Summary: Psychologist Emilie Koppius explains why there is no sense in ignoring the multiple health benefits of a cold water shower.

Scientifically proven: Cold shower is the Holy Grail for your body and mind

Author: Emilie Koppius
Reading Time: 5 min

Integrating a cold shower into your daily routine is perceived by many as horrible as watching a grisly movie. Nevertheless, a lot of scientific research has been done on the benefits of a cold shower. It promises to be the Holy Grail of health and wellness. But why would you intentionally submit yourself to a cold blast of water early in the morning? The answer: the incredible amount of health benefits that cold showers can bring. Psychologist Emilie Koppius explains why there is no sense in ignoring the multiple health benefits of a cold water shower …

Scientifically proven: Cold shower is the Holy Grail for your body and mind

By Holistik

1 – A cold shower causes a decrease in stress levels

This is because a cold shower stimulates the release of endorphin. Endorphin is a substance in our body that acts as a natural ‘feel good drug’ and it creates pleasant feelings. First of all, endorphin has a direct inhibitory effect on our stress hormones. Secondly, endorphin regulates the release of serotonin and dopamine. These are also hormones that affect our mood, self-confidence, memory, happiness, sexual activity and appetite. Logically, therefore, a shortage of these “happy hormones” has a negative effect on all of these things.

In addition, a cold shower can make a positive contribution to the treatment of depression. In people suffering from depression, there is a disturbed balance of the above-mentioned happiness hormones. A cold shower can help restore the balance of these hormones. Our skin has a large number of cold receptors. When these receptors are exposed to cold water, an overwhelming emission of nerve impulses occurs from the nerve endings. It travels in the skin all the way to the brain, which again has an anti-depressant effect.

2 – A cold shower contributes to a faster recovery after sports

As a result of the cold, the muscles of your blood vessels will tighten. This causes your blood vessels to become more narrow. This in turn, increases blood pressure, pumps the heart more vigorously, and increases blood flow. As a result, any waste will be disposed of faster and oxygen and nutrients will be absorbed quickly into the tired muscle tissues. This allows your body to recover faster and better.

3 – A cold shower inhibits inflammation

When we say inflammation we automatically think of a red, swollen and painful spot on the surface of the skin. What we do not know, and what is also very important, is that there is also something like “low-grade inflammation”. These are subtle inflammations throughout the body that undermine your health and immunity resistance.

At present, low-grade inflammations are one of the major risk factors for the emergence of chronic diseases (eg: ADHD, diabetes, burnout, etc.). They are partly caused by different lifestyle factors that we are exposed to in our contemporary society. Good examples are stress, unhealthy and fatty food, being overweight, lack of physical activity, etc. A cold shower can help in these cases because it causes an increase in interleukin proteins, which has an anti-inflammatory effect. In addition, it increases the natural killer cells whose main function is killing diseased and damaged cells (from viruses, tumors, etc.).

4 – A cold shower contributes to weight loss

The human body can distinguish and make a difference between brown and white fat tissue. The brown fat is seen as the healthy fat because it absorbs the energy you receive from food and transforms it into heat. This type of fat is, therefore, necessary to regulate our body temperature. The white fat, on the other hand, does not change into energy but only stays stored in your body. This type of fat tissue can mainly be found around the internal organs and behind the skin – the fat that creates the well-known ‘beer belly’.

Although most people have a negative association when they hear the word “body fat”, brown fat has one really amazing feature – due to brown fat we are able to burn the white unhealthy fat. And to make things even better – cold shower causes an increase in the amount of brown fat – an amazing aid for your weight loss goals!

I’m convinced, but how do I begin?

To benefit from the positive effects of cold showers all day long, I advise you to start the day with it. However, it is wise to build up the duration of these cold showers slowly. Start with 20 seconds, then go to 30 seconds the next day, and slowly build up to 2 or 3 minutes. Take good care of your breathing.

When you first start with cold showers, you’ll cramp and hold your breath. Try to keep breathing even though it might feel unnatural. And remember – the greater the resistance of your body, the greater the positive effects!

A word of caution – people with heart problems should refrain from cold showers. So, as a final word – try it for yourself and enjoy the effects!

Emilie is a low-threshold psychologist with a specialization in orthomolecular medicine and epigenetics. This means that she critically looks and explores the external factors that contribute to stress in the body. Relationship or work problems can contribute, among other things, to the choices you make regarding food, medicine, and lifestyle. These external factors may affect your mental and physical condition more than you would expect.

Emilie’s holistic method helps both specific mental and physical stress factors to map out and remove. Curious about what Emilie can do for you? For more information, see Emilie Koppius.