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Taking a cold shower in the morning is the perfect way to start the day, it’s refreshing and there are many health benefits, listed below. Even with the benefits it’s still hard to rally up the courage to take an exhilarating plunge into an ice cold shower, especially with the colder weather outside.
The health benefits are worth the initial shock, and your body will soon get used to the temperature, allowing you to feel refreshed and full of energy.
Deeper Breathing
- A benefit of switching to a cold shower is deeper breathing, your body will try to combat the shock of the cold water by taking in more oxygen and expanding the lungs, the effect on your lungs is like that of physical exercise on your muscles; they will expand and grow resulting in a higher average oxygen intake.
Increased Resistance
- Taking a cold shower in the morning is proven to increase immunity and decrease your chances of diseases and infections.
Better Blood Circulation
- Taking a cold shower daily improves blood circulation; this is because your body does something called “vasoconstriction” which is the tightening of the arteries and veins, to help blood flow at a higher pressure.
Prevent Depression
- Another benefit is that cold showers can help and benefit those with depression (and also prevent it), cold showers can help stimulate your locus ceruleus, or “blue spot”, which is the brain’s primary source of “noradrenaline” which is a chemical that could help mediate depression.
Increased Metabolism
- Tim Ferriss, author of “The 4-Hour Body” says that a cold shower jump-starts your metabolism to help you lose weight. The cold water activates something called “brown fat” which is known to burn “white fat” as a fuel, your metabolism gets better because your body will start to work harder and use more energy to keep you warm.
It’s not recommended to go straight from boiling hot water to ice cold water, the shock could be too much for your body and maybe harmful. You should work your way down to a cold shower moderately, although you want the initial shock to wake you up and get your adrenaline pumping, so don’t move down too slowly; ideally you want to be stepping just outside your comfort zone.
