Taking very cold showers or baths. You gradually decrease the temperature of your shower over several weeks. I can now take a shower or bath with the water on just cold. Other people use ice to lower the temperature of their baths even further.
Some claim that it has significant health benefits, but I haven’t noticed any although I haven’t been doing it for very long. Still, it’s neat to be able to modify your body to tolerate something that would have previously caused unbearable pain.
Here is some discussion of cold thermogenesis on a paleo website.
Just wanted to say that I’ve always wanted to take cold showers but never managed to pull it off because my body refuses to step into the cold shower stream. Somehow, until I read your post, it never occurred to me that I could start the shower at a nice warm temperature, step in, and then turn it down over the course of a few seconds. I’ve been doing this successfully for a few days and feeling great. Thanks!
BTW, I’ve found that changing the temperature of the water over time feels much less uncomfortable if the water is pouring directly onto my head than if it’s going (say) on my feet.
When I was a child, very cold showers were the latest fashion in my country, doctors recomended them for everyone, especially for children, to develop tolerance to cold weather. Luckily, my parents resisted. A few years later, doctors stopped recommending it, and just pretended the whole thing never happened. -- Later I heard from a doctor that the recommendation was followed by a visible increase of rheumatism, including small children, so they realized it was not that good idea.
Apparently, the people giving health advice at internet yet have to learn.
Apparently, the people giving health advice at internet yet have to learn
… that anecdotal evidence is not reliable?
I googled “cold shower rheumatism” and found a study suggesting that exposure to cold water (in this case, winter swimming) actually relieves the pain associated with existing rheumatism. A plausible explanation of your doctor’s observation is that cold showers made people who already had rheumatism more likely to report it to doctors.
I would certainly be wary of making children do it, but I actually have noticed that my tolerance to cold weather has gotten slightly better after cold showers (and it’s noticeably lower on the days where I don’t take a cold shower). The effect may be mostly psychological but it’s still an effect.
A very weak study in this context, for multiple reasons: Somewhat obscure journal (impact factor of 1.06), end point was the swimmers’ mood, which may also influence pain reporting, intervention was winter swimming, which is much dfifferent from cold showers in many ways (shower != sports activity), the pool of participants was structurally non-overlapping (children versus people who go winter swimming!), the pain relief is confounded by also feeling “more energetic, active and brisk”, compared to controls who did not do that sports activity, the list goes on.
A plausible explanation of your doctor’s observation is that cold showers made people who already had rheumatism more likely to report it to doctors.
Anecdotal evidence… compared with a discussion of cold thermogenesis on a paleo website… well, that’s a difficult choice. What exactly is the difference?
I didn’t claim that my evidence was more reliable, just that it wasn’t less reliable. Anyway, I’m not the one making a claim about how cold showers affect a large number of people, I’m only making a claim about how they affect me.
I assume that some things can have positive impact on many people, and at the same time a larger negative impact on a few people. In such case, many people would recommend it based on their personal experience, and yet the experts would not recommend it. Which, I assume, could be this case. And also case of many other recommendations promoted online, or even in this thread.
After reading the other comments, I am now pretty uncertain about the rheumatism. But even so… the benefits of this therapy seem rather small, so I don’t see a reason to take even small risks.
Later I heard from a doctor that the recommendation was followed by a visible increase of rheumatism, including small children, so they realized it was not that good idea.
You can kill cartilage using cold, however I doubt the very cold showers reached the −20°C and below from the study linked. Even then, cold induced cartilage necrosis doesn’t necessarily cause degenerative joint disease. It may however cause inflammation? Somewhat dubious, I’d be suprised if so.
Ah, the experiments they did back in the seventies … unencumbered by ethics boards. Simpler times.
It’s fun to be able to actually feel your body generating heat after awhile. I also feel somewhat more alert after doing it in the morning. Haven’t noticed much other than that though.
Have you noticed an effect on your tolerance of high temperatures? I’d be happy to improve my resilience to cold, but not if it means sacrificing resilience to heat.
No, but I haven’t done cold thermogenesis during a summer. According to this
“In my experience being cold adapted makes you more tolerant to heat of the summer. This has been the experience of the patients who have implemented this in my practice as well.”
In my experience, people adapted to cold climates tend to be poorly adapted to warm ones, and vice versa.
My Russian fencing coach, for instance, would scoff at American winters, but when he came to the summer nationals in Austin Texas, he was by far the worst off, and kept complaining that he was going to die.
I haven’t read much on this, but I have been trying it, just because I’ve noticed the different ways my body reacts to warm vs cool water. The trouble is that I don’t like standing up the whole time; crouching makes me very aware of heat being lost through my knees; and then I wind up wasting a lot of time and water with the heat turned up.
The obvious solution seems to be wrapping my knees in something, which I’ve done a few times with success; it’s just hard to form into a habit.
So far, my experience points toward cooler water being beneficial, not that my anecdotes are anything resembling scientific (even as self experimentation goes).
Cold Thermogenesis
Taking very cold showers or baths. You gradually decrease the temperature of your shower over several weeks. I can now take a shower or bath with the water on just cold. Other people use ice to lower the temperature of their baths even further.
Some claim that it has significant health benefits, but I haven’t noticed any although I haven’t been doing it for very long. Still, it’s neat to be able to modify your body to tolerate something that would have previously caused unbearable pain.
Here is some discussion of cold thermogenesis on a paleo website.
Just wanted to say that I’ve always wanted to take cold showers but never managed to pull it off because my body refuses to step into the cold shower stream. Somehow, until I read your post, it never occurred to me that I could start the shower at a nice warm temperature, step in, and then turn it down over the course of a few seconds. I’ve been doing this successfully for a few days and feeling great. Thanks!
BTW, I’ve found that changing the temperature of the water over time feels much less uncomfortable if the water is pouring directly onto my head than if it’s going (say) on my feet.
What is the chance of developing rheumatism as a side effect?
Why would you suspect that rheumatism is a possible side effect?
When I was a child, very cold showers were the latest fashion in my country, doctors recomended them for everyone, especially for children, to develop tolerance to cold weather. Luckily, my parents resisted. A few years later, doctors stopped recommending it, and just pretended the whole thing never happened. -- Later I heard from a doctor that the recommendation was followed by a visible increase of rheumatism, including small children, so they realized it was not that good idea.
Apparently, the people giving health advice at internet yet have to learn.
… that anecdotal evidence is not reliable?
I googled “cold shower rheumatism” and found a study suggesting that exposure to cold water (in this case, winter swimming) actually relieves the pain associated with existing rheumatism. A plausible explanation of your doctor’s observation is that cold showers made people who already had rheumatism more likely to report it to doctors.
I would certainly be wary of making children do it, but I actually have noticed that my tolerance to cold weather has gotten slightly better after cold showers (and it’s noticeably lower on the days where I don’t take a cold shower). The effect may be mostly psychological but it’s still an effect.
A very weak study in this context, for multiple reasons: Somewhat obscure journal (impact factor of 1.06), end point was the swimmers’ mood, which may also influence pain reporting, intervention was winter swimming, which is much dfifferent from cold showers in many ways (shower != sports activity), the pool of participants was structurally non-overlapping (children versus people who go winter swimming!), the pain relief is confounded by also feeling “more energetic, active and brisk”, compared to controls who did not do that sports activity, the list goes on.
Yea.
Anecdotal evidence… compared with a discussion of cold thermogenesis on a paleo website… well, that’s a difficult choice. What exactly is the difference?
I didn’t claim that my evidence was more reliable, just that it wasn’t less reliable. Anyway, I’m not the one making a claim about how cold showers affect a large number of people, I’m only making a claim about how they affect me.
Also, I don’t contradict your experience.
I assume that some things can have positive impact on many people, and at the same time a larger negative impact on a few people. In such case, many people would recommend it based on their personal experience, and yet the experts would not recommend it. Which, I assume, could be this case. And also case of many other recommendations promoted online, or even in this thread.
After reading the other comments, I am now pretty uncertain about the rheumatism. But even so… the benefits of this therapy seem rather small, so I don’t see a reason to take even small risks.
Could be a case of post hoc ergo propter hoc. Rheuma has many variants, but generally they are all either autoimmune or degenerative. Juvenile arthritis (JA), an umbrella term used to describe the many autoimmune and inflammatory conditions that can develop in children ages 16 and younger, doesn’t include cold as a causal factor.
You can kill cartilage using cold, however I doubt the very cold showers reached the −20°C and below from the study linked. Even then, cold induced cartilage necrosis doesn’t necessarily cause degenerative joint disease. It may however cause inflammation? Somewhat dubious, I’d be suprised if so.
Ah, the experiments they did back in the seventies … unencumbered by ethics boards. Simpler times.
It’s fun to be able to actually feel your body generating heat after awhile. I also feel somewhat more alert after doing it in the morning. Haven’t noticed much other than that though.
Have you noticed an effect on your tolerance of high temperatures? I’d be happy to improve my resilience to cold, but not if it means sacrificing resilience to heat.
No, but I haven’t done cold thermogenesis during a summer. According to this
“In my experience being cold adapted makes you more tolerant to heat of the summer. This has been the experience of the patients who have implemented this in my practice as well.”
In my experience, people adapted to cold climates tend to be poorly adapted to warm ones, and vice versa.
My Russian fencing coach, for instance, would scoff at American winters, but when he came to the summer nationals in Austin Texas, he was by far the worst off, and kept complaining that he was going to die.
I haven’t read much on this, but I have been trying it, just because I’ve noticed the different ways my body reacts to warm vs cool water. The trouble is that I don’t like standing up the whole time; crouching makes me very aware of heat being lost through my knees; and then I wind up wasting a lot of time and water with the heat turned up.
The obvious solution seems to be wrapping my knees in something, which I’ve done a few times with success; it’s just hard to form into a habit.
So far, my experience points toward cooler water being beneficial, not that my anecdotes are anything resembling scientific (even as self experimentation goes).
Cold showers are much better than hot ones if you have (very) sensitive skin.
And you’ll take shorter showers, saving water and time.