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Taking Cold Showers

jasonshen.com

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Re: Taking Cold Showers

#11

Post by cadalac »

Funny, I started taking cold showers about a month ago, without having read any article about it. I guess because I was feeling unhappy for some time and I was annoyed from having so much comfort, like good food and warm water around me and not being happy, so I decided to ditch hot water. At first I used pure cold water (this was still the tale end of winter, so it would actually numb my skin) and managed to keep it up for about a week. After that my bad mood past, however I decided to keep up taking cold showers at a moderately cold temperature (still cold so you shiver and shrink but not so that it numbs your skin.

So in conclusion I'll mention my results after a month. First of all, I feel good about it, and I never intend to go back to warm indulgent water. I feel like I got rid of an unnecessary comfort, second after about two weeks I felt like going back to warm water but the power of habit had already kicked in so I stayed with cold water. Third, Like mentioned in the article, the panic response to cold water is gradually going away, and soon I'll probably notice it flow into other areas in my life.

So I think It's a quick and effective way to develop discipline and even self esteem. I would recommend this habit especially to high school kids who bear the brunt of mass marketing from large corporations selling useless products.

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#14

Post by lynndylanhurley »

parenthesis wrote: post #5

I have a normal warm/hot shower to actually wash, and then at the end I switch off the heat and have a cold shower for a minute or two. I definitely feel the better for it afterwards, although the effect wears off after half an hour or so. The only problem is that in the summer, the `cold' water isn't actually very cold.

http://artofmanliness.com/2010/01/18/the-james-bond-shower-a...

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#15

Post by fmavituna »

What will happen when cold shower feels as good as hot shower, will you start sit on ice all day, find new ways to suffer to "grow stronger"?

Cold water itself might be healthier or not but without data, this practice sounds pointless and if we generalise the idea and boil down to suffering to grow stronger it sounds down right ridiculous.

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#16

Post by GrangalanJr »

sudhirc wrote: post #10
sdfjkl wrote: post #3

Sounds a lot like Kneipp's idea ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kneipp - was pretty popular in Germany when I grew up). Having been forced to take a week of cold showers due to a malfunctioning heater I can't say it made me any stronger. It just made me feel pissed off and not properly clean.

I have taken cold shower almost all my life. Initially because my home was not equipped with a hot shower and later as an exercise is self control when shower became available. It may have felt better if you either adopted to it or it was not forced in the first place. One benefit which I have experienced is that outside temperature feel less harsh once you come out of the shower.

I've noticed this, too. Once I step out of the shower and dry off, I actually feel unusually warm, perhaps because the cold water forced my body's internal heating mechanisms to start working harder.

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#17

Post by ebiester »

Alternatively, take 20 seconds to wet yourself with water. fill a small bucket. Turn off water until the final minute when you wash off.

You don't have to keep the water running to stay cold, and you can save a bit of water in the process.

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#18

Post by zacharycohn »

bgutierrez wrote: post #4
sdfjkl wrote: post #3

Sounds a lot like Kneipp's idea ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kneipp - was pretty popular in Germany when I grew up). Having been forced to take a week of cold showers due to a malfunctioning heater I can't say it made me any stronger. It just made me feel pissed off and not properly clean.

Jason Shen said that voluntarily taking cold showers increased his discipline. Can you imagine a different experience if you chose cold showers instead of being forced to take them? I don't feel like I've properly had a shower unless the shower has raised my core temperature, but I'm going to give this a try. The easiest life hacks are ones that don't require a time commitment and only minor changes in routine.

Taking a cold shower lowers your body temperature, then your hypothalamus kicks in to compensate. You get out of your cold shower, and your body heats up. If you take a warm shower, you end up cooling down after the shower.

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#19

Post by jasonshen »

hugh3 wrote: post #2

Interesting idea. Maybe I'll try it. I fear, though, that it'll just end with me lying in bed for an extra twenty minutes every day, not wanting to get up and face the cold shower. Some say that willpower is like a muscle, and that the more you use it the more you develop it. On the other hand, maybe willpower is more like... a muscle, and if you use it too much on any given day then it just gets worn out. Will a col…

I taught a course on the Psychology of Personal Change in college and there are papers that suggest that willpower resembles a muscle - in that it can degrade over time. But there are also other studies that suggest it can also be built up over time - like a muscle.

Would you say that doing pushups in the morning is a bad thing? Yes, you're more tired later in the day, but if you keep doing it, you'll get stronger and stronger.

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