So looking at the title a lot of you are probably thinking I’ll pass. I’ve found that my recent foray back into working out has left me rather sore at times. Looking around online I noticed people sometimes mentioning contrast bathing as a way to help with the soreness.
This reminded me of something I read when I was skimming the 4 Hour Body. Tim Ferriss mentions that taking a cold shower can help stimulate weight loss via bat thermogenesis. The technique he uses actually seems relatively close to taking a Scottish Shower. After searching around some more it seems that people tout cold showers for a lot of random stuff like a stronger immune system, clearing of allergies, etc.
I figure…why not. If anything I’m saving on heating and probably wasting less water as I’m much more motivated to finish my showers now. So for the past week or so I’ve been trying out this cold shower technique. I start off with hot water and at least let myself enjoy it for the shampoo. It’s during the soap portion where I hit cold water. I’ve come up with a few techniques that make it bearable.
- Hide from the water and wash yourself off piece by piece (arm first, then other arm, etc) Soon it’s not quite as bad and you can jump in and finish it off
- Slowly turn the water from hot to cold. This does work, but I think the first technique works better for me.
- Just do it. Worth trying at least once for the shock value haha.
I can’t really say whether or not it’s had any effect other than the obvious ones of saving on heating, making me shower fast, and waking me up. Whether it helps me avoid colds, alleviate muscles soreness, live allergy free, live longer, burn fat, etc…I’m not sure I’ll ever know as I have no good way of measuring. But in the interim I think I’ll stick to it for a while longer. While I know many of you enjoy your hot shower, it’s actually not all that bad and I’d say give it a try. If you’re a morning shower person I guarantee I’ll wake you right up so there’s an added bonus. It’s less useful if you shower at night and want to sleep early though =)