Benefits of Cold Showers

[Uncle Vito]

Yes, I copy and pasted this.

Benefits of Cold Water Showers

While doctors may no longer instruct their patients to take a cold bath and call them in the morning, a shot of cold water can still impart real health benefits:

Improves circulation. Good blood circulation is vital for overall cardiovascular health. Healthy blood circulation also speeds up recovery time from strenuous exercises and work. Alternating between hot and cold water while you shower is an easy way to improve your circulation. Cold water causes your blood to move to your organs to keep them warm. Warm water reverses the effect by causing the blood to move towards the surface of the skin. Cold shower proponents argue that stimulating the circulatory system in this way keeps them healthier and younger looking than their hot water-loving counterparts.

Relieves depression. Lots of great men from history suffered bouts of depression. Henry David Thoreau is one such man. But perhaps Thoreau’s baths in chilly Walden Pond helped keep his black dog at bay. Research at the Department of Radiation Oncology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine indicates that short cold showers may stimulate the brain’s “blue spot”- the brain’s primary source of noradrenaline — a chemical that could help mitigate depression. I guess a bout of the blues isn’t so bad after all.

Keeps skin and hair healthy. Hot water dries out skin and hair. If you want to avoid an irritating itch and ashy elbows, turn down the temperature of your showers. Also, cold water can make your manly mane look shinier and your skin look healthier by closing up your cuticles and pores.

Strengthens immunity. According to a study done in 1993 by the Thrombosis Research Institute in England, individuals who took daily cold showers saw an increase in the number of virus fighting white blood cells compared to individuals who took hot showers. Researchers believe that the increased metabolic rate, which results from the body’s attempt to warm itself up, activates the immune system and releases more white blood cells in response.

Increases testosterone. During the 19th century, many doctors and ministers recommended that young men take baths in cold water to reduce the sin of “self-pollution,” i.e. whacking off. Cold water was thought to extinguish a man’s flaming carnal desires. There was even a ghastly device invented on this principle.

How wrong they were! The same study by the Thrombosis Research Institute cited above showed that cold water showers actually increase testosterone production in men. Increased testosterone levels not only boost a man’s libido, but also his overall strength and energy level. If you’re looking to increase your testosterone, instead of juicing up like Mark McGwire, hop into a cold shower.

Increases fertility. Trying to become a dad? Cold showers are good for your little swimmers. Your testes aren’t meant to get too hot; that’s why they hang outside your body. Sperm counts decrease when the temperature of a man’s testes increases. Experiments done in the 1950s showed that hot baths were an effective contraceptive. Men who took a 30 minute hot bath every other day for 3 weeks were infertile for the next six months. More recently, the University of California at San Francisco did a study with men who were exposed to 30 minutes of “wet heat” (hot baths and such) a week. When the men cut this exposure out, their sperm count went up by 491%, and their sperm’s motility improved as well. While switching from a hot to cold shower may not have as dramatic an effect, if you’re trying to create some progeny, it surely won’t hurt.

Increases energy and well-being. Every time I end a shower with cold water, I leave feeling invigorated and energized. Your heart starts pumping, and the rush of blood through your body helps shake off the lethargy of the previous night’s sleep. For me, the spike in energy lasts several hours. It’s almost like drinking a can of Diet Mountain Dew, minus the aspartame. And while it hasn’t been studied, many people swear that cold showers are a surefire stress reducer. I’m a believer.
Getting Started with Cold Water Showers

If you’ve spent most of your life taking hot showers, suddenly turning the dial in the other direction can be a big shock to the system. I took a break from the James Bond Showers for a few months. When I decided to get started again with them, my heart almost jumped out of my chest, and I nearly passed out from hyperventilating when the cold water hit my body. Too much, too soon.

My suggestion (based on personal experience) is to gradually decrease the temp of the water so your body can adjust.

Which reminds me, some people with certain conditions should avoid cold showers because of the shock to the body’s system. If you have the following conditions, you’ll have to harness your inner 007 another way:

* Heart disease. If my normal, healthy heart felt like it was about to explode, imagine how a diseased heart will feel.
* High blood pressure. The contraction in your blood vessels caused by cold water could cause a stroke. Apparently.
* Overheated or feverish. Your blood vessels need to dilate in order to release heat. Cold water causes them to constrict.

Okay. If you’re healthy enough for a James Bond Shower, here’s how it’s done.

1. Start off with the hot water.

2. Wash your hair with some Pinaud Elixir shampoo, just like 007.

3. When you’re ready to rinse, just turn it down to cold. Bond would spend a few minutes under the cold water, meditating about a lost love or on how awesome his job is.

4. As you walk out the shower, kill the hitman that’s been hiding in the closet using nothing but a towel and a Scotch tumbler.

5. Say a pithy one liner; proceed to put on tux.

You’ll start seeing the benefits right after the first shower, and it only gets better as you continue. While cold water showers won’t give you the charm or skills of 007, you’ll feel like a new man.

[Kyle]

If i can't get a long near scalding shower in the morning my day is fucked...proper fucked.

[igotabs]

Thanks for the info
Cold water would protect your goods (balls) as well

[Uncle Vito]

Just want to keep you bros healthy bros.

[DEEPER KEMICAL]

cold showers feel great. post workout too

[igotabs]

Was this thread Pre Approved by Viggy?
It is kind of hard to take a thread serious on the Fitness board by a sloutch that does not work at legs and back proper like "real Men"

[beachman]

lots of athletes swear by it-just other day jj redick was talking about this-this is big with the asian folk too-I do it and I feel awful during but great after

[igotabs]

lots of athletes swear by it-just other day jj redick was talking about this-this is big with the asian folk too-I do it and I feel awful during but great after

Is that why u dropped JJ

[Uncle Vito]

can VIGGY approve this thread so that abs and his shitty pull up form can get off my back?

[igotabs]

At least I do squats and dead lifts....shitty form is better than NO form
Hollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa to my meathead brotherhood

[DEEPER KEMICAL]

[beachman]

Is that why u dropped JJ

nah I dropped him because after looking at my roster I felt I had too many white guys on it

as far as the subject at hand
J.J. Redick is one of the best conditioned athletes in the NBA, and he attributes at least some of his recuperative powers to a post-game routine he calls "the cold plunge." The plunge is when he puts his entire body into an ice bath. He also does it after practices. "I swear by the cold plunge," Redick said. "It's the fountain of youth."

[DEEPER KEMICAL]

some of my friends who are weight lifters do whats called "contrast baths", then sit in a tub of ice post workout for 5 minutes, then tub of warm water for 5. they do this for about 20 minutes and they swear by it.

[Bekim...]

whatever james bond does i do

[rob_in_chi]

.

[woo]

i love running cold water on my head and jaw area. (hot on the neck/shoulders) for me, that technique helps keep my headaches away.

honestly with this rain and warm weather, ive been taking cool showers a lot which helps bc i don't feel right with this mild winter.

[Bekim...]

paul newman used to swim in cold lakes every morning

[James Maxx]

Switching from hot to cold about 2 minutes each numerous times will detoxify and rejuvinate your skin as well.

Also, taking an almost freezing shower burns fat, because your body is using its stored energy to make you shiver and releases energy. this is also true internally when you drink ice water. Its the reason Micheal Phelps can be skinny eating 10,000 calories a day because he is always in cold water every day.

[James Maxx]

paul newman used to swim in cold lakes every morning

There is a freshwater lake in the outskirts of Athens, Greece that is well known for its rejuvinating properties. People from all over Europe travel to swim in it. The only fish in it are the ones that eat your dead skin. Same ones used in foreign pedicure places.

[rob_in_chi]

hot showers in the winter
cold showers in the summer

im the only one with sense sometimes