Post: #1

21 Health Benefits of a Cold Shower

Alexa Fleckenstein, M.D., author of Health20, has a few things to say about cold showers. Within the book, she writes:


“Cold water can do more than just wash away sweat, dirt, old skin cells, bacteria, and viruses"

What a Cold Shower Can Do For You

1.Enhance immunity against infections and cancer

2.Give your glands (thyroid, adrenals, ovaries/testes) a boost, improving hormonal activity

3.Jump-start your mood and motivation

4.Crank up your metabolism to fight type 2 diabetes, obesity, gout, rheumatic diseases, depression, and more

5.Normalize your blood pressure

6.Decrease chronic pain

7.Train and improve your blood circulation

8.Detoxify your body

9.Fight fatigue

10.Strengthen exhausted, irritable nerves

11.Rejuvenate, heal, and tone the skin

12.Deepen your breathing

13.Help with insomnia

14.Improve kidney function

15.Reduce swelling and edema

16.Improve lymphatic circulation, thereby increasing immune function

17.Reduce stress by regulating your autonomic nervous system

18.Regulate temperature, fighting chronically cold hands and cold feet and excessive sweating

19.Keep your hair healthy

20.Improve hemorrhoids and varicose veins

21.Reduce aches and pains

From another website

Benefits of Cold Water Showers

While doctors may no longer instruct their patients to take a cold bath and call them in the morning, a shot of cold water can still impart real health benefits:

Improves circulation. Good blood circulation is vital for overall cardiovascular health. Healthy blood circulation also speeds up recovery time from strenuous exercises and work. Alternating between hot and cold water while you shower is an easy way to improve your circulation. Cold water causes your blood to move to your organs to keep them warm. Warm water reverses the effect by causing the blood to move towards the surface of the skin. Cold shower proponents argue that stimulating the circulatory system in this way keeps them healthier and younger looking than their hot water-loving counterparts.

Relieves depression. Lots of great men from history suffered bouts of depression. Henry David Thoreau is one such man. But perhaps Thoreau’s baths in chilly Walden Pond helped keep his black dog at bay. Research at the Department of Radiation Oncology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine indicates that short cold showers may stimulate the brain’s “blue spot”- the brain’s primary source of noradrenaline — a chemical that could help mitigate depression. I guess a bout of the blues isn’t so bad after all.

Keeps skin and hair healthy. Hot water dries out skin and hair. If you want to avoid an irritating itch and ashy elbows, turn down the temperature of your showers. Also, cold water can make your manly mane look shinier and your skin look healthier by closing up your cuticles and pores.

Strengthens immunity. According to a study done in 1993 by the Thrombosis Research Institute in England, individuals who took daily cold showers saw an increase in the number of virus fighting white blood cells compared to individuals who took hot showers. Researchers believe that the increased metabolic rate, which results from the body’s attempt to warm itself up, activates the immune system and releases more white blood cells in response.

Increases testosterone. During the 19th century, many doctors and ministers recommended that young men take baths in cold water to reduce the sin of “self-pollution,” i.e. whacking off. Cold water was thought to extinguish a man’s flaming carnal desires. There was even a ghastly device invented on this principle.

How wrong they were! The same study by the Thrombosis Research Institute cited above showed that cold water showers actually increase testosterone production in men. Increased testosterone levels not only boost a man’s libido, but also his overall strength and energy level. If you’re looking to increase your testosterone, instead of juicing up like Mark McGwire, hop into a cold shower.

Increases fertility. Trying to become a dad? Cold showers are good for your little swimmers. Your testes aren’t meant to get too hot; that’s why they hang outside your body. Sperm counts decrease when the temperature of a man’s testes increases. Experiments done in the 1950s showed that hot baths were an effective contraceptive. Men who took a 30 minute hot bath every other day for 3 weeks were infertile for the next six months. More recently, the University of California at San Francisco did a study with men who were exposed to 30 minutes of “wet heat” (hot baths and such) a week. When the men cut this exposure out, their sperm count went up by 491%, and their sperm’s motility improved as well. While switching from a hot to cold shower may not have as dramatic an effect, if you’re trying to create some progeny, it surely won’t hurt.

Increases energy and well-being. Every time I end a shower with cold water, I leave feeling invigorated and energized. Your heart starts pumping, and the rush of blood through your body helps shake off the lethargy of the previous night’s sleep. For me, the spike in energy lasts several hours. It’s almost like drinking a can of Diet Mountain Dew, minus the aspartame. And while it hasn’t been studied, many people swear that cold showers are a surefire stress reducer. I’m a believer.


No one lives forever, no one. But with apple cider vinegar, cold showers, advances in modern science and my high level income, it's not crazy to think I can live to be 245, maybe 300.

Post: #2

Dr. Jack Kruse, a friend of mine, is quickly becoming the expert on cold thermogenesis.

It's pretty crazy stuff, but if you check his website (jackkruse.com), he lists some of the benefits.

I have some bodybuilder friends who are doing it with great success. I'm still a bit too wussy to sit in a tub of ice cubes for 30 minutes+.

Post: #3

(04-09-2012 05:18 AM)Cr33pin Wrote:  Increases fertility. Trying to become a dad? Cold showers are good for your little swimmers. Your testes aren’t meant to get too hot; that’s why they hang outside your body. Sperm counts decrease when the temperature of a man’s testes increases. Experiments done in the 1950s showed that hot baths were an effective contraceptive. Men who took a 30 minute hot bath every other day for 3 weeks were infertile for the next six months. More recently, the University of California at San Francisco did a study with men who were exposed to 30 minutes of “wet heat” (hot baths and such) a week. When the men cut this exposure out, their sperm count went up by 491%, and their sperm’s motility improved as well. While switching from a hot to cold shower may not have as dramatic an effect, if you’re trying to create some progeny, it surely won’t hurt.

Well there goes that. I want the least possible chance of impregnating a girl possible.

Post: #4

I had to take a bunch of cold showers this winter. All it did was make me come out of the stall fighting mad. If hot hot showers makes me die earlier, so be it. I'll live happier while I'm alive.

Post: #5

I took one last night... it was cold

I was dead ass tired before i took it as i started the "mark rippetoe starting strength" program yesterday. After the cold shower i felt much rejuvenated. Went to the mall and ate was feeling more social then usual...

Im gonna try this for awhile, specially since its so hot in the Phils... i could not imagine doing it somewhere cold.
Plus when i take long steamy hot showers it makes my face all red an dry an sometimes it stays like that for a day or two.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR..............

Post: #6

In the mornings, I often take a nice warm shower but then turn it to cold and stand there for a minute just before I get out. Always leaves me super alert. At the very least, I always splash cold face on my face in the morning. Wakes me up far better than coffee ever would.

I'm Here.

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #7

I'm not sure whether or not any of these health benefits are proven, but even if they were I don't really care because the cure is still worse than the disease. Hot showers are one the most pleasurable things I know of and cold showers are one of the most miserable. If not taking cold showers means I live to 78 instead of 80 or whatever then so be it.

Post: #8

I'm basically with you, gringo, although I'll give it a go occasionally after a workout when my internal furnace is rumbling so it's just a "surface cold". Still... it'd have to have lots of very proven very awesome benefits for me to do it on a regular basis.

Post: #9

mixx mentioned this before and how it worked wonders for helping him stay young looking. that being said, i need to do this more often.

Post: #10

Thank you. I had posted this in someone elses thread but without as many benefit examples. It only sucks for the first minute. Man up, scream, and feel the greatness after. It makes your skin tight and lookin more ripped as well!

Post: #11

I have horrible memories of taking cold showers while staying in a shitty motel. I've never heard any of these benefits and didn't feel any better when I was washing myself in Alaskan water. I find it hard to believe that this will help you look young. I only cool down the water some during summer when it feels like it's 110 with humidity.

Post: #12

(04-10-2012 11:30 AM)houston Wrote:  I have horrible memories of taking cold showers while staying in a shitty motel. I've never heard any of these benefits and didn't feel any better when I was washing myself in Alaskan water. I find it hard to believe that this will help you look young. I only cool down the water some during summer when it feels like it's 110 with humidity.

Seems like you had a real negative frame towards it, that could be why. I have definely felt great benefits from cold showers.

Post: #13

Just came out from a cold shower now. Feel refreshed and healthy (and if it feels healthy it usually is, right?).

Anyhow, I find that it's difficult to do this consistently if there is hot water where you live. Maybe I should ask a plummer or someone to disable the hot water. Or maybe starting with hot water and finishing with cold will do it (just started trying this).

I feel a bit like a new person with more energy. Bet it helps against my allergies as well, as opposed to hot water which I suspect makes them worse. Feels manly to do it too.

Post: #14

I tried it today for about 30 seconds at the end of the shower. Just stood there and took it as long as I could before almost screaming. Seems like it did give me a boost and help with my allergies.

Post: #15

When I moved into my flat the hot water wasn't working. I had to take cold showers for a week. I don't miss those times at all.

Post: #16

(04-11-2012 07:33 PM)cibo Wrote:  When I moved into my flat the hot water wasn't working. I had to take cold showers for a week. I don't miss those times at all.

Its diffrent when you have to take cold showers an when you do it on your own for health purposes.

Im sold on them, maybe its a placebo effect but i feel like a new man after a cold shower. After a minute or two its no that bad at all. Hot shower are relaxing but they made my face red an dry.... so im sold on cold....

man up bitches!!

Post: #17

/thread-8173.h...ght=health

Post: #18

(04-12-2012 01:19 AM)houston Wrote:  /thread-8173.h...ght=health

I searched cold showers an nothing showed up
who the fuck still takes baths ha

Post: #19

Its just a matter of manning up and getting used to it. I start my shower with both faucets open all the way so its like warm/coldish than I slowly but surely get all the way to only the cold faucet being open. You scream you have short quick breaths but once you get thru it you are a fucking man. It takes a couple of minutes to go through thermogensis and than your body actually warms up...its a sick affect. Cold showers warm your organs giving you great circulation and blood flow. Warm showers actually warm the skin and cool your organs. I notice sick energy levels, tight skin, and raging test. I was never a morning person, and after a pint of milk with a tablespoon of molasses and a cold shower I literally feel like I can run a marathon.

When we were caveman we didn't have the luxury of warm showers. If you want your caveman game to be on point you gotta go all out! FUCKING RAGE!!!!

Post: #20

I'm digging this cold shower shit. I tried one that wasn't arctic cold but cold and I felt refreshed. I would still have to live in a warm climate to do this every day.

Post: #21

It's true, you are left feeling refreshed and awake, all the while getting this feeling of being warmed up from the inside after the shower.

My trick is to do some push-ups to get the blood pumping before the cold shower. It makes the cold water not so hard to take.

Post: #22

I took a one year course learning how to teach yoga and they talked alot about taking cold showers. I was very doubtful since they talked very mystically without any science backing it up but it keeps coming up over and over. Supposedly the Yogis in India took it very seriously and they said massaging each body part during a cold shower has a different effect on rejuvenating the body. I hate it though man, makes me feel like a pussy, I meed to start!

Post: #23

I took cold showers every day for a month in January as an experiment.

Yes, I took cold showers in the dead of winter. Usually quite early in the morning.

Personally, I can't say I noticed any difference to my hair or skin. In fact, I didn't notice much of a benefit at all. I felt a bit more awake and fresh afterwards though, so that may be enough for some of you guys to do it on the regular.

If anything it may toughen you up a bit mentally.

Post: #24

I should also mention I eat really well and I'm a fitness freak, so that might have played into some of the results (or lackthereof) I got from taking cold showers.

I noticed the same thing with Apple Cider vinegar. Didn't do anything for me.

I think if you are already eating extremely well, sleeping well, and workout out hard on the regular, all this extra stuff is really not worth a shit. Concentrate on taking care of the big pieces first fellas

Post: #25

When I was younger I would take 3 min cold showers at the end of baths for fun to try and see how long I could take it. Maybe that's what groomed my over active sex drive lol. Its best to ease into it. I like hot showers too (I experiment with scalding hot showers too) but I agree there is no better kick in the face then a 2min blast of cold water.

You can ease into eat by gradually having less warm showers. Once you get in the luke-warm/cold-warm faze going to cold does not get so bad.