A friend of mine has a cold shower for the last 30 seconds to a minute of his total shower time. He recommended that I check it out.
So I did some research and I'm now a convert. It's a simple change you can implement by turning the shower to cold for the last 30 seconds to a minute of your shower.
Here are the 7 benefits I found of incorporating a period of cold into your daily shower routine:
1. It will increase your alertness and make you feel more awake. This will leave you with more energy to start your day!
2. You can control your emotions more easily. The cold temperature helps to control your nervous system increasing it's resilience when obstacles come across your path later in the day. The cold creates small amount of stress which increases your threshold when you need it later.
3. Your willpower will increase. As you enforce the discipline of turning that tap to cold every morning you will be able to face bigger challenges head on later in the day.
4. It will reduce stress and can reduce depression. A cold shower boosts Glutathione, lowers levels of uric acid, and boosts noradrenaline. All of these factors reduce your stress and can help with symptoms of depression.
5. When you are cold it boosts your chances of burning more fat. So putting your body into this state early in the day can help you burn more fat. Your body burns calories to get you warm again. Ok - so the fat you burn is going to be major but over the course of a year of cold showers it does add up.
6. It drains your Lymphatic system. This helps to remove cellular waste and is highly beneficial if you are also practising Intermittent fasting which helps your body "take out the garbage". The cold shower will eliminate this garbage from your body quicker.
7. It boost blood circulation. The cold part of the shower gets your blood pumping and every single organ gets more oxygen. This can also assist with muscle recovery.
Try it for yourself and let me know if you see any positive changes.