I recently watched a video by Buzzfeed where two people tried taking cold showers every day for 30 days. Naturally, I was a little confused why they would do this to themselves, but after watching the video, I learned that cold showers are an amazing, healthful tool! According to medical daily, cold showers “increase alertness”, “improve circulation”, “refine hair and skin”, “ease stress”, “speed up muscle soreness and recovery”, as well as decrease some of the symptoms of depression. If this information isn’t enough to make you try one for yourself, you’re in luck because I tested out cold showers and can give you the scoop on what they were Like.
Cold Shower #1: The first cold shower was the most eye-opening. I initially made the water very cold so that the second I stepped in I was emerged in its icy glory, however, this proved too much to handle and I instinctively turned the handle to hot. After a quick period thawing out, I decided to alternate hot and cold water periodically throughout the shower. I hesitantly turned the knob back to the left, and as the water slowly lost its warmth, I was completely shocked to find that it did not feel bad at all a second time around. In fact, the water felt super refreshing and very comfortable. I then proceeded to enjoy the rest of my chilly shower before stepping out and feeling highly accomplished.
My conclusion after the first shower, and the others that I tried out during the past couple weeks, have been that they can be very nice if you allot yourself a little bit of warm water time before switching to cold. My dad brought up the good point that this is probably because by raising your body temperature a couple of degrees before switching to cold, your body has a little bit of a buffer before losing its natural warmth. Something else that I’ve realized through this testing process is that you really do have to keep taking them consistently to see the aforementioned effects. I found myself looking in the mirror tentatively to see if my hair was any shinier and testing my legs to see if they were any less sore after workouts, but it definitely requires a lot of consistency before results are evident. In any case, I highly recommend that everyone tries at least one cold shower to experience first hand the crazy jolt of energy that it sends throughout your body, not to mention, to see that cold showers are very good at testing your willpower and have proved to be an exciting feat of mental strength that you can work into your daily schedule.