Taking Cold Showers • Hacker News Board

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#61

Post by silencio » Fri, Jun 10, 2011, 8:37 PM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #25

jasonshen wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you like to share some specific reasons why people shouldn't engage in cold showers? Or are you just going to make a personal attack that doesn't relate to anything I said?

Would you like to share some specific reasons why people shouldn't engage in cold showers? Would you like to share some sort of science proving that taking a cold shower has some health benefit over talking a hot shower?

I take lukewarm to cold showers often, half personal preference and half dermatologist-recommended. Hot water dries out skin pretty quickly and I end up with red, raised itchy skin over large parts of my body before I'm even done with my ~10 minute shower.

But I doubt that's why a lot of people are taking cold showers :)

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#62

Post by mattdeboard » Fri, Jun 10, 2011, 8:49 PM UTC

As someone who has taken many, many, many cold showers in Iraq and other unpleasant locales, if your character is so underdeveloped that taking a cold shower builds it up, you should be taking bigger strides.

Edit: point being, cold showers are such an unbelievably mild form of suffering that suggesting they're "character builders" is painfully pretentious. Surprised this blogger of all people wrote this. He knows suffering.

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#63

Post by dkl » Fri, Jun 10, 2011, 9:02 PM UTC

There was a study I read about where a large group of people where divided into 2 equal groups. The non-control group was had their body temperature lowered. The study showed those with a lowered body temperature got sick more frequently. I googled to try and find a reference, but couldn't locate it.

So, on the cold showers thing... no thanks.

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#64

Post by georgieporgie » Fri, Jun 10, 2011, 9:07 PM UTC

code_duck wrote: post #56

georgieporgie wrote: post #24

Good luck getting a clean shave under those conditions. It sometimes amazes me what people think constitutes adversarial conditions, and testing oneself. Reaching down and turning a knob, then telling yourself that you're building character? Odd. By the way, I loved the comments. They read like something I would have written as a twelve year old. "I'm like a Navy SEAL because I beat myself up every day with a cold sh…

> Where there are hot springs, there are happy, relaxed locals. Some people feel they work better and are more motivated when they're not in a state of happy relaxation. Comfortable and focused perhaps. > "Reaching down and turning a knob, then telling yourself that you're building character? Odd." The detail that is important is not the knob, but the endurance of a blast of cold water. (Note: the following is a ridi…

Some people feel they work better and are more motivated when they're not in a state of happy relaxation. Comfortable and focused perhaps.

I don't work in the shower.

The detail that is important is not the knob, but the endurance of a blast of cold water.

I believe that you have missed my point. Turning a knob, over which you have complete control, really isn't subjecting yourself to anything meaningful. You're not pushing your limits. You're doing silly things and calling it personal progress.

Go climb a mountain. Or even a challenging rock. Commit to a period of time living in a developing nation, or any place drastically different from your home. Join the Navy SEALs. Do not, however, turn the shower tap to 'cold' and then blog about how you're growing as a person as a result of it.

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#65

Post by andreyf » Fri, Jun 10, 2011, 9:34 PM UTC

cadalac wrote: post #11

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…

I would recommend this habit especially to high school kids who bear the brunt of mass marketing from large corporations selling useless products.

...expound?

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#66

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jun 10, 2011, 9:50 PM UTC

orangecat wrote: post #8

I'll be the meta-contrarian ( http://lesswrong.com/lw/2pv/intellectual_hipsters_and_metaco... ) and disagree. If you believe that it's important to deliberately suffer to build character, at least do something that provides some benefit like vigorous exercise, or even rejection therapy.

[deleted]

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#67

Post by rayder » Fri, Jun 10, 2011, 9:52 PM UTC

I live by the beach, and every morning I get up and surf for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Getting in a hot shower after that is AMAZING, especially during the winter months.

Would highly recommend over a forced cold shower.

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#68

Post by radagaisus » Fri, Jun 10, 2011, 9:58 PM UTC

I've been in the army. I've taken cold showers every day. Our commanders woke us up in 2am for a long run while carrying a rubber boat filled with water to the beach almost every day. When we finally got to the beach, we had to do push ups with our head inside the freezing water. I ran 20km carrying a fat man on a stretcher, cursing him under what remained of my breath.

Guess what? I still read HN instead of getting shit done.

Tolerance is only built on the same vector.

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#69

Post by steele » Fri, Jun 10, 2011, 10:03 PM UTC

jasonshen wrote: post #20

steele wrote: post #13

"life coach" baloney

Would you like to share some specific reasons why people shouldn't engage in cold showers? Or are you just going to make a personal attack that doesn't relate to anything I said?

Well, for one, I don't see how it makes you "stronger", "kick-ass", or "winning".

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#70

Post by natural219 » Fri, Jun 10, 2011, 10:04 PM UTC

bennesvig wrote: post #46

scythe wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>our bodies are probably designed to buck up and shower in less-than-ideal conditions. By this argument, our bodies are designed to die of smallpox.

Yes, of course there are exceptions to every generality. Man also isn't conditioned to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day or eat highly processed foods on a consistent basis. This doesn't disprove his point that exposing yourself to a little bit of the natural environment is probably a good thing.

What? That completely disproves his point that "exposing yourself to nature is probably a good thing." You can't cherry-pick which types of nature you should expose yourself to -- you have to supply some other criteria.