3 Feb

How healthy are cold showers?

If you’ve ever taken a cold shower you’d know that on the other side of that freezing agony there’s calmness, relief, and peace of mind. But how healthy are cold showers really? What does the research say and should you implement them into your daily life?

Written by

Mykyta Osadchyi

Cold showers may not be for everyone. Either because of health reasons or just because you find them mildly torturous. But considering the health benefits, it would be safe to say that you should at least try them. The worst that could happen is you’ll feel a bit uncomfortable.

The science-based benefits of cold showers

Cold showers help with depressive feelings

A study from 2008 looked at how cold showers, and overall exposure to cold, affects depressive feelings. They found that cold showers can relieve depressive symptoms quite effectively. They suggest that this might happen because exposure to cold triggers our bodies to release endorphins, which are the feel-good molecules, that also have pain management properties. In short, more cold showers equals more endorphins, which equals less depressiveness.

Cold showers help with weight loss

In our body, we have 2 main types of fat tissue: brown adipose tissue and white adipose tissue. Brown adipose tissue is used to produce heat, and to be burned as a readily available source of energy. White adipose tissue is the fat that we call “fat”, and it takes longer for it to be burned for energy.

Well, researchers show that apparently, cold showers can increase brown adipose tissue activity, which means, they increase the amount of energy you burn. Maybe it’s less effective than exercise or calorie restriction at shedding weight, but it’s something.

Cold showers reduce sickness

You probably heard this somewhere. That cold showers can enhance your immune system. And it’s not just rumors. According to a paper from 2016, finishing your shower with 30-90 sec of cold water reduced the amount of sickness that the participants reported. So in some way, it could be said that cold showers improve the immune system.

Cold showers may be a bit uncomfortable, but they seem to be quite healthy. So if you’d like to add cold showers to your daily routine, what’s the best way to do it?

The best way to take a cold shower

First of all – safety. Cold showers are generally quite safe and usually have no side effects. But people with cardiovascular health issues should probably stick to the regular warm showers, as cold water can put some extra burden on the heart and blood vessels.

So what’s the best way to take a cold shower? If you don’t take cold showers regularly, the best way to start implementing them into your life would be to start with a brief 10-sec cold water rinse at the end of your regular warm shower.

Gradually, you can increase the time of the cold water to 20 sec, 1 minute, 2 minutes, and so on. With this method, you can gradually work your way up to a full cold shower from start to finish. Wim Hof would be proud.