Health & Nutrition Plus Motivation : 6 Surprising Benefits Of Taking Cold Showers

6 Surprising Benefits Of Taking Cold Showers

Lately I have been hearing a lot about taking cold showers and the benefits associated with that. I even heard that Tony Robbins likes to jump into his cold pool the first thing in the morning. So I thought it would be a good idea to look into this deeper for my own benefit. Surprisingly, what I discovered in the process was eye opening and I am glad to have discovered a new way to take better care of my body along with other benefits. I’d like to share my findings with you.

Before modern plumbing and hot water heaters, cold showers, or baths, were the norm. Hot baths were considered a luxury, even after the Greeks developed water heating systems. Why? Because cold water offers numerous health benefits.

Here are six surprising benefits of taking cold showers.

1. Better Circulation

The initial shock of being hit with cold water can be uncomfortable, but if you stick with it, cold showers can be invigorating. That’s because your body is working harder to stay warm and maintain its core temperature. Your circulatory system pushes more blood to your organs to help them stay warm.

Good circulation is important for overall health, but it’s especially important for cardiovascular health.

2. Healthy Skin and Hair

Many people claim that a cold shower is the secret to healthy skin and hair. They may be right. Improved circulation also benefits your skin and hair because it sends vital nutrients and oxygen to hair follicles and skin cells.

Hot, steamy showers open up the pores in your skin and the cuticles of your hair. Cold showers have the opposite effect. The cool water closes the cuticles to lock in moisture and help prevent breakage.

As for the skin, cold water tightens pores and constricts blood vessels in the skin. The improved blood flow can also help give you a youthful glow.

3. Better Muscle Recovery

Cold showers and ice baths play a vital role in the recovery process for many athletes. The theory is that intense exercise causes microscopic tears in your muscle fibers. These tears are what stimulate the repair process and help strengthen muscles. At the same time, they also trigger muscle soreness and pain.

Ice baths or very cold showers can help:

· Constrict the blood vessels and help flush lactic acid, and other waste products, out of muscle tissue.

· Reduce swelling.

· Slow metabolic activity.

One 2015 study found that cold water immersion helped accelerate recovery and muscle building after a strength training workout.

A meta-analysis of 23 peer-reviewed articles found that cold water therapy can help combat fatigue and improve the recovery process.

Another small study from 2011 found that cyclists had less soreness after intense exercise when they immersed themselves in cold water for 10 minutes.

Along with helping reduce muscle soreness, cold showers also help you cool down after exercise.

A meta-analysis of 19 studies found that cold water was twice as effective at cooling down overheated people as recovery methods without cold water therapy.

4. Boosts Endorphins

If you’re feeling low, a cold shower may help lift your mood. In fact, one clinical trial found that taking a cold shower for up to five minutes a few times a week helped alleviate depression symptoms.

The belief is that cold water gives the body a bit of a shock, which gives you a quick energy boost, clears the mind and increase alertness. At the same time, the body also releases endorphins, those feel-good chemicals that help us feel optimistic.

While a cold shower shouldn’t replace any medication, it’s a harmless practice that may help boost your mood.

Increased Alertness

Cold showers can make you feel more alert and awake. A meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports and Medicine found that cold showers have several effects on the body that can help boost alertness, including elevated:

· Respiratory rate

· Heart rate

· Blood pressure

The cold temperature also encourages you to take deeper breaths, which decreases CO2 levels and boosts your concentration.

5. Reduced Pain

Chronic pain affects an estimated one in five people across the globe. While cold showers aren’t a replacement for medication or other doctor-recommended treatments, they may offer some relief for pain sufferers.

An article published in the North American Journal of Medical Sciences suggests that cold water can have effects similar to local anesthetics.

As you know, cold water constricts blood vessels, which can help reduce swelling and pain. The cold temperature may also slow down nerve impulses that send pain signals to the brain. These effects can help reduce your perception of pain.

6. May Boost Immune System

A cold shower a day may keep the doctor away. Research suggests that taking cold showers may help boost immune function. Cold water is a shock to the system, and this triggers leukocytes, which help the body fight infection.

Taking cold showers regularly may help your body better fight off the common cold and other illnesses.

One study suggests that cold showers can help decreases the risk of certain types of cancer.

One 2015 study involving 3,018 participants looked at the relationship between cold showers and sickness absences at work. Among the participants, 29% saw a reduction in sickness absence compared to the control group.

Another Dutch study looked at the effects of meditation, deep breathing and cold water immersion on immune function. The group that practiced these techniques produced more anti-inflammatory chemicals when exposed to bacterial infection compared to the group that didn’t use these techniques.

While the researchers in this study believe that deep breathing had a greater effect on immune function, they believe that cold water immersion helped build up a resistance to stress over time.

Making Cold Showers a Part of Your Daily Routine

If you’re used to taking warm or very hot showers, you may want to start gradually introducing cold water into your routine. Otherwise, the experience may be so unpleasant that you give up before you can enjoy the benefits.

Start with just a 5 or 10-second blast of cool water. As you build tolerance, you can decrease the temperature or the duration of cold water. There is evidence that just a short blast of cold water at the end of a shower can be beneficial.

Taking deep breaths can help make cold showers less uncomfortable and ease your mind. Eventually, you may even look forward to your daily cold-water plunge.

Cold showers offer many benefits, but it’s important to note that warm showers also have their own benefits. You can reap the benefits of both by alternating between hot and cold water when showering. Whether you will try this or not, it is entirely your choice, however you are now armed with solid information to make a better decision. Good luck!

For other articles and interesting reads, please visit my blog at blog.passiveonlinemarketing.org or bobkasumyan.blogspot.com

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