I can’t remember where exactly I first heard of cold showers, but what really got me interested in them was when I saw Wim Hof (The Iceman) on TV.

He was able to climb mountains shirtless and sit in hypothermic cold water for hours without getting cold, which is all pretty cool but as an athlete I was most interested in what kind of performance gains I could get from cold shower therapy.

So I started searching Google for benefits of cold showers and found exactly what I was looking for:

Higher testosterone

Faster muscle recovery

Stronger will power

Manliness

My favorite article is this one by menprovement.com, because they not only mentioned the physical rewards of cold showers but the mental benefits as well.

I was convinced and decided to get started right away because the best way to see if something is true is to find out for yourself.

Luckily it was the end of January and so I was able to start the first day of February. Everything the Google articles said were true but what was really interesting is what I started discovering after I started taking them everyday on my own.

Here’s 5 Things I’ve learned from 15 Months of Cold Showers: (Feb 1, 2017 – May 16, 2018 & continuing)

1. After a couple of weeks its really not that bad

If you’ve ever asked someone if they would ever willingly take a cold shower (like I have many times) they most likely told you that theres no way they could ever do such a thing and that they enjoy their hot showers way too much.

It depends on what your goals are but to be honest after a week or two of taking daily cold showers, they really aren’t that bad. You will likely still be a little timid for a while when you’re standing outside the shower door waiting to get in, but that goes away in time.

After taking them for over a year now I can easily step right in without hesitation and have my heart rate stay exactly the same as it was outside the shower. It feels pretty good to have control over your body and its senses.

2. You really do sleep great

You might be thinking that theres no way a cold shower can actually put you to sleep since its the complete opposite of a relaxing warm shower, but in reality it really does knock you out quick.

Your body actually prefers to be a bit cooler when you go to sleep and theres no better way to cool it down than to step in an ice cold shower.

After my cold showers I usually fall asleep within 10 minutes and that doesn’t matter what season it is or how busy my day was.

Try this mask for complete blackout sleep. I have one for my house, my friends house, and for traveling. If you get amazing sleep you’ll automatically feel better.

3. You complain less and make less excuses

One of the benefits of cold showers that is difficult to evaluate is how strong your willpower is becoming. The way I have been able to see changes is in how many less excuses I make and how I can be less reactive to things that don’t necessarily matter.

No one is forcing me to take these cold showers, I’m doing it for all of the benefits that come along with them. Once you fully realize this you actually notice how much of your life is exactly like this. Most of the things you do throughout your day are things that you choose to do to improve yourself so theres no reason in complaining or making excuses.

The guys over at menprovement.com termed it perfectly: Emotional Resilience.

4. You don’t get sick anymore

This may sound too good to be true, but I haven’t been sick a single time since I’ve started taking cold showers daily. Yes, I eat healthy and take care of myself, but I definitely believe the showers had something to do with it.

There were a couple times throughout last year when I felt like I might get sick and knew it was because I did something stupid like drinking out of my sick friends cup, but the illness never caught on. I had a stuffy nose feeling for one day thinking that it would be the beginning of my sickness, but by the next day I was clear.

5. Cold weather doesn’t affect you much at all

Cold weather has nothing on cold showers. When you take a cold shower you are coming into direct skin contact with freezing cold water with no way of heating yourself up besides your body and your mind. When you get used to cold showers, cold weather turns into a walk in the park.

I’ve worn a jacket maybe 2 times in the past year and thats because it was raining. A little bit of cold air here and there isn’t going to even get close to what a cold shower feels like. I would probably say that cold showers allow you to feel comfortable in temperatures 15-20 degrees less than what you usually feel good at.

One last little benefit to taking daily cold showers is knowing that almost no one else is doing it.

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