I have talked already about the great benefits of a cosy warm EPSOM SALT BATH. I thought it is time to tell you the other benefits of switching that warm water to a real cold one.
Cold Showers, although not that attractive, can litterally boost your whole system, making it stronger and helping it function properly.
MAIN BENEFITS
1. It stimulates your Immune system:
Cold Showers stimulate the production of white blood cells and therefore they strengthen your ability to fight against harmful pathogens.
They also help you balance your Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) out. This is highly important, as the ANS controls the overall stress management of your body:
Your body has to regulate its internal temperature, and if you exercise that stress/mechanism every day, you strengthen your interior vascular vessels, making them overall much more robust and resistant.
Many people will say that they can not even think about having a cold shower. This actually shows that their internal system regulation is already weak and that the downward spiral has maybe started already.
This makes them quite vulnerable for parasites or fungus infections. Parasites and fungi always "attack" the weakest first and they know when someone´s internal system is weaker, and easier to "invade".
2. Cold Showers improve your circulation:
All the blood gets centralized into the organs to keep them safe and warm, and this has a real therapeutic detoxification benefit.
Your body only works properly if you nourish it at a cellular level the way it needs to be nourished, AND if it is able to detox, purify and renew all cells constantly.
The effects of a good cold shower (or bath) on the overall detox process of your body is definitely worth the try.
3. Cold showers can increase your mood:
They enhance the production of norepinephrine, a hormone produced in your brain that is essential for your mood, and that also alleviates pain. Just try it out! Stay there for 10 minutes and you will be able to feel those effects straight away.
4. Cold showers help you burn fat
They make you shake, your metabolism is speeded up. Research shows that a person who takes cold showers every day for a year can lose up to 9lbs more than a person who doesn´t.
This is also due to the fact that very low temperatures boost the mitochondrial biogenesis overall, and especially in the fat tissue. Heat production is a side effect that explains the increase of fat burning for energy.
5. Cold showers help you recover from exercise with a great anabolic effect:
The cold helps your muscles relax, which is important after exercising. But the cold shock also provokes an increase in testosterone production, which helps you get more muscle definition (especially for men), and also increase your sex drive and libido all at the same time.
This can be very useful for many people feeling sluggish, or feeling they are losing their strength even though they keep on working out. Definitely another great reason to give those cold showers a try.
6. Cold showers are great health enhancers for your hair and your skin:
The cold tightens up the skin, closing the all pores, even those from the scalp, as well as your hair cuticles. As a consequence, your skin looks younger, more energized and your hair is naturally shinier.
7. Cold Showers help you manage your stress more efficiently:
When you are having a cold shower, you soon realize that you have to regulate your breath in a very special relaxing way. This will simply teach you, in the middle or long term, how to breathe better, especially when you are under high stress.
When you start breathing deeper, with your belly (and not just with the chest as most of very stressed people do), you physiologically reduce the overall stress in your body, more particularly the cortisol levels.
Another very good reason to start having a cold shower daily...!
WHAT TO REMEMBER
To get the most benefits from Cold Showers, it is better to take them for at least 10 minutes daily.
The more you do it, the more your body will get used to it and the easier it will be for you to stay longer. So don't worry! Start by just staying in cold water after your usual warm shower.
Just for 1 or 2 minutes. Then increase it slowly. Little by little, your body will be able to warm you up more efficiently and you will be able eventually to have a whole complete shower with only cold (very cold) water.
Today, we mostly live indoors in temperature controlled buildings. We are not exercising our Autonomic Nervous System anymore and we are becoming weaker and can not handle that temperature stress as good as we are supposed to.
So starting to add slowly some cold shower time in your daily routine can really drastically improve your wellbeing, your strength and even your self-confidence.
Deciding to start having a cold shower daily can actually have a great impact in your life in overall. After just a month of doing it daily, for at least 10 minutes, you will become a new person. Let me explain.
I am sure, the first day, you will be like: but why am I doing this? You won't like to feel so uncomfortable and it can even be almost scary. So you are there, about to take your shower and you have all those thoughts coming to your head:
"Oh maybe I don't need to do it after all", or "today is not the good day to do it", or "I will do it later when I don't have so much stress in my life"...
All those thoughts are the exact same excuses that most people use to not do something, like quiting/changing job, or any other type of life changing decision.
But if you REALLY DO IT every day for 30 days, if you commit to it and stick to it, you will become more and more comfortable being...uncomfortable. You will actually realize how your brain and mind make up so many reasons for you not to do things. Even if you know those things are important and essential for yourself.
The process regarding other areas of your life is exactly the same. Get out of your comfort zone and your mind will start giving you reasons/excuses for not doing it.
Those daily cold showers can change the pattern.
If you see yourself trapped in life, if you feel you are blocked and that actually you might be the one blocking yourself... those cold showers might be a great help and confidence booster.
CONCLUSION
Cold Showers are amazing physical and mental health boosters. They charge your body up with positive energy, they balance out your hormones helping you feel better, happier.
I do believe that there is more to it than just those physical and mental/emotional effects.
Challenging yourself, daily putting yourself out of your comfort zone, sticking to it to respect your own promise to yourself, realizing how your mind makes you handle stressful situations and how you can break that bad pattern to become a better you and to finally take action the way you know you should, all of this can actually help you...change your life.
Personally, I have had times where I was taking cold showers daily, but I admit that in winter in London this is very hard, and currently I feel good feeling the warmth first and then finishing up with some cold water. But even doing just that is already a great booster every day because honestly, when I am about to turn the knob to the cold side, I ALWAYS have this voice in me telling me: "Come on, you don't want to do that it is going to be terrible!".
But I still do it, even if it is just for 2-3 minutes.
I am realizing that I should start increasing my cold shower time again. Because I know I can do it, and because honestly, if I can't do that, then what about the rest of the things I still want to achieve?
Hope this will give you some good ideas :-)
Just start slowly.
SPECIAL MENTION IF YOU HAVE ANY ACUTE HEART CONDITION: acute vasoconstriction can be too much of a shock for you, so talk to your health practitioner first.
In Health and Happiness,
Stephanie