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.
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.