I've been taking cold showers exclusively for 11 years now. It doesn't get much easier but you'll get addicted to the great feeling after. It's similar to running or exercise, it sucks to do but you do it anyway because the benefits far outweigh the temporary discomfort. The trick for me was to never use warm shower again and never compromise ... only coldest water available counts. First thing in the morning. It mak…
> Other than health, energy and willpower, I suspect it has some solid psychological benefits
Wait, are we just supposed to take it for granted that there are any health benefits (submitted article provides none)? (As for willpower - that's kind of tautological...)
Offtopic, but thats the first time I remember seeing an emoji on HN. Is that recent ? I assumed it was frivolous and judged kind of bad taste ; is it? (Real question in general, not talking about this specific comment!)
Most emojis are automatically stripped out. Apparently that one isn't.
Edit: just tested, 🧐 is let through but others are not.
I've been taking cold showers exclusively for 11 years now. It doesn't get much easier but you'll get addicted to the great feeling after. It's similar to running or exercise, it sucks to do but you do it anyway because the benefits far outweigh the temporary discomfort. The trick for me was to never use warm shower again and never compromise ... only coldest water available counts. First thing in the morning. It mak…
If you lived where I live and did this you would be dead. In winter the temperature of my water at the well-head is about 4 C, but if it's sitting in the pipes over night it can hit 0 C (which means no shower until it thaws, of course). The ambient air temperature in my bathroom is often below 10 C in the morning before I rouse the fire when it's -20 C or below outside, and that happens for weeks at a time. A 4 C sho…
You won't die. I fully immersed myself in the Arctic Ocean at Barrow, Alaska, which was about at 0 C, and the air temperature at the time was about 2 C.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkOVKu7Mvb4
Floridian here! I've been taking cold showers as well for the past few years and I can certainly say it makes a difference in the way you feel afterwards compared to a normal hot shower and regardless of the weather of the day as well, obviously it's more enjoyable when it is a warmer day or after some physical activity and exercise.
As some mentioned I think it has more to do with the shock put on your body which releases endorphins and other chemicals beneficial for brain function, it has shown to also be beneficial for some suffering from depression and such [1][2].
If you lived where I live and did this you would be dead. In winter the temperature of my water at the well-head is about 4 C, but if it's sitting in the pipes over night it can hit 0 C (which means no shower until it thaws, of course). The ambient air temperature in my bathroom is often below 10 C in the morning before I rouse the fire when it's -20 C or below outside, and that happens for weeks at a time. A 4 C sho…
Nope, where I live it gets -25 celsius in winter :) I wish I was in Florida though. Yes the bathroom is cold and it sucks to get out of warm bed but what motivates me is once you're out of the cold shower it's all over. I prefer short term pain than getting out of warm shower back into cold bathroom and feeling demotivated.
I've been taking cold showers exclusively for 11 years now. It doesn't get much easier but you'll get addicted to the great feeling after. It's similar to running or exercise, it sucks to do but you do it anyway because the benefits far outweigh the temporary discomfort. The trick for me was to never use warm shower again and never compromise ... only coldest water available counts. First thing in the morning. It mak…
If you lived where I live and did this you would be dead. In winter the temperature of my water at the well-head is about 4 C, but if it's sitting in the pipes over night it can hit 0 C (which means no shower until it thaws, of course). The ambient air temperature in my bathroom is often below 10 C in the morning before I rouse the fire when it's -20 C or below outside, and that happens for weeks at a time. A 4 C sho…
my well water varies between 4C and 10C from the ground, and I don't full-cold shower, but I do finish my shower cold, with as cold as it can go. It is bracing, but as the parent says, mentally fantastic. I find that it works as a quick meditative reboot (I can't follow any thought threads while the cold water is full on, so it interrupts my main mental loops). It is easier to achieve a "new day" state where it feels like you have permission to begin again. Now, that's just an illusion, just as the particular day of a new year is an illusion, but the "new day" effect is very powerful for behavior modification.
I've been taking cold showers exclusively for 11 years now. It doesn't get much easier but you'll get addicted to the great feeling after. It's similar to running or exercise, it sucks to do but you do it anyway because the benefits far outweigh the temporary discomfort. The trick for me was to never use warm shower again and never compromise ... only coldest water available counts. First thing in the morning. It mak…
I had to look up the James Bond shower: it's when you take a warm shower, and finish with cold water. I've been doing that since I was a young lad, it's how my father taught me. I grant that it might make it more difficult to establish the habit, but I wouldn't know. To my taste it's the best of both worlds.
This is what I have been doing for about a decade. It doesn't work as well if the water can't get below 15C.
Typically I count slowly to 60 while under the cold water, and try to focus on the count. It is easy to get lost at around 40s. Then I put the warm back on, and finish with ~20s hot/warm. I have come to think of it as a "cold water reboot" for my brain.
Sounds spurious to me. I imagine people that take regular cold showers are also more likely to push themselves at work. To make this really interesting, you'd need to have a blind control group of people who are paid to have cold showers, and see whether their absence rates go down when they start.
You couldn't have a true "blind" control group, as there is no way a person could not tell that they are being showered by cold water as opposed to warm water.
Well, you could sedate both groups before the shower and dry them before waking.
How cold is cold for you normally? Our water is about four degrees celcius never mind what season it is. It just hurts, never really managed to stay more than a few seconds. Some people around here are hacking a hole in the ice and swimming for a while... Edit: Seems the test assumed 10-12 degrees average temperature in Netherlands.
As cold as it gets. I am from Eastern Europe but now staying in south of France for couple months. When I am home it can be as cold as couple degrees above 0, especially in winter on the countryside. Now in the south it's not so cold which bothers me, but I use the coldest possible out of the principle, as to keep the principle is the key.
One of my favorite things is to sauna, then cold shower, then brief sauna again, and my nerves get totally reset such that I can go sit in a -20C chair outside and will not be cold for a surprisingly long time. It feels great.
If the water is not cold enough, it is disappointing.
I've been taking cold showers exclusively for 11 years now. It doesn't get much easier but you'll get addicted to the great feeling after. It's similar to running or exercise, it sucks to do but you do it anyway because the benefits far outweigh the temporary discomfort. The trick for me was to never use warm shower again and never compromise ... only coldest water available counts. First thing in the morning. It mak…
I've been doing reverse Bond showers for the past two weeks, where I start off with cold water and gradually switch to warm water. During the initial rush I can feel the "mammalian dive response" kick in as my eyes open wider and something in my brain goes, "Ohh shit, Dorothy! This ain't Kansas no more," then after ~20 seconds I switch over to warm water so I can wash. Would switching from cold to warm water still ha…
I do warm-cold-as-possible-warm. It is my favorite thing mentally.
The best is sauna-cold-sauna-cold...etc, but the shower is a close second if the water is under 10C. If the water is warmer than that, it doesn't trigger the cold-water reset.