Ah yes, the talk about the famous benefits of cold showers, and the 30 day cold shower challenge. The last thing you’d probably want to do after waking up in the morning is start taking cold showers or the James Bond shower as they’re commonly known;

It’s nobody’s ideal way to start the day. Everybody wants to gently ease out of bed, and then get in a warm, soothing, and comforting shower.

So the chances are, you’re reading this article because you’ve already heard about some of the awesome benefits of cold showers. Yet you’re a little sceptical as to how you can start adding them into your daily life.

Am I on the money?

Not to worry… this article covers both the reasons why you should start taking cold showers, and also how to begin for anyone who hates the thought of gushing cold water hitting their head at 6AM every morning.

So… what exactly are the benefits of cold showers?

15 Benefits of Cold Showers

There’s a lot of benefits associated to adding cold showers into your life. In fact, you’ll probably be incredibly surprised at some of the advantages listed below, and it’s strange at what a little cold water can do for a few minutes every day!

Check out these incredible benefits of cold showers, and how you can take simple steps to adding them into your life.

1. They Improve Your Mood

Getting up in the morning can often be a task for most people in itself. It still doesn’t get much better for many people once they’ve had a nice hot shower to try and warm themselves up.

When you take an ice cold shower, your body will be put into a small state of shock by the water. In an attempt to keep your body warm, your heart will start pumping more blood around your body, and your breathing will deepen to increase your oxygen intake.

Essentially, the shock of cold water in the morning kicks starts a process that boosts your energy levels, and therefore improves your mood before you’ve really even begun your day.

2. They’re Linked With Increased Testosterone Levels

Testosterone levels are majorly important for men’s health, but do also affect women. As men get past the age of 30, their testosterone levels start to decline, so efforts are often made to keep T-levels high for maximum health.

Ice cold showers have been linked to an increase in testosterone levels.

Listen up men… when you take measures to keep your testicles cool, your testosterone levels benefit significantly. Which is why keeping the boys cool with a freezing cold shower in the morning, will improve your T-levels.

3. They Speed Up Muscle Recovery

Often used by bodybuilders, and many other athletes, Ice showers and ice baths are the norm’. The cold water can help reduce the time it takes for your muscles to recover from a workout or injury.

We all put packs of ice on parts of our bodies when we take a knock, or hit our heads right? To reduce the swelling, increase the blood flow and reduce the amount of time it takes for the muscle tissue to recover.

Athletes often use a contrast method, which consists of switching from hot to cold water, and vice versa. The contrast method supposedly shocks the body continuously to reduce recovery time even further.

4. Your Goals Require Getting Uncomfortable

If you’re setting yourself big goals in life, they’re going to be tough to achieve. It’s going to require a lot of discipline, and a lot of discomfort. Although you don’t have to take cold showers to get used to discomfort, you will have to get used to it one way or another.

This is going to help you excel and be able to handle uncomfortable situations, during any struggles you go through on the way to achieving your goals.

There’s no doubt that taking a cold shower every morning will get you used to being uncomfortable, and believe it or not, that’s a great thing.

5. They Help Boost Your Metabolism

Another of the amazing benefits of cold showers is that they help improve your metabolism.

Believe it or not, there is such a thing as healthy fat inside your body. Many people look at fat as black and white, but the healthy fat inside your body actually helps you out a great deal.

Ice cold showers actually increase the amount of healthy fat inside your body, which in turn, boosts your metabolism and helps you lose weight.

If weight loss is your goal, try and take a cold shower everyday to increase your metabolism.

6. They Promote Relaxation & Relieves Stress

Cold showers lower your body’s levels of uric acid, and increase the levels of Glutathione in your blood. Both these factors help reduce stress levels, and allow you to become in a more relaxed state.

7. They Increase Body Immune System Strength

People who take cold showers are often found to have a higher white blood cell production than those who don’t. This increases the amount of important white blood cells inside your body.

The white blood cells help to fight off diseases, boosting the strength of your immune system. So if you’re looking to improve your immunity, give the cold shower a try.

8. They Improve Blood Circulation

Shocking your body with ice cold water will cause your heart to pump more blood around your body, as I briefly mentioned above.

Doing this on a regular basis improves your blood flow and circulation, since your body is forced to do so. This is very similar in the way that exercising improves your blood circulation over time also.

9. They Cause a Higher State of Alertness

We mentioned above that the shock of the cold water gives you an energy boost, as a rush of blood surges through your body. This essentially gives you a higher state of alertness.

Which is crucial for most daily tasks that require concentration and awareness.

10. They Can Help Fight Depression

A study shows that the ice cold showers can stimulate a part of your brain which contains the largest source of Nor-adrenaline.

This is a chemical that’s associated with fighting depression, and with the cold shower stimulating the production of this chemical, it can help alleviate depression.

11. They Improve the Condition of Your Hair & Skin

Research has shown that taking ice cold showers stops your hair and skin from losing too many of its natural oils. Natural oils help keep our skin, fresh, smooth and luscious, and our hair shiny, strong and intact!

Taking cold showers can act as an anti-aging process, and significantly improve the health of your body on the outside, not just the inside.

12. They Wake You Up

You’re damn right they wake you up! Drag your lazy self into an ice cold shower the minute you wake up and you’ll feel like you’ve been electrocuted.

(Or a bunch of science stuff like improving your circulation and causing a higher state of alertness etc.)

13. They Put You to Sleep

As well as waking you up, cold showers are also proven to help you sleep like a baby. As Tim Ferris says, ice cold baths act like you’ve been given an elephant tranquilliser.

So before you go to sleep at night, try having a quick cold shower an hour beforehand to help you drift off easily.

14. They Help Prevent Varicose Veins

Varicose veins appear in the legs as a common sign of ageing. Eventually, they can cause pain for elderly people when trying to stand. The cold water stimulates the muscles and can treat the issue.

15. They May Boost Fertility

The last of the benefits of cold showers, is their ability to boost fertility. Keeping the testes at a lower temperature, or exposing them to freezing cold temperatures, helps preserve sperm.

If you’re consistently exposing your testicles to excessive heat guys, it’s bad news. It’s been linked with infertility, therefore it might be good to start giving the fella’s a wash under freezing cold water.

The 30 Day Cold Shower Challenge



The 30 day cold shower challenge is plastered across the web. With people attempting to have a cold shower every day for 30 days, and posting their results and findings afterwards.

How to Train Yourself to Take Cold Showers

Okay so you’ve heard all the amazing benefits of cold showers, and yet it still sounds pretty hardcore to be trying this. I mean, freezing cold water?! At 6 or 7AM everyday?!

Trust me, it will be worth it in the long run.

However, if you’re struggling to take those first steps in having cold showers, here’s a good step by step process of how to do so with a little more ease…

Turn the water on & gradually adjust the temperature Get your feet wet first Then your hands Then your head Lastly your back

Doing it in this order is the best way to adjust to the cold temperature. Your back is the last part of your body you want to get wet, simply because there are so many nerve endings that’ll take the cold a little harder than your feet or your hands.

You might find it easier to start at a medium temperature and gradually adjust it down to sub zero temperature. However, as Gary says, you’ll miss out on the adrenaline rush experience if you do it this way.

Summary

A quick recap on the 15 benefits of taking cold showers:

Improves your mood Linked with increased testosterone levels Speeds up muscle recovery Your goals require being used to discomfort Helps boost your metabolism Promotes relaxation and relieves stress Increases body immune system strength Better blood circulation Higher state of alertness Can help fight depression Improves the condition of your hair and skin Wake you up Put you to sleep Help prevent varicose veins May boost fertility

Do you know any other benefits of cold showers? Leave a comment below.