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Taking Cold Showers

jasonshen.com

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Re: Taking Cold Showers

#101

Post by DifE-Q »

georgieporgie wrote: post #90
pyre wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> 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. No offense, but that response just makes you come off like a dick. Do you really think that he's implying that you work in the shower? > Turning a knob, over which you have complete control, really isn't > subjecting yourself to anything meani…

No offense, but that response just makes you come off like a dick. Do you really think that he's implying that you work in the shower? The opposite interpretation is that one is perpetually showering/tubbing in order to be in a state of relaxation. That is equally absurd. You can turn back at any point. That depends entirely on the situation. There are plenty of ways to climb, backpack, etc. where one has no choice b…

You sound like someone that is afraid of cold water - if it seems so easy an puerile to you; why don't you try it.

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#102

Post by knieveltech »

I applaud the general concept here but I think you're doing yourself a disservice if this is the extent to which you take this. Go take up rock climbing (toproping in a gym doesn't count), whitewater kayaking, or some other activity that will get you outdoors doing something involving real risk assessment and nontrivial consequences.

If you're anything like me you'll find your attention to detail increases dramatically. Your ability to shrug off daily stresses will also increase. Compared to being gripped out of your mind 120 feet off the ground it's pretty hard to take some guy cutting you off in traffic seriously.

Whatever you do, keep pushing your boundaries. Good luck!

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#103

Post by codex »

The idea upon which this is based is called hormesis. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormesis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_hormesis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloric_restriction

The basic idea is that our ancestors were under stress so often that we evolved beneficial processes that kick in during times of stress, and only times of stress. Without the right environmental cues our bodies won't do the right thing. Imagine having to red-line your car for a few seconds in order to start the automatic oil-change.

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#104

Post by raffaelc »

maeon3 wrote: post #91

The ability to discipline yourself with nothing but the power of your mind is one of the single greatest skills a human can have. Put the ice cream cone down, and pick up a book, then go to the gym then finish up that big project you started 3 months ago. It is the art of taking control of your own body even though it hurts. It's what separates kings from bums lying around on the side of the road.

"It's what separates kings from bums lying around on the side of the road."

Since kingship is, by definition, hereditary, I'm pretty sure that what separates kings from bums is largely a mere accident of birth.

Just as we have evolved with an unrealistic perceptual bias to see lions in forest shadows - thinking you see one where there isn't one is low cost, failing to see one when there is one is a potentially lineage-ending move - we've also evolved to think that we have much more influence on the course of our lives than we do.

We have limited self control; our conscious minds can really only inhibit unconscious impulses, and that only to a limited extent. Nevertheless, we've evolved to believe that we have much greater control than we do so that we continue to try to exercise the limited control that we do have, rather than not trying at all because we see our distinctly limited self control for what it is.

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#105

Post by jwr »

I love this. Somebody decided to invent and plant a meme and see just how gullible people are.

I'd image than several months later the authors will be laughing their posteriors off reading all the retweets, blog posts, and journals about people following the "procedure".

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#107

Post by forensic »

fragsworth wrote: post #59
forensic wrote: post #53

Taking a cold shower _because_ it's unpleasant makes as much sense as cutting yourself.

Except for the physical scarring and potential for infection.

Why is physical scarring bad? Why is infection bad?

Humans dislike infection for the same reason they dislike cold showers. Pain is bad. Avoiding pain is good.

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#108

Post by tygorius »

mattdeboard wrote: post #62

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 su…

suggesting they're "character builders" is painfully pretentious.

No, it's just clear that the author has a wider understanding of the issue (and more compassion) than you display. It's like criticizing people for only being able to do a couple of pushups when they first visit the gym. The fact that they keep going to the gym and working at building strength is the important part, not how many repetitions they start out with.

Recently deceased Aikido master Koichi Tohei[1] was a sickly child and had to take a year off from high school because he had pleurisy. Being forbidden to exercise, he started improving his character where he could: getting out of bed quickly and bathing by dumping buckets of cold water on himself.[2] He would later wind up leading troops in battle, so he hardly strikes me as a wimp. But since he would later stress that simple beginning exercise in some of his writings, just maybe he and the blogger aren't so "painfully pretentious" as you think.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tohei_Koichi

[2] http://www.shinichitohei.com/english/2006/08/ki-breathing--1...

Re: Taking Cold Showers

#109

Post by Derbasti »

scythe wrote: post #27

The way I see it, learning to be uncomfortable is beside the point; it's about finding the positives, not ignoring the negatives. If you learn to be uncomfortable, you become complacent, and don't do things to improve your life in real, tangible ways, like, say, negotiating a better salary. If there's a problem you need to solve with a method like this, that's great, but I would hesitate to recommend that people regu…

I agree with you, except for

> If you walk to work, you won't be able to contribute to advances in vehicle technology.

Are you implying that walking to work is an 'uncomfortable' thing like taking a cold shower? I may be misunderstanding you there, but I , for one, hate sitting in a car and suffering through morning-hour traffic jams. I hate searching for a parking spot. I much rather take my bike to work. You know, not to work out, but to breathe fresh morning air for once. To enjoy the sound of birds. Riding your bike, or walking, is exactly what that nice quite of yours is recommending.

You can advance your vehicle technology as far as you like, but if that vehicle will be used for a distance that you could easily walk, it will never be effort well spent.

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