Are you the person who cringes at the thought of taking a cold shower and always prefers taking a soothing warm and hot shower every morning? While taking a nice and warm shower might sound like a relaxing idea, there are so many benefits of cold showers that you simply cannot ignore them. Taking a cold shower every morning can bring a huge change to your health and lifestyle over a period of time. These cold water bathing benefits have been accounted in so many scientific studies; so let’s discuss more about what exactly these benefits are:
1. Increases Blood Circulation in the Body
Taking a cold shower helps to improve blood circulation in the body by making the body work to maintain its core body temperature. Since the temperature of the water is higher than the body temperature, the body works extra hard to maintain its temperature by enhancing the blood circulation.
2. Prevents Fluctuations in Body Temperature
Taking a hot shower might feel warm and comfortable to you but it actually causes many fluctuations in the body temperature and the body may take a long time after the shower to get over these fluctuations. This is especially beneficial in cold countries where temperature drops to very low degrees and the body struggles to maintain its temperature after a warm shower.
3. Prevents Skin Dryness and Dullness
Taking a warm shower can make your skin look dry and dull as hot water can dry out the skin. Cold showers will help you get back your radiant and healthy skin in just a few days as they clean the skin without stripping away its natural oils. The improved blood circulation will also make your skin look fresh and supple every morning. This is one of the main benefits of bathing with cold water.
4. Aids in Weight Loss
Taking a cold shower for weight loss might seem like a funny idea but it is actually true that taking cold showers can aid in weight loss as they improve your metabolism significantly. Regular practice will help you burn off the calories more easily and you can see a difference in your weight in a few months.
5. Helps in Muscle Repair and Recovery
You might have seen athletes and sports persons taking ice-cold showers after intense workouts. This is because cold showers help to reduce soreness in the muscles and also speed-up the recovery process. In case you have done an intense workout and do not want the delayed soreness to set in, taking a cold shower just after the session helps a lot in soothing the exhausted muscles.
6. It Reduces Stress and Depression
These showers can improve the body’s ability to fight off stress and depression. They have an anti-depressant effect on the mind and keep physical as well as mental stress under control. Taking these showers every morning will slowly begin to ease your stress levels.
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7. Improves Alertness
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A cold shower in the morning can keep you alert all day as the cold water increases the oxygen intake of the body and makes the heart pump more blood to the brain. People who feel lazy every day can see a major difference in their alertness levels if they begin taking cold showers. You might have a little difficulty in breathing at first during the initial few showers but the subsequent showers become easier and the deep breathing practice keeps your mind alert.
8. It Boosts your Immunity
People who take cold showers daily have a better immunity and disease-fighting ability as compared to people who do not take them. These showers keep blood pressure under control and keep diseases like common cold and fever at bay by improving your immunity levels. Cold showers prepare the body for fighting common bacterial and viral infections with ease and prevent the bacteria from harboring on the skin.
9. Reduces Fatigue and improves Energy Levels
You will see your energy levels improve significantly once you start taking cold showers. With our increasingly busy lifestyles and lack of proper rest, we begin to feel fatigued after a few hours but a cold shower in the morning will take care of this problem to a major extent. You will notice that your energy levels throughout the day remain high after taking a cold shower in the morning.
10. Promotes Healthy Sleep Patterns and Prevents Insomnia
The cold water from the shower cools down the brain and soothes the nerves so it helps you beat insomnia and promotes a deeper sleep. People suffering from sleep disorders might find cold showers helpful in improving their sleeping patterns. Having a shower before going to bed is anyway very beneficial for your sleep and a cold shower increases these benefits manifold.
11. Helps to Improve your Mood
If you are struggling with an irritable mood all day long and want to calm down your senses, the cold water can help you get into a better mood instantly. Our sympathetic nervous system releases endorphins into the bloodstream when it senses a low temperature and these endorphins are responsible for our mood. Having a bad mood can hamper so many of your personal and professional relationships so this benefit is quite important.
12. Improves Libido
Struggling with a depressed libido and want to fight it naturally? Take a cold shower before going to bed to improve your performance. Taking a cold shower increases your sex drive and works wonders in increasing the testosterone levels of the body. This hormone is responsible for maintaining your libido. Hot water baths are known to reduce the sperm count so cold showers also improve your fertility.
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13. It prevents Varicose Veins
People who suffer from varicose veins know how painful and unsightly this condition can be. Taking cold showers daily prevents clotting in the veins as the blood circulation improves in the body. It also relieves pain in the muscles and helps to reduce the stretch marks on the skin covering the veins.
14. It can help you Save a Lot of Time
You might not feel it but taking a cold shower actually helps you save a lot of time in your regular days and you can use this time to catch up on your health by doing other activities. Hot showers can put you in your comfort zone and the body tends to enjoy the steaming water bath. Cold showers provide a temperature shock to the body and the mind feels the need to get out of the shower as soon as the bath is over.
15. Works Wonders for your Hair
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Your hair will look lustrous and healthy as soon as you start taking cold showers. The cold water keeps the hair follicles flat and prevents hair loss by strengthening the roots of the hair. It also reduces scalp dryness and itchiness in the long run. Hot showers can strip the scalp of its natural oils which are essential for keeping the hair hydrated.
16. Helps to Fight Signs of Aging
Do you notice your skin getting all wrinkly after spending too much time in the shower? Your skin begins to contract on prolonged exposure to water to maintain its grip but taking cold showers can provide you great anti-aging benefits by preventing wrinkles and fine lines with regular use. The cold water reduces the puffiness of the skin and promotes blood circulation in the facial area which is known to keep signs of aging under control.
17. Enhances Willpower
When you are starting with a cold water shower after using hot showers for so many years or months, your body gathers immense willpower to stand under the ice cold water. Gathering this determination every day for a few weeks will improve your natural strength of mind also to other things.
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18. Detoxifies the Body
Last but not the least, cold showers help to detoxify the body as they flush out toxins from the pores of the skin. They drain out your lymphatic system which is responsible for carrying all the waste from the cells. Sometimes the lymphatic system gets blocked and these cold showers drain it and detoxify the body gradually.
So these are the 18 top benefits of cold showers which can improve your overall physical and mental health in the long run. If you are a beginner and are struggling with how to take a cold shower, start slowly and spend a few seconds initially before increasing the time gradually. Once you start taking these showers daily, you will begin noticing all these cold shower benefits in your body.
Have you tried taking cold showers? How was your experience? Share your experience with us in the comments section below!
