Your whole world changes when you submit to frozen water.
My best ideas come in the shower. When I have to do something mentally strenuous, I always take a long shower before I start.
I would have done it before sitting down to write this article, but I couldn’t because this story is about freezing showers, something I’ve been doing for a week.
The showers frosts are intended as an act of torture, something that people should bear in military camps or in prison. Come on, the term ” cold shower ” is synonymous with “killer of sexual desire.”
Despite all this, there is a small, but enthusiastic, group of people talking about the benefits of taking freezing showers and they have some science to back them up.
Ice water has been used for some time by sports therapists and athletes to treat muscle pain. Weight loss and skin improvements are said to be other benefits of cold water, plus there’s evidence that freezing showers can help with mental health.
A study published in the journal Medical Hypotheses suggests that freezing showers can be used to treat depression.
The showers frost by morning also help you with productivity, the idea is to overcome a challenge early, sets you up for success the rest of the day.
In the end, ironically, all this evidence convinced me of one thing: hot showers are spectacular. How else do you explain that almost everyone takes them despite the fact that there are mountains of evidence that guarantee the benefits of freezing showers?
I have spent my entire life checking the benefits of hot showers, so I know they are great. But, it’s time to see what freezing showers can offer, so I decided to take them for a whole week.
To be exact, I took two-minute freezing showers at the end of a very short (30 seconds or less) normal shower. This is what happened:
I SUPER CONCENTRATED
During my first cold shower, I started counting from 1 to 120 in my head, but the icefall quickly derailed me at second two. If the hot showers add me to a state of deep reflection, the cold shower took my brain and launched it into a frozen lake.
When you take ice showers, it is impossible to think of anything other than “I am taking an ice shower .” It makes those first 15 seconds seem like forever.
But once you make peace with the idea that you are bathing in ice water, something interesting happens: I started to focus on something very basic, elemental human faculties.
My shoulders are tense, I thought, do they have to be like this? I relaxed them. I am breathing fast. Is this necessary? I took a deep, slow breath. Did I calm down? I was cold, but I was calm.
I MOTIVATED
After what I estimated to be two minutes passed, I turned off the water and prepared to start my day. And when I say “I prepared myself”, it is serious.
I sat down and made my to-do list for breakfast. I felt great. Very productive. After just a two-minute freezing shower, I became a believer.
I HAD TO GET A LOT OF WILL
The next day there was more of the same, but I noticed that this time I had a hard time going to bathe. This trend continued throughout the following mornings.
If you knew how good it made me feel, why wasn’t I eager to jump in the shower? The experience reminded me of a famous saying, attributed to many authors: “I do not enjoy writing, I enjoy having written.”
I don’t like freezing showers, I just like how they make me feel, once I dried up.
The week was a success, and I am convinced that I will continue taking the freezing showers every morning, although it will not be easy.