Blogging about the effect of cold showers on mood made me want to try them. I’ve taken cold showers before. They had no obvious effect beyond mild invigoration. But I learned that the showers need to last at least 5 minutes to get the mood benefits. My earlier showers were much shorter than that.
So far I’ve taken 4 cold showers, one per day, each 5-7 minutes long. Water temperature 56-60 degrees F. The first was unpleasant for maybe a minute. For hours afterward I felt warm inside — that was obvious. Maybe a slight rise in mood, but not an obvious one. With subsequent showers the unpleasant part at the start grew shorter. Now it’s maybe 20 seconds. The warm feeling inside is less obvious but maybe that’s because it’s constant. My apartment started to feel too warm. I opened windows to cool it off. Outside I was more comfortable (it’s close to freezing here in Beijing). I wear fewer layers of clothing.
I like the warming effect and will continue. Maybe colder water would produce more of an effect. I live on the sixth floor. Even if outside a minute ago it has traveled through warm pipes. Perhaps I can get greater effects walking outside loosely clothed.
There’s one more option to try, besides hot and cold showers, and that’s a hot shower with about 5 seconds of cold water at the end – just enough to undo the increase in body temperature from the hot water. I’ve found this leaves me feeling more energetic then regular hot showers, at least for the 30 minutes or so immediately after.
Seth, there must be thousands of middle-aged men who were, like me, seventh–graders when Ian Fleming’s Bond novels came out in paperback in 1962, driven by President Kennedy’s enthusiasm for them. Since we could neither shake nor stir Martinis, nor even touch girls, or drive Aston Martins, the only thing Bond did that we could do, we did; take a cold shower every day.
There were no discernible effects.
Yet.
A monk at a temple in Japan told me they do a cold water meditation. They douse themselves in cold water then sit for hours. He said the experienced monks knew to get the bucket of water ice cold if possible because the body would warm strongly and dry out their robes. The novices tried to use warmer water and ended up shivering in wet robes. This was 20 years ago so I don’t remember the details. Google says I might have heard of shinto misogi or been at the Kamakura temple.
Tummo meditation
https://www.cognitionandculture.net/Brian-s-blog/g-tum-mo-heat-meditation.html
That blog entry has a couple of references to papers. The blog looks interesting.
Submerging in snow is a part of the traditional Russian steam bath routine. First, you gradually raise the temperature and humidity inside (this part is somewhat similar to Native American ceremonies) while drinking kvass or beer to sustain electrolytes. You use specially aged and soaked birch branches with leaves to gently beat yourself all over – this opens up pores and does some complex things to circulation. When you are VERY hot, you go out and roll in the snow, or just splash yourself with a tub of cold water in the next room. Amazingly, the sensation is extremely pleasant. The cooling is welcome and it does not feel like a shock. Then you can go back to the steam room for more, repeating the cycle a few times.
Needless to say, every step can go pretty wrong if you don’t know what you are doing. For example, raising the temperature or humidity too abruptly will most definitely cause cardiovascular problems. Applying too much strength with branches will not feel painful, but you will get scars. I would strongly advise learning from someone experienced before trying any of this.
I wonder if the increased thermogenesis would be conducive to weight loss.
I also wonder if doing this repeatedly would cause you to grow (metabolically active brown fat.
https://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1890175,00.html
https://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/misc_topics/brownfat.html