Why I Take Cold Showers
1 year ago this month, I decided to start taking cold showers...Before you judge me and think this woman is INSANE.
Let me tell you why.
I was having a lot of trouble with my sleep. My lack of slumber lead me to feel unmotivated, unfocused, low energy and all the other things you don't want to feel when you are working full time and juggling your "side hustle/s".
While listening to my podcast flavour of the month: Lewis Howes – School of Greatness.
I learnt about "biohacking" and Mitochondria (the power generators of the cell, converting oxygen and nutrients into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is the chemical energy "currency" of the cell that powers the cell's metabolic activities.)
Biohacking is: scientific experiments with biological material, especially genes, done by people who are not official experts or scientists
Pretty cool right? Well, I thought so..
My intrigue for investigating my body and "hacking" my biology intrigued me, I wanted to learn more and began conducting experiments on myself.
The episode I listened to, spoke about the benefits of turning your hot water off at the end of your shower for 1-3minutes, and how that can help strengthen your mitochondria, boost your metabolism, help with sleep and also strengthen your mind (build better will power).
After my willpower, had failed me time and time again to do the only thing I knew was going to help regulate my sleep - switching off all electronics before bed..
I thought I’d give it a crack, After all, what did I have to lose?
Cold showers became my first "biohacking" experiment. I'm not going to lie to you, or sugar coat this, as it was true NIGHTMARE, each time I turned off hot water leaving only the cold to run I swear I saw the depths of hell and they were not firey - I was in an Ice Age and it was torture in its truest form.
How would I continue? How could I possibly go on? I could not think, my mind was frozen - literally.
The interesting part was, the hardest part wasn't enduring the cold. It was the 10 seconds prior to turning the tap and then the first 30seconds of cold water. After that I almost began to laugh at the pain I was inflicting on myself, jumping around in the shower singing infinitely louder to my shower track of choice (usually Beyonce - because, well BEYONCE).
It took 3 days for my sleep to reap the rewards - I'm not sure if this was because I wanted the nightmare of cold showers to stop so I began taking my sleep seriously or because of the all-mighty power of the cold shower.
What I can say is, the strange part was. Once the cold was over, the shower was turned off, my body was warm. Usually stepping out of my regular shower (steaming hot) I experience the cold of the bathroom - no heat light can stop that. However now, what awaited me on the other side of the shower door was heaven.
10 minutes after the shower, I was still warm - hot even, my body was also relaxed. In the mornings I was ready to start the day and at night I was ready to battle my sleep and surrender to the relaxation to come, instead of wondering what I didn't get done, what I should have done and what was happening on Instagram.
The experiment I set for myself was supposed to last 1 week. With the aim to help me get my sleep on track. Not only did it do that, but I decided to continue it for as long as I could, 1 year later, I can't see myself giving up cold showers any time soon.
The benefits definitely outweigh the cons. In Summer/Spring, I took completely cold showers, even while away for work in the middle of the Canadian winter (snow & cold) I continued my cold showers. My tolerance for the cold has definitely increased and I no longer get a brain freeze (what a life).
Some other benefits I have experienced taking cold showers include:
- Improved sleep
- Better mood
- Increased energy (if I showered in the morning – mimicking a caffeine hit)
- Better will power to do things I “didn’t want to do” – wash dishes, prepare for work, write a blog etc.
- The weird one was the growth in my hair length & lashes…
These are just the benefits I experienced, the small discomfort in my day allows me to start my day with achievement, I feel accomplished and ready to take on the world.
My question is now, would you try cold showers?
If you want to learn more about BioHacking I recommend listening to Bulletproof Radio by David Aspery (the man who coined the term Bio-Hacking - the biohacking god).
To read about more of my experiments check out some of my other blogs here.
P.S. I found out that if you have a heart condition (arrhythmias, pacemaker etc.) or if you have extreme adrenal fatigue or are pregnant you should not take cold showers as it could be dangerous – also I’m just going from my own experience and what I have read up on so I wouldn’t take my word on any of this, it just seems like a harmless little experiment you can try and see how you go with it.