I hated what I read in the Harvard Business Review last Friday:
Cold showers have health benefits.
I’ve always ignored people who advocate taking cold showers.
But how does one ignore this new study from the Netherlands? It involved thousands of volunteers.
Conclusion: “This is the first high-level evidence showing that cold showers can benefit your health. People who took them for at least 30 seconds for one month called in sick 29% less than our control group—and 54% less if they also engaged in regular physical exercise.”
I really don’t want cold showers to offer health benefits.
I’m running a startup company with an important mission–to help a billion people reach their full potential. I need to be in top physical and mental shape in order to succeed.
I’ve been running 5 miles a day for almost a year. But I love running, especially in the canyon near Sundance when the weather is good.
But cold showers? No thanks!
But I can’t ignore this study!
Today was day 2 of my 30-second-cold-blast-in-the-shower experiment.
After my excellent 7 hour and 40 minute sleep last night, I woke up at 5:20, ran 5 miles at the gym. I did the cold blast, then my normal shower, I emerged feeling better than I have in months.
I’m afraid there’s something to this.
2 thoughts on “Cold Showers Can Benefit Your Health”
Paul, I hope I’m not taking a joke too seriously, but let me be the one to point out that correlation does not indicate causation. Just because people who take cold showers call in sick less often, does not mean that cold showers cause health. It could just as well be that healthier people are more open to taking cold showers. Or most likely, highly motivated people (people who love their work) are both healthier and more willing to accept challenges like taking cold showers. You can turn the warm water back on.
I began taking cold showers about two years ago after reading Scott Carney’s book “What doesn’t kill us” about Wim Hof the Ice man. I bought a clock with a second hand to put in my shower at home and began by turning off the hot water after washing and rinsing off. my goal was to do a 1 minute cold shower the first week then add 1 minute per week until I’d reached 5 minutes. The first week was horrid but I got through it. Half way through the second week something happened. The cold just did not bother me anymore. By the end of the 2nd week I had taken a 10 minute cold shower. I’ve read this is because your body will develop “Brown Fat” which will keep you warm. I now take a 5 minute cold shower every day. I highly recommend them! I’ve never felt so good esp. since I combine it with exercise . For more information see Carney’s book or google Wim Hof on youtube.