A Thing to Dread, or is it All in Your Head | Skill Series #SK8
This week we demystify cold showers by making them go from a dreaded fear to something to look forward to. We look at the benefits of taking a cold shower and tips and tricks to make the process painless.
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We here are keen on trying new hobbies to increase our repertoire of skills. Whether you’ve stumbled across this for the first time or are a regular, thanks for taking the time to look through what I have created. Read on to start your journey towards mastering skills you are passionate about.
Today we are looking at the art of taking cold showers. Despite avoiding cold showers all my life, I now look forward to taking cold showers. It has been excellent, especially since learning the benefits associated with it. By the end of this post, I hope you too, feel excited to use nature’s energy drink.
Ever since I started enjoying cold showers, I would like to go for something like this now (Photo by Jorge Fernández
One of my earliest memories is a memory of me taking a super cold shower from a hose pipe in India. It was the only option available, and I had to take a shower as my mother had told me to. I still remember how painful it was initially when the cold water hit my skin. A feeling of breathlessness, a feeling of being immersed in ice. But then, after about 30 seconds of feeling like I was dying, the water started feeling more comfortable. I still remember a cousin of mine deeming the experience as making him feel ‘fresh’.
Despite enjoying a cold shower back then, I avoided it like the plague for a long time. Until recently, I would only take showers with heated water, even in India, where the water temperature is quite warm. But for the past few weeks, I have been regularly taking cold showers and can confirm that once you start getting used to it, it does feel quite … fresh. Therefore I feel pretty happy to share with you the benefits of taking a cold shower.
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Benefits of cold showers
Cold showers seem to have a lot of benefits. Here’s an excerpt from a podcast by Andrew Huberman, a professor at Stanford, recounting a study that looked at the effects of cold exposure on the release of dopamine.
But then what was interesting is they observed that dopamine levels started to rise somewhat slowly and then continued to rise and reach levels as high as 2.5 times above baseline. That’s a remarkably high increase.
-Andrew Huberman, Huberman Lab Podcast #39 (1hr 32mins in)
That’s quite a staggering increase and is comparable with pleasurable activities such as eating chocolate, smoking or taking illegal substances. One thing that sets cold showers apart from the activities mentioned above is that you don’t experience a sudden drop in dopamine levels. In fact, Andrew notes that it took around three hours for dopamine levels to go back to baseline.
Mechanism of cold showers
A rise in core body temperature is associated with an increase in alertness. Similarly, a dip in core body temperature helps us relax. Contrary to how we would expect our body to react to cold water, our core temperature acts opposite to the temperature of the water we are in. Therefore, exposing ourselves to cold water (for between 1–3 minutes) helps increase our core temperature. Thus taking a cold shower first thing in the morning helps us to wake up.
How to take a cold shower
The method I used to take a cold shower was suggested by this YouTube video. In it, the presenter gives us a relatively pain-free way to expose ourselves to cold water. This involves gradually increasing the amount of time from about 30 seconds to a minute to three minutes.
You start off as you usually would by keeping the water temperature comfortable. Before you typically get out of the shower, start breathing slowly and deeply for 15–30 seconds. Then ask Siri or manually set a timer for one minute. Then, turn the water from warm to as cold as you can. Brace yourself as it may not be familiar, and you may start breathing more rapidly. Try to breathe normally or slowly, if possible and count your breaths until the timer goes off, at which point you can turn off the water.
Initially, this may feel quite difficult, but over time you will start to enjoy it.
Making any habit a part of your daily routine takes deliberate effort to do it consistently for a long enough period. Cold showers are no different. If you want the positive effects associated with it, you have to do it consistently.
I’d love to hear from you. Do you despise cold showers? Or are you someone who has been taking them regularly? Do you have any tips that would help ease the starting trouble? I’d love to hear all about it in the comments below or tweet at me with your thoughts.
That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed reading about my experiences with cold showers (SK8). Hope the benefits outlined and the easy-to-follow process makes you want to try it. Leave a comment and subscribe if you want to be inspired to learn new skills on a week-ish basis.
Thank you so much for reading!
Until next time,
Tony
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