeper Connection to your Physiology: Entering the high stress situation of cold showering forces your body and will to come together, you have to control your breath, fight the level of discomfort that comes with it, both force your mind and body to come together and works as one.
Reduces Stress: During the cold shower, you reduce the level uric acid, but increase the level of glutathione in your bloodstream, the result is less stress and more calmness for you.
More Youthful Skin: The cold water, also stimulates the tiny muscles in your pores to give you tighter, firmer more youthful skin. Moreover, the tightening of pores reduces ingress of pollutants, which improves the skin’s ability to function fight cellular injury.
Fights Depression: Under the cold shower, your dopamine and noradrenaline levels increase significantly. Read down below at Mental Refreshment
The Body on Cold Water
Exposure to cold activates the sympathetic nervous system, as well as increases the blood level of beta-endorphin and noradrenaline, but also increases the synaptic release of noradrenaline in the brain. Additionally, your skin has 3-10 times more cold receptors, than warm receptors, which can if triggered, fire electrical impulses to the brain.
Mental Health and Cold Showers
To understand the benefits we might have to know, what are we actually lacking, if we think about our ancestors or even 200 years ago, we were regularly exposed to physiological stressors as, that causes brief changes in body temperature for example a cold swim. With this in mind, our brain might lack the thermal exercise, which can cause inadequate function of the brain.
Mental Refreshment
We now know, that cold showers increase the noradrenalin and beta-endorphin in the blood and that the skin has a high density of cold receptors. How does it relieve symptoms of depression ?
Well, cold water triggers the high density of cold receptors, which fire an overwhelming electrical impulse which shock the brain, which can result in an anti-depressive effect. Also the increase in noradrenaline activates our primate fight or flight response, which is a physiological stressor, exactly what we lack in our modern lifestyle, which our ancestors had of in a day than the modern human in months. Another, the increase production of beta-endorphin, produces a sense of well-being in the body.
In conclusion, the lack of high stimulation in the brain, due to missing out on frequent thermal changes, might be a reason for depression in our modern age. As result, cold water can be a solution to reinforce this stimulation, and relieve depression symptoms by increasing noradrenalin and triggering the brain with an overwhelming electrical shock, that might result in a positive therapeutic effect.
Tips For Taking a Cold Shower
Are you excited to jump right in ? Well, depending on your age and condition, we have a couple tips to do it right and safe !
Firstly, start by gradually reducing the water temperature instead of jumping straight into freezing cold water. This helps your body adjust.
Secondly, focus on deep breathing while in the cold shower, as it can help regulate your body’s response to the cold and promote relaxation.
Thirdly, consider starting with shorter durations and gradually increase the length of your cold showers over time. By following these tips, you can harness the full potential of cold showers and improve yourself over time at your own pace.
How I do it
So I already started to have daily cold showers 3 years ago. I love the rush before my body encounters the cold water, but still it’s a mental challenge for me everyday, which I see as chance to grow my will. I think we all should do something we don’t want everyday and a cold shower is a great start. I tried many ways on how to do and fit a cold shower into my daily routine and here’s what works best for me.
First, I shower regularly with warm water, but after finishing, I step aside, turn the water on the coldest level. Take a deep breath and jump right in where I let it run all over my head, chest, stretch my arms in the air, let it reach my armpits, turn around all over my neck an back and that for about 3-4 times, in total 3-4mins. I love the challenge & feeling and cant think about stopping my cold shower routine.
Conclusion
In conclusion, incorporating cold showers into your routine can bring about a multitude of benefits for both your body and mind.
From improved circulation and immune function to enhanced workout recovery and youthful skin, the effects are diverse and remarkable. Additionally, cold showers have the potential to relieve symptoms of depression by stimulating neurotransmitter release and activating the body’s natural stress response.
So, why not take the plunge and explore the invigorating power of cold showers for yourself? Are you ready to embrace the icy waters and unlock a world of physical and mental well-being?
Sources
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306987707005661
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD008262.pub2/full
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6002629/ https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&ei=UTF-8&p=cold+shower+benefits&type=E210US885G0#id=4&vid=f39a0b3eb80916ffe70ee4caefadc5d7&action=click https://greatperformersacademy.com/health/8-benefits-that-will-make-you-want-to-take-cold-showers#:~:text=Cold%20showers%20act%20to%20reduce%20stress%20in%20your,life.%20A%20cold%20shower%20stimulates%20the%20heart%20rate. https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/benefits-of-cold-showers
