How a cold shower works wonders

Cold showers? The mere thought to some people is enough to send them shivering to a snuggly blanket and the nearest radiator. And particularly after you’ve had a bad night’s sleep, when it takes a little longer to drag ourselves from the cosy cocoon of our beds!

But hear me out. I used to hate them, and now I really try to brave myself for a bracing shot of icy water each morning (yes, I’m strange like that!) But check out these 6 reasons why cold showers are amazing for you and you’ll be turning that tap soon enough….

1. Better Immune System

As someone who suffers from a very poor immune system, this is the number one reason I have a cold shower. Cold water has been proven, countless times to increase metabolic rates. It causes you to shiver and activates your immune system, so that your body gets an increase in plasma concentration & lymphocytes.

Cold water showers cause your whole body to contract – this forces your lymphatic system to push and pulse the lymph fluids through your body, which stops them from pooling and remaining stagnant (this happens when your lymphatic system is inefficient)

And in nordic countries lke Sweden, Norway and Siberia, young children and babies are often left to nap outside in the cold! But all for the best, as it’s been shown to boost their resistance to viruses and infections and make their bodies stronger – thumbs up! Not sure if my little Monkey Bear would like that…..maybe we’ll try in the lead up to Christmas!

2. Can reduces Fat

Not only will your immune system start to kick in, but the cold water will potentially help you lose fat. Sound too good to be true? Well, think about it – when your body is cold, it needs heat to warm you up (simply survival) and to do this is has to burn more energy as quickly and efficiently as it can. And this has longer term benefits for your metabolism, boosting the body’s ability to convert food to energy and burn fat.

3. Beautiful skin

Splashing our faces with cold water closes our pores, and makes our skin look smooth and perky. Need I say more? Get that cold splash on, especially after a long sleepless night with babas ;/

4. Eases Depression

Our skin has a huge amount of cold receptors – these enable our body and mind to know when we’re getting cold so we can stay warm and survive. When cold water envelopes our skin, these receptors kick into action and send massive amounts of electrical impulses to our brain, in effect giving us a quick ‘pick me up’ and temporarily making us feel more alert and positive.

5. Energy Boost

Following on from this previous point, the nerve endings in our skin stand on end when we’re subjected to cold water, as you’d imagine! So our hearts start beating faster and our breathing speeds up as a reaction to this change in our temperature, giving us a jolt of energy and making us feel more awake and full of energy. So after your cold shower, it’s a perfect time to crack on with that project you’ve been sluggish on 😉

6. Better Tolerance to Stress

If you think about all of the benefits I’ve just mentioned, it stands to reason that we’ll be better able to cope with stress if we take cold showers regularly. We’ll have more energy, our bodies will have a better flushing of the lymphatic system, our metabolism will be faster, we’ll be burning energy more efficiently, we’ll sleep better, our lungs will have deeper breathing, our nervous system will be healthily stimulated…. so stress should certainly be lessened on the whole, wouldn’t you agree? Even for 5 minutes a day, I’d take a reduction in stress and a feeling of being more calm and centred if I could for sure…

So, next time you’re enjoying your toasty hot shower, turn that faucet over to the cold setting for a beneficial blast of icy water – your whole body will thank you for it, trust me 😉

Laura x