On Cold Showers
Recently, I started taking cold showers in the mornings (the last few paragraphs are the relevant ones). And let me tell you, freezing cold showers do two things very, very well:
- Waking me up.
- Putting a huge shit eating grin on my face.
But I have some reservations about them. Let's see. What classifies a 'cold shower'? Is it still worthwhile as a cold shower if you...
- Immediately get back in a bed heated by an electric blanket?
- Get back in bed without the electric blanket but 5 wool blankets?
- Don't get back in bed but sit by a warm fire?
- After drying off, get back in and take a hot one?
- Don't even bother drying off before you take the hot one?
Do we still think it is worthwhile if we come out shivering? And have to wear multiple extra layers for the next few hours?
I wonder if Ed (the guy who got me onto this again) lived in a warm climate. Because cold showers just really don't seem feasible in CO where it is at least in the vicinity of freezing for half the winter.
Anyway, on a more serious note, I have notice that my hair doesn't come out feeling as clean and my skin is always really dry afterwards.
Basically, my conclusion is that cold showers are great for waking up, but I'm not convinced they are all that great for getting clean. And sometimes it is just too cold for a cold shower.
25 September 2009 06:25am UTC • 451 views • 5 comments
Tagged with coldshowers, showers, onX
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5 comments
tagyoureit
25 September 2009 01:04pm UTC
When I was at CC, I lived in Ticknor Hall for a year. Anyway, during the winter that year the hot water broke down for about a month for some reason or another. I took a cold shower in the morning most days, while it was 20 degrees outside. I do not recommend this. I do like to take a cold shower or a half cold/half hot one after exercising though.
flychipmunk
25 September 2009 04:00pm UTC
Perhaps don't make it so cold that you are shivering. Also, I don't think the point of a cold shower is to get clean. I do not think it is worth it if it makes you cold for hours afterward. It definitely defeats the purpose if you take a hot shower immediately afterward. The fire and blankets aren't as bad; if it takes a fire/5 wool blankets to get warm, I go back to the thought that the water is too cold, or cold showers are not for you during winter time.
First Mate Beca
25 September 2009 06:16pm UTC
Why don't you take a hot shower...to get clean and such and then give yourself a cold water shock at the very end? Slowly turn off the hot water and let the stream of cold water wake you up for a couple of minutes at the very end. That way you aren't freezing yourself by lowering your core body temp, but you are waking yourself with a quick jolt of cold!
Good luck.
The Anonymous Poppy
26 September 2009 09:12am UTC
On a vaguely related note, I am given to understand that alternating hot and cold (like, say, a couple times) is a fairly effective hangover treatment. (This is demonstrated in The Princess Bride.)
Boatswain The Fool
26 September 2009 04:16pm UTC
Alternatively, to save time, you could wear those five layers of wool and the fire while taking your cold shower.