7 Reasons to Shatter Your Comfort Zone with Cold Showers
By Carlos D'Angelo @thefeature
There I stood, 5:30 am naked as all get out with a cold shower running in the middle of December. I was going to do this. I read about the benefits (more on those later) of cold showers, and I was going to get in for 5 minutes. I was, and then I wasn’t, and then I was again. It took me longer to convince myself to take a cold shower than the shower itself lasted. “How bad could it really be?” I kept asking myself and then BOOM!!
It was like thousands of ice cold and angry drops of water, mad at me for forcing them from their slumber deep within the pipes. The cold water steals your breath, and you begin to hyperventilate. The oxygen is running from you, and the cold shower challenges you to catch it while dealing with the freezing water. You do get a little use to it, but it proves Einstein’s theory of relativity because those first seconds feel like an eternity. I rushed to do my regular shower routine, you know get all my 2000 parts (That's a soap joke).
Just as I rinsed off, the timer went off letting me know that I completed my first cold shower. I turned the water off and thought. “I did it.”. I felt like I had just slain a Dragon and had a feeling that this was the worst thing I’d go through for the rest of the day. It’s a pretty good feeling and a hell of a confidence boost. Since I started taking cold showers, I have seen the difference and wanted to share with you some benefits of taking them.
Benefits:
1. Improved Hair & Skin- Cold showers can help our hair and skin by preventing them from losing natural oils. If you suffer from dry skin, cold showers could be a remedy for you. Some men claim to have had their hair loss completely stop from cold showers.
2. Increase Testosterone & Sperm Count- Just to be blunt our balls like to be cool. That is why they hang away from our bodies. Studies in mice have shown a substantial decrease in testosterone after having their testes heated up. Even small amounts of heat have an effect on the protein synthesis in the male testes. Test show that cold showers will increase testosterone production in the body. Cool testes will produce more sperm.
3. Improved Circulation-Cold showers improve circulation by sending more blood to your organs to warm them up. This helps improve overall cardiovascular health. Switching back and forth between hot and cold intervals will have a greater impact.
4. Lose Weight- We have two types of fat, brown fat & white fat. White fat is the body fat that we all hate and is not good for us to carry. Brown fat is beneficial; its function is to keep us warm and when activated increases our metabolism, thereby helping us burn the white fat throughout the day. Brown fat is primarily located in the upper chest and upper back. This fact is useful when you are dancing in a circle trying to deal with a cold shower.
5. Fight Depression- One key benefit from cold showers is fighting depression. Cold showers have been shown to help combat depression due to the amount of cold receptors in our skin. The brain sends an overwhelming amount of electric impulses to peripheral nerve endings creating an antidepressant effect and improving our mood.
6. Shatter Your Comfort Zone-Hot showers are almost synonymous with relaxation. In order to grow and be better men we have to leave our comfort zone and this is a way to leave your comfort zone without leaving the house.
7. Improved Willpower- There is a reason to believe our power is like a muscle and cold showers act as a work out for your willpower muscle. If you want to say no to the carbs at lunch, you can start by saying yes to a cold shower before breakfast.
Now, what are you waiting for? You have a Dragon to slay.
Loved the article. Thanks for sharing. Now I'll go and slay some Dragons.
Give me an update if you can!
I've been doing this cold showers, for three days. It's been great ! I feel more motivated, my muscles feel rested and I woke up faster. So definitely will continue to do this.
That is so good to hear! I am glad it has made a difference.
Awesome!
This is something i didnt know at all. Of course i knew about the hair. But everything else is news to me. I'll have to shower in cold from now on :)
Please check back and let me know how your experience goes. You can always try hot water first then go cold. That is how James Bond did it in the novels.
I tried this a couple times but I couldn't get used to it. Winter back home could be -30C and the pipe from the well to the house had to be buried 8 feet to keep its contents from solidifying. Could we get an actual thermometer reading of how cold a cold shower should be? Also there was this story (not sure if its true) that these brothers would take turns in the combine during harvest because it had the only functional air conditioner. They where switching back and forth from cold to hot all day and that night they died. And then there's the story of the Norwegian sailors who where rescued from the north Atlantic. 2 drank a hot drink to warm up and died. the one that didn't, survived. So temp and time specifics are important to me.
Well, the avg for cold tap water is about 49 degrees Fahrenheit. I try to keep them to about 5 mins. I know some people that go longer than that. You can check out Wim Hof who is nicknamed the Ice man.
Yup. When I was a kid, I regularly used cold shower & bath all year round, and it did improve my health (I was really prone to colds, bunt after doing it regularly for several years they started happening more and more rarely). So did my little sister & mother.
I am hooked on them. They have become a permanent part of my morning routine.