Benefits Of Taking A Cold Shower

Photo by: https://www.herbneden.com/blogs/herbn-eden-blog/my-secret-to-perfect-skin

This hot water girl experienced the surprise in the morning of January 8th when the hot water turned cold on me in the shower.

It was more hilarious than anything.

I love heat.

I prefer warmer climates.

80 degrees on the thermostat is my happy place.

So naturally I flock to hot water for showers.

I wish I could have seen what my eyes looked like when I felt the water going cold. Hahah.

But the colder it got, I just kept going with it. I didn’t escape.

It started to feel good. It’s something I would like to try again (with the hot water coming on first haha).

I looked up the benefits of taking a cold shower.

Apparently: (according to MSN)

1. Promotes fat loss
2. Boosts immunity
3. Improves circulation (it improves blood flow to organs to keep body warm).
4. Drains lymphatic system
5. Improves emotional resilience
6. Lowers stress
7. Decreases depression
8. Improves fertility and testosterone
9. Faster muscle recovery
10. Improves skin and hair.
11. Promotes better sleep at night
12. Helps with itchy skin. Since your nerves can’t handle two sensations at once, the cold overrides the itch.

• I have heard that cold showers boost your metabolism. If I have a cheat day where I’m outrageous, I could just walk extra and get in the cold. I’ll just add on a couple of miles, because hot water is still my baby.
• When I’m cold, I do not turn on the cold water. I turn up the heat and drink hot tea to get warm. Guilty as charged.
• Maybe taking cold shoulders could have helped with the bullshit I dealt with in my school life. I’ll never know, but the biggest stress killas was/is leaving the situations all together and staying away from the people who caused me so much grief.
• I also heard it could help with immunity, which helps me with colds. Staying away from people, especially people with colds have obviously helped. Haha.
• I do like drinking cold water before going to bed, when I get up to go to the bathroom, or when I work out.
• I do like running in cooler weather. I do have my limit. If it’s too freezing cold I’m out.

Risks:

According to Health Line and Today, anyone with cardiovascular issues should avoid.

Abrupt exposure to cold water causes your blood vessels to restrict, causes you to take a deep breath, causes your heart rate and blood pressure to potentially go up and this could potentially cause a stressor on the heart- Glassberg

• If you already cold (which is the story of my life being in cold weather climates) putting yourself in a cold shower won’t warm you up.
• If you are already sick from the cold, putting yourself in a cold shower is not ideal either.

If you noticed, I show hot water showers a little bit of love, so without further hesitation…

Benefits of Taking A Hot Shower

• Helps you fall asleep quicker
• Provides relief from respiratory symptoms
• Open airways when you have a stuffy nose
• Loosen up phlegm (it works wonders with my sinuses)
• It clears out your nasal passages, get your tissues ready.
• Helps with blemishes
• Relaxes your muscles

Risks:

• Hot showers can dry out and irritate your skin.
• They can cause high blood pressure.
• They can make certain skin conditions worse.
• They can make you have itchy skin.

Confessions:

• I have noticed itchy skin at different periods. At night it’s annoying.
• I have eczema on my thumbs mainly. In the winter it gets weird and flaky.
• I rarely have blemishes on my face from adult acne. I suspect it’s because I wash my face with warm-hot water. By the way, I never had bad acne, just a random pimple here and there. I keep it at bay with my hot water.
• I love taking hot showers at night because it does help you with sleep. After my surgery I took showers at night because I wasn’t working out for the time being, and I spent my days sleeping. I workout in the morning, so I adjusted my showers in the morning because I don’t want to walk around smelling like a stinky hog. I don’t want to take 2 showers daily because I don’t want to dry out the natural oils on my skin. I would love to eventually find a happy medium of taking a nightly shower more often. It feels too good.

The verdict?

I’ll mostly take hot showers with an occasional cold shower. If I’m feeling the nerve to feel the freeze.

Since it’s 2020, a new decade 🔥🙌 I’ve decided to slightly change how I sign off. (Since I’m editing this from my phone, I’ll add links later).

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