I haven't been to doctors, or taken any type of medication in 25 years. Rarely do I sick, and it's basically the sniffles that I can sleep off. I take long hot showers.
You’ve probably never had cancer either!
The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)
141–150 of 188 posts
Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)
#142I haven't been to doctors, or taken any type of medication in 25 years. Rarely do I sick, and it's basically the sniffles that I can sleep off. I take long hot showers.
Anecdotal and a sample size of 1.
Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
i live in the gta/ontario and take cold showers 🧐
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!)
Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)
#144Not sure, seems like the ones that did it already were self-determined enough to work. You would need to compare intra group before and after.
From a metabolic viewpoint cold showers might have some short term energy boost from the stress hormones it releases. However highly dubious whether that is healthy or sustainable long-term. 10-years down the line my bet is you would look like a marathon runner, all wrinkled and with bad skin. Hot showers can increase prolactin so I guess, moderation in both would be the way to go.
Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)
#145I'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.
[deleted]
Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)
#146> A routine (hot-to-) cold shower resulted in a statistical reduction of self-reported sickness absence but not illness days in adults without severe comorbidity. In other words, it does nothing. Maybe it gives you some kind of refreshing feeling afterwards but that’s it. I’ll pass on this upcoming health fad.
Glad that at least one other person read the same thing as me rather than engaging in more self-reporting about how great it was for _them_.
Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)
#147I only shower at night before bed. Are there any benefits for cold showers at night? Seems like many of you shower in the morning.
From what I understand (Matthew Walker - Why we Sleep), you will have a better nights sleep if you take a cold shower before bed. According to the information I read, you want to bring your body temperature down for a more restful sleep. As a bonus, cold showers likely bring on Hormesis, which in turn can also be beneficial for ones health.
> According to the information I read, you want to bring your body temperature down for a more restful sleep.
I've heard the same thing, except the suggestion was for a hot shower, because supposedly the heat makes your body work less to stay warm and the end result is actually lower core temperature.
Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)
#148Alternative hypothesis: The 79% who were able to complete the trial had already selected for 'grit', or folks who wouldn't skip a day's work for a minor ailment. To check, instead of just comparing the test group to the control group you would need to compare the test group to itself, before and during the cold shower period.
That probably plays into it.
There's also a psychological boost and momentum to overcoming a challenge first thing in the morning, which makes subsequent challenges easier. Plus a cold shower and/or exercise gets the blood flowing.
Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)
#149It says old showering reduced self-reported sick leaves but not illness days. So it's not conclusive it has real benefits.
I guess lots of HNers shower cold, they like hearing it having potential benefit so they can feel good about themselves. Lots of confirmation bias here. The top voted comment doesn't discuss TFA, but just how great cold showering is.
In the study, a 90-seconds subject died, most likely not because of cold shower, but you never know, without the the experiment, he/she probably would have lived. His/her family members probably blamed cold-shower for it.
Dr. David Sinclair advocates cold-showering, said it increase brown fat. But the evidence he cited[1] (Lifespan page 110), the short term cold exposure is 4 hours, the temperature is probably lot colder than cold shower, so it's doubtful a 30/90 second cold shower help growing brown fat.
Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)
#150I'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 usually do this after a workout, because you're still warm. Cannot imagine doing it in the morning though. How do you motivate yourself?