Cold Showers

[HRoi]

i take cold showers in the morning, but only because my wife hates to be woken up

 

[RyJ Maduro]

Originally Posted by willpower

Or start warm and finish cold.

This is what I do, also.

 

[Jekyll]

Originally Posted by willpower

Or start warm and finish cold.

+1

 

[milosz]

Start warm, finish cold, kill the hooker halfway through

 

[CunningSmeagol]

It makes me hyperventilate uncontrollably unless I'm really hot to begin with.

 

[YungLA]

how the hell do you take a cold shower? i tried it once for 5 seconds and felt like i was gonna die, i could not breathe!

 

[TeeKay]

Originally Posted by YungLA

how the hell do you take a cold shower? i tried it once for 5 seconds and felt like i was gonna die, i could not breathe!

Like a lot of folks have said, start warm finish cold. I started with this...now I start cold and finish freezing.

 

[noxlord]

I start warm and finish cold. Best of both worlds.
Cleanse the pores when they are wide open, close them tight to prevent crap from getting in.

 

[Don Carlos]

I once went about three or four days taking ice-cold showers by necessity when the hot water heater broke down at my house over a holiday weekend. The showers were frightening and, ultimately, invigorating. I started out dancing in and out of the stream of ice water like a little *****. But ultimately, I could stand under the blast for minutes at a time. It felt like an accomplishment.

I'd keep taking my showers cold, but unfortunately, you run into some annoying logistics issues with cold water. Soap and shampoo don't really take a good lather under cold water, in my experience. This makes the whole process a lot longer and less convenient than the normal-temperature alternative. It's also very hard to get a good shave after a cold shower. The warm water of an ordinary shower really helps open the pores before shaving; cold water, by contrast, tightens them up.

 

[LawrenceMD]

Originally Posted by Arrogant Bastard

I'd keep taking my showers cold, but unfortunately, you run into some annoying logistics issues with cold water. Soap and shampoo don't really take a good lather under cold water, in my experience.

yeah if you're taking a full on cold shower the whole shower with no choice its best to just get totally wet, turn off shower (or jump away from shower stream) lather up completely then rinse. it takes a while to man up and jump back under the water but if you can withstand it you really do jump start the body.

the hypothermia issue is weird, because you see those polar bear clubs with old guys swimming in freezing water all the time. but technically its really dangerous.

 

[blackjack]

At least one researcher claims cold showers are good for one's mood:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/lif...cle3082740.ece

December 22, 2007
Breakthroughs, tips and trends
John Naish
Cold water cure?

GOT the glums? Jumping into a cold shower could give your grey matter just the boost needed to spark it into a festive mood, claims an American brain-scanning expert.

Nikolai Shevchuk, a researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University's radiation oncology department, believes that short, cold showers may stimulate a part of the brain stem called, appropriately, the "blue spot", or locus ceruleus.

This region is the brain's primary source of noradrenaline, a chemical that may mediate depression, Shevchuk says in a research paper scheduled for publication in the journal, Medical Hypotheses.

He believes that regular cold showers may stimulate the blue spot by giving it a mild but intense sensory shock, thanks to the fact that we have a high density of cold sensors in the skin - around five times more than those registering warmth.

Shevchuk suggests that modern life lacks sufficient physiological stressors, such as sudden changes in body temperature, to keep our brains sparked up. He suggests that twice-daily cold showers of three-minute duration should do the trick. In another paper, published in Behavioral and Brain Functions in October, he says the practice may also alleviate chronic fatigue syndrome.

The theory may sound like a boost for the public-school philosophy of "snap out of it and buck yourself up", but it has other antecedents. Research by the psychiatrist Thomas Wehr, of the National Institute of Mental Health, has shown that people who chronically suffer from depression in summer benefit from frequent cold showers.

Traditional Chinese medicine has also long prescribed cold water swims for lifting dismal moods. Shevchuk cautions, though, that you should check with your doctor first, in case the shock might be a little too much.

I've taken cold showers after a workout and sometimes as part of a final bracing rinse. However, I am not sure about taking one from beginning to end on a regular basis - I don't think the shampoo and soap would rinse off as efficiently.

 

[NewYorkIslander]

When the hot water is off in my building (more often than I'd like being the place is almost 100 years old) I have my wife heat up all of our big pasta pots on the stove and use that to bathe. Me and cold showers don't click...although i do love jumping in a cool pool after a summer run...something about being totally submerged.

 

[WJR]

Originally Posted by willpower

Or start warm and finish cold.

Same here.

WJR

 

[BankerBoi]

Originally Posted by willpower

Or start warm and finish cold.

Yes. Surprising how much I can stand the cold.

 

[dalej]

I'll keep my water HOT so hot that my skin is beat red when I get out.............love it

cold showers SUCK