Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)

journals.plos.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–188 of 188 posts

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)

#181

Post by watwut »

carlmr wrote: post #176
watwut wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can compare that on myself - I was very often sick (with common colds and such) and it got slowly better after I started cold showering regularly. Cold swimming (which should include showering with cold water if you follow guidelines) is not exceptional here and people do report improvements in immunity. That is common reason for starting it - you are often sick and this is last desperate attempt to make it better…

Maybe you just got mentally hardened. What you used to treat as a sick day now doesn't feel that bad. Not because you're less sick, but rather because a light cold doesn't seem so bad anymore.

I am 100% sure it is not the case.

It is also completely absurd to think that daily cold shower will mentally harden you so that you don't perceive sickness.

What I am confused about is the level of investment people have in idea that it can not possibly do something with body on physical level and absurdity people go to argue that.

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)

#182

Post by iLemming »

In Russia, there are groups of swimmers who practice swimming in cold water. They are called "walruses" and they swim even at minus 10-20 centigrade. It's insane. I once watched a very old looking, skinny gentleman coming out of water. He still had his t-shirt on. He then took off his wet t-shirt, squeezed out the water couple of times, and then put (still wet t-shirt) back on, then grabbed his belongings and walked away. He wasn't even shaking. It was around late November. There was snow. I understand that the temperature of the river was maybe slightly even warmer than the air's, but damn, he put his cold, wet t-shirt on, and walked like it was July in Jamaica.

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)

#183

Post by carlmr »

watwut wrote: post #181
carlmr wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you just got mentally hardened. What you used to treat as a sick day now doesn't feel that bad. Not because you're less sick, but rather because a light cold doesn't seem so bad anymore.

I am 100% sure it is not the case. It is also completely absurd to think that daily cold shower will mentally harden you so that you don't perceive sickness. What I am confused about is the level of investment people have in idea that it can not possibly do something with body on physical level and absurdity people go to argue that.

>I am 100% sure it is not the case.

What makes you so sure?

>It is also completely absurd to think that daily cold shower will mentally harden you so that you don't perceive sickness.

I didn't say not perceive sickness. I said that you wouldn't judge some levels of sickness to be as debilitating. I know enough people that sneeze once and don't work for a week. While others will only not go to work if they have a fever.

Both of those people feel worse with a blocked nose, but one of them doesn't judge it as debilitating (given they're not just scared of losing their jobs).

>What I am confused about is the level of investment people have in idea that it can not possibly do something with body on physical level and absurdity people go to argue that.

Why is it absurd to think of alternative explanations for the same phenomenon? I also never said it could not possibly be the case. I think you should take a look at it from different angles. It's unscientific to rule out something that's so well documented like mental effects (placebo).

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)

#184

Post by pknight »

javiermares wrote: post #68

Someone knowledgeable please advise: Do cryotherapy or cold showers increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in the long term? "Tau phosphorylation is exquisitely sensitive to temperature, increasing by 80% for each degree below 37°C, due to exponential decrease in PP2A activity during direct hypothermia, or anesthesia-induced hypothermia." This means that one might expect a significant increase in tau pho…

Not an expert, and I don't think this is a factor at all, but the cold showers are in part meant to help you tap into a natural ability to stay warm (without shivering), so you're not get an appreciable dip in core body temperature in the first place if you do it right.

I believe it is thought that long term Tau accumulation in the brain is what worsens or accelerates alzheimers in patients, but a healthy person is clearing Tau build-up all the time, primarily during sleep. Any behaviour that improves sleep quality is therefore likely to be a boost in preventing and decelerating the development of alzheimers and cold showers promote good sleep and help keep our circadian rhythms aligned in a way that encourages good quality sleep.

One of the reasons why a hot bath before bed is good for sleep is because it decreases body temperature.

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)

#185

Post by agumonkey »

michalu wrote: post #17

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…

Gonna start a sunday cold day.

Saving some time, and energy.

It would be fun if all would cut heating tanks one day a week. A global GWh saving...

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)

#186

Post by watwut »

carlmr wrote: post #183
watwut wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am 100% sure it is not the case. It is also completely absurd to think that daily cold shower will mentally harden you so that you don't perceive sickness. What I am confused about is the level of investment people have in idea that it can not possibly do something with body on physical level and absurdity people go to argue that.

>I am 100% sure it is not the case. What makes you so sure? >It is also completely absurd to think that daily cold shower will mentally harden you so that you don't perceive sickness. I didn't say not perceive sickness. I said that you wouldn't judge some levels of sickness to be as debilitating. I know enough people that sneeze once and don't work for a week. While others will only not go to work if they have a feve…

> What makes you so sure?

Cause the difference between feeling better/being stronger and being able to overcome that is something I can evaluate. I know when throat hurts. You really can tell.

Also, the hardening effect is ridiculous, mostly because the actual hardening effect going on is that you stop perceiving cold water to be unpleasant. That is also not just psychological. You can stay longer and longer and longer without starting to tremble. For the record, trembling means you have overdone it and should go out asap.Hypotermia is real thing that happens to real people.

For that matter, with cold swimming, your resistance to cold will go up too and you will be able to stay much much longer then untrained people without trembling or being tired after.

All in all, if you follow guidelines and make water cold only gradually, you don't experience unpleasant feelings. With cold swimming (which tend to be natural progression once showers are boring), you experience high from endorphins it releases.

As in, it is the day in week you look forward, because it feels good.

> I know enough people that sneeze once and don't work for a week. While others will only not go to work if they have a fever.

Fewer is good immune system response.You can have no or low fewer and still feel pain or be weak. You described one person with good immune system and one with bad one.

> It's unscientific to rule out something that's so well documented like mental effects (placebo).

It is also unscientific to reject idea that something is not placebo.

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)

#187

Post by javiermares »

pknight wrote: post #184
javiermares wrote: post #68

Someone knowledgeable please advise: Do cryotherapy or cold showers increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in the long term? "Tau phosphorylation is exquisitely sensitive to temperature, increasing by 80% for each degree below 37°C, due to exponential decrease in PP2A activity during direct hypothermia, or anesthesia-induced hypothermia." This means that one might expect a significant increase in tau pho…

Not an expert, and I don't think this is a factor at all, but the cold showers are in part meant to help you tap into a natural ability to stay warm (without shivering), so you're not get an appreciable dip in core body temperature in the first place if you do it right. I believe it is thought that long term Tau accumulation in the brain is what worsens or accelerates alzheimers in patients, but a healthy person is c…

Thanks, all of that is quite interesting. I want to learn more.

Re: The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work (2016)

#188

Post by pgt »

travisporter wrote: post #150
pgt wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Short answer: I don't.

Luckily, it becomes habit. Perhaps doing it unwillingly is part of the rush.

Post reply on HN