Are Cold Showers Good For You? Here’s The Final Verdict

Recently, cold showers seeming to be come at you from everywhere (not literally….that would suck).

So many bloggers and magazines have been talking about how great cold showers are. And while it seems like an okay idea, I’ve been sticking to my normal-temperature showers… until I actually found out what the benefits of cold-showering are. They’re freaking awesome. I mean, I do need to order a neo angle shower base, as mine seems to have a crack in it for some reason and I can see it only getting worse. But once that’s sorted, I’ll be able to start enjoying showers again, without having anything to think about, other than relaxing.

It was only a short time ago that I was thinking the same thing as you. Who on earth wants to shower in cold water? Unless your water heater has stopped working and you are yet to contact somewhere like Summers Plumbing Heating & Cooling (https://www.summersphc.com/bloomington/services/plumbing/tankless-water-heater/) to come and fix it for you, I can almost understand your reasoning. But to be willing to shower in cold water without giving it a second thought had always sat wrong with me for a large period of time. But everyone was talking about it, and no, it wasn’t because their water heater had broken. It was because they had learnt all the different benefits it can provide. Who knew…

So, are cold showers good for you? Hell yes. Let’s find out why.

1. Activates brown fat.

Fun fact: there are two kinda of fat: white fat and brown fat. White fat gets added to your body when you ingest calories that you don’t burn off and is the fat that you typically burn off during a workout. Brown fat is special cov-ops fat whose main purpose is to insulate your body. When you take a cold shower, you body draws from this fat to try and keep you warm.

Why this is awesome: you’re burning fat that you regularly wouldn’t and this can make you burn an extra nine pounds a year.

2. Awesome post-workout recovery

After a workout, you muscles are doing their muscle recovery thing, your body is trying to cool you down and your runners knee might be swelling. A cold shower not only helps cool you down but also is great for anti-inflammatory magic and muscle recovery. The method isn’t 100% effective but there are products like XWerks that can help you recover even faster. If you don’t know what this is, look at this article on how XWERKS is Bringing CBD to the Fitness Industry.

Why this is awesome: a cold shower = waaaay less soreness.

3. Wake-up time!

Everyone knows there are few better ways to wake up than with a cold shower. But do you know why?

Your body actually responds to the cold by make you breathe way deeper than normal because it’s trying to fill your body with warm air. More oxygen means more blood flow (esp to your brain) which means more energy throughout the day. Not bad right?

Why this is awesome: a cold shower in the morning literally gives you more energy throughout the day.

4. Better skin

This ones simple: cold water tightens your pores and makes it harder for gunk to get in there and make your skin angry.

Why this is awesome: cold water tightens your pores and makes it harder for gunk to get in (yes I know I just repeated myself).

5. Be less stressed!

I think this is the coolest benefit to cold showers. Get this: they can actually help you build up a tolerance to stress.

The cold acts as an external stress trigger and if you make this a routine thing, your body builds up a resilience to the stress. Cold showers have also been shown to increase white blood cell counts (the ones the fight off sickies). Not bad, right?

Why this is awesome: getting clean plus building up a tolerance to stress? Yes please.

However, all this being said, I know it’s extremely hard to go from warm bed to cold shower. But there are a few ways to ease yourself into your new routine of cold-shower-super-power-ness:

+ Blast some cold at the end of your shower and see how long you can last
+ Alternate between warm and cold during your shower
+ Gradually lower the temperature of your shower while you shower
+ Go for a run, get hot and sweaty and then jump in the cold
(that mild electroshock of your brain- you know the feeling- is
actually a jolt of energy that’ll keep you going for the rest of the day)

What do you think: are cold showers good for you? Are you sold?