From Relieving Depression to Boosting Immunity, Here's Why Cold Showers Are the Ultimate Health Boosters

Now that winter is over and we gradually move to warmer weather, most people get comfortable bathing in cold water. While apart from just a season change, experts recommend cold showers throughout the year. With lots of health benefits, cold showers are considered to be the best way to heal, recover, and generally feel good.

Cold showers are any showers with a water temperature below 70°F. While water therapy, also known as hydrotherapy, has been used for centuries to take advantage of our body’s tendency to adapt to harsher conditions, bathing in chilled water has many other benefits.

Experts say cold showers are not the primary treatment for any conditions, but a quick blast of cold water can help:

If you are obese and have heart disease, you have too much white fat in your body, but we are all born with brown fat. According to experts, brown fat plays an important role in health, as its healthy levels would indicate that white fat will be at a healthy level. Since brown fat gets activated by exposure to cold temperatures, cold showers can help you keep your weight in check.

Cold water also supports keeping certain hormone levels steady, thereby boosting your metabolism.

While getting in cold water can be a little uncomfortable, it can also be invigorating. It happens because water, which is colder than your natural body temperature, makes the body work slightly harder to maintain its core temperature. And so, the shock can spike blood circulation, improving the circulatory system and your immunity as well.

Across the world, an estimated 5 per cent of adults experience depression, with approximately 280 million people affected, and women are more likely to experience depression than men. While many drugs can treat the symptoms, depending on the severity or duration, a sure-shot and popular holistic method of treatment is hydrotherapy.

Studies say that after a five-minute cold bath, most people self-reported feeling increased alertness, energy, inspiration, activity, attention, and pride. Hydrotherapy is also used in the management of fibromyalgia—a chronic condition that causes widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and other symptoms like sleep disturbances and cognitive difficulties.

Cold water can shock your body, stimulating leukocytes, or white blood cells, which help defend your body against infections and diseases by ingesting foreign materials and destroying infectious agents. And so, taking cold showers can support your body’s resistance to common illnesses, like colds and the flu.

Cold temps make your blood vessels tighten up helping the blood move to your body’s core and vital organs. This blood then naturally becomes oxygen- and nutrient-rich during the process. When your body heats up during exercise and workouts, the blood vessels expand, bringing that oxygenated blood back to your tissues. As it flows back, it helps to flush out inflammation — a cause of delayed-onset muscle soreness, which can occur a couple of days after exercise.

According to experts, take a cold shower daily with the following tips:

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