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The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work: A Randomized Controlled Trial

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

101–110 of 163 posts

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work: A Randomized Controlled Trial

#101
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not sure how much clothes would help in preventing hypothermia.

Generally, quite a lot, as long as you stay dry. I spent 8 straight hours outside shooting pictures while standing - and occasionally lying down - on a frozen lake in northern Canada in January. It was -25C / -13F. I was perfectly comfortable, although I did have to repeatedly switch batteries with ones that I'd been keeping inside my coat. Goal was to get pictures like this: https://goo.gl/images/imXCMy (Those are m…

"It's not the [lack of] heat, it's the humidity" applies in the cold, too :)

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work: A Randomized Controlled Trial

#102
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may be right and it's just how I perceive myself in the world. :-p

This is known as spotlight effect[0] - people overestimate how much strangers notice details about you. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotlight_effect

This always amuses me, because I'm very quiet and introvert until I get to know people, and people who don't know me sometimes assume this means I'll be anxious in crowds.

But in fact, while I don't particularly like crowds, I learned very young that if you don't particularly want to interact with people, crowds are great. I can sit down in the middle of a party and spent 3 hours just observing people mindfully and be content, and most of the time people will ignore it.

But you can also act totally outrageous in a crowd, and people will tend to try to ignore you, not pay attention to you until/unless what you do personally affects them.

A useful exercise in that respect is to go a day and try to keep a mental count of how often you notice yourself thinking about your own actions vs. how often you notice yourself paying attention to someone elses action, and then at the end of it, try to recall those other peoples actions. Not only will most people find they spend far more time worrying about their own appearance or actions, but that they will have forgotten most of the interactions the noticed with other people even when trying to keep mental tabs of them.

Most things that most people do simply isn't that interesting to other people. Heck, most things that most people do isn't that interesting to themselves other than in the moment.

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work: A Randomized Controlled Trial

#103
post #30

TLDR; 3000 participants study that asked them to do cold showers for 30-90 seconds each day for 1 month. Main difference shown was ~30% reduction in sick days they took. On a side note, has anyone here tried wim hof method?

Reading these studies nowadays feels like reading horoscopes. Chatty, interesting topics but strictly meaningless without an associated prediction or set of predictions of what will be found. (Predictions derived from theoretical explanations.) Hopefully predictive coding will correct this as we learn that AGIs literally can't see things without learning how to see them first, and therefore neither can we.

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work: A Randomized Controlled Trial

#104
post #87
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Important to note that it did not find any reduction in illness days. Meaning, they examined both whether participants got sick and whether they took the day off from work, and only found a reduction in the latter. “The contrast between the results of both primary outcome parameters is suggestive of the fact that the intensity rather than the duration of symptoms is modulated by the intervention.” My conjecture is th…

It does not imply placebo through. I was recommended cold showers cause I was frequently ill. I seemed to catch everything that went around. For first months, sickness just felt less bad - but that was enough motivation for me to continue. The reduction in sick days started later on. A year later definitely, I had measurable down in sick days. I basically don't need them now. I think sick days started to get better f…

While it is possible that it is more than a placebo, note that nothing you wrote is inconsistent with a placebo effect.

If it works for you, great. Doesn't matter if it's a placebo effect or not in that case.

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work: A Randomized Controlled Trial

#105
This is not for everyone. I can do this and enjoy it in summer but not winter. I have poor circulation and am always cold as it is. In winter, the water comes out of our pipes at whatever ground temperature is - typically just a couple degrees above freezing.

Tried it once for a week, and was stepping out of the shower nearly hypothermic and shivering violently. Immediately came down with a massive head and chest cold that required my first course of antibiotics in nearly a decade, followed by a tension related muscle injury that's still plaguing me three years later.

Never again.

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work: A Randomized Controlled Trial

#106
post #49
post #30

TLDR; 3000 participants study that asked them to do cold showers for 30-90 seconds each day for 1 month. Main difference shown was ~30% reduction in sick days they took. On a side note, has anyone here tried wim hof method?

Important to note that it did not find any reduction in illness days. Meaning, they examined both whether participants got sick and whether they took the day off from work, and only found a reduction in the latter. “The contrast between the results of both primary outcome parameters is suggestive of the fact that the intensity rather than the duration of symptoms is modulated by the intervention.” My conjecture is th…

And also, do you want people coming into work when they're only mildly sick, and then getting the rest of the office "only mildly" sick?

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work: A Randomized Controlled Trial

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

40F with or without clothes? 4-6 hours without clothes and Im pretty sure you're looking at fairly severe hypothermia.

IIRC the scenario was with clothing on where people spend extended period of time outdoors in the cold. E.g. shoveling snow, hiking on a cold day, etc.

Activity makes a big difference. Sitting outdoors for 4-6 hours without a coat in 40F would mean hypothermia for most people. Heck, I lose peripheral circulation and get sick more easily after sitting outdoors for just an hour or two in 50F WITH a coat if it's not an adequate one.

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work: A Randomized Controlled Trial

#108

We did this in our entire house for about 6 months once when our water heater broke and we couldn't afford to get it fixed quickly. UPSIDES: We nearly halved our water bill as all of us (kids and parents) took far shorter showers because it was so cold. This also meant we had to clean the shower much less often. I would also be more awake and alert in the morning after a cold rinse. DOWNSIDES: I noticed I was getting…

The best thing about a cold shower is that when you get out, you feel to only get warmer, and it's very pleasing the sensation of thawing through. Whereas hot shower to coldish environment just makes me shiver.

Yes, this phenomenon is really remarkable. When I take a nice, warm shower I feel freezing when I get out. After a horrible cold shower I feel nice and warm getting out.

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work: A Randomized Controlled Trial

#109

This is not for everyone. I can do this and enjoy it in summer but not winter. I have poor circulation and am always cold as it is. In winter, the water comes out of our pipes at whatever ground temperature is - typically just a couple degrees above freezing. Tried it once for a week, and was stepping out of the shower nearly hypothermic and shivering violently. Immediately came down with a massive head and chest col…

Try the wim hof method

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work: A Randomized Controlled Trial

#110
I had to cold shower for a January fortnight when we had issues with our gas boiler.

One thing I noticed was that it got me alert much sooner in the morning. Typically I would get up at 7:00am, shower, eat and then head off to work to start at 9:00am, but my brain wouldn't really be in gear till about 9:30am.

With cold showering the brain was in gear far sooner. I felt more willing to get out and get stuff done. Maybe that earlier alertness helps cancel out a desire to pull a sickie?

That being said, the extra alertness wasn't worth the sheer torture of a cold shower.

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