Cold showers

[Seldom]

from my experiences since starting it's effects seem cumulative, since i was young i have had what's called Raynaud's , my main motivation in starting was to experiment to see if this would help.

i also found this -> http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0808718#t=articleResults , about brown adipose tissue

Edited July 14, 2011 by humanzee

[Zen Peddler]

I know a lot about raynauds. Some patients have elevated assymetric dimethylarginine which results in reduced nitric oxide bioavailability and increased vasoconstriction.

[Seldom]

i dig your knowledge man ^. do you know of any ways to treat it aside from the orthodox avoid cold/get exercise/avoid stress/eat well? i've heard racetam family nootropics can be useful for vasospastic disorders, i went through a period of taking piracetam over the year i was living in college, but it's really not something i want to be stuck on if i can avoid it. it's off topic but would you recomend anything?

[Seldom]

yep i've stopped the experiment. i'm back for uni in a cold cold place starting with Ar, anyone who knows will know it's not an easy place to persevere. the small increased resiliance against the cold < hot showers. in the summer maybe.

[Seldom]

/

Edited July 23, 2011 by humanzee

[ThunderIdeal]

maybe it was the romans, who used to wash in heated baths, with the hot water helping to open the pores in their skin, then after washing they would enter a cold bath to close their pores (stop new dirt getting in i guess). hot water not meant to be good for hair either.

cold showers really aren't that bad, if you only want to quickly clean yourself. i can't see myself relaxing for five minutes in a cold shower though.

i'm not going to disagree with zen peddler, i wouldn't recommend cold showers to a sick person or anything, but you do feel rather nice after one. it's kind of like going down the highway on a roadbike in the cold. not as bad, but you get that effect where the skin tightens up and the blood leaves the surface, you don't feel the cold as badly and when you stop the bike / get out of the shower, you are quite comfortable even though you are standing in the cold air and your skin is like ice.

[Seldom]

recommencing experiment.

day 1: really fucking uncomfortable, but extremely invigorating. it's like dying a little death every morning

[zelly]

I do something similar....tough it out in the hot tub (42C) for as long as I can then jump into the unheated pool at 13C.

2 cycles like that &'m totally mush.

[Mycot]

I remember one time jumping into a very icey stream above waist level. I do not recomend this, very painfull to the gonads, hard to describe.

On the other hand I can dig cold even icey showers having a beneficial effect on health.

Utilising waterfalls gives the practice a somewhat aesthetic quality. Indeed this is a practice of several martial arts sytems most principally karate. One advantage of doing the practice this way is that the concentration helps to take one's mind off the cold.

Edited November 3, 2011 by Mycot

[Seldom]

still have cold showers every day, it's still a little death every morning, and i love it

does anyone else do this ?

[Strontium Dawg]

All year round. Although in the middle of winter I might start off warm then go the cold blast.

[Yeti101]

In summer, quite often, but in winter I settle for a quick dip in the ocean, and then a hot shower.

Don't know if it was mentioned (didn't re-read the whole thread), but exposure to cold can apparently stimulate the production of 'good' brown fat - http://www.garvan.org.au/news-events/news/the-iceman-study-how-keeping-cool-could-spur-metabolic-benefits

I think it takes more than a cold shower, but it could help.