With all the popularity of cold therapy in the last few years, and the claims of the health benefits, specifically in regards to pain relief, I thought I might give it a try. I have been dealing with some chronic lower back pain for a few years now and was curious if it would help. That was about 2 months ago. I am happy to report that I have had significant reduction in my pain. It's not completely gone, but much improved. I have also noticed improvement in my range of motion as well as weight loss. To be completely transparent, I workout with kettlebells, another therapy for range of motion improvement, but I have been doing that for 6 months now and the improvements have increased more recently. I've also improved my diet, but I don’t think this takes away from the benefits of the cold showers.
As much as it has helped me, I’ll be honest, it's brutal when I take a cold shower. There isn't much about the actual shower that I enjoy. It is what happens after the shower that makes it worth it. Immediately following the uncomfortableness of the cold shower, I feel wide awake and clear headed. I also feel super positive, bordering on euphoric. I needed to look into this and see if there was any science that could explain this experience. So I dove into the Google sea. What I found not only explained it but opened my eyes to even more benefits.
Turns out cold exposure causes the body to produce a hormone called norepinephrine. Norepinephrine is an anti-inflammatory that is also closely tied to energy and can give you an overall positive feeling. This explains my reduction of pain and new positive attitude. What else could be happening?
When your body is exposed to cold, in the case of a shower or ice bath, the blood vessels contract forcing blood inward to maintain core temperature. In turn this feeds extra blood into your internal organs and helps them operate more efficiently, speeding up your metabolism. It also causes the body to produce more white blood cells, effectively making you less susceptible to illness and disease which improves immune function.
A study was conducted with 2000 participants taking 30 to 90 second cold showers each day for 1 to 3 months. The participants reported a 30% decrease in sick days as well as increased white blood cell counts when tested. Another study done on rats, exposed them to ice water for a period of time. This study showed the rats exposed to ice water had less cases of tumors and cancer as well as living an average of 2 weeks longer than the control group. The exposed rats also ate one and a half times the amount of food, but maintained a lower body weight.
Who would have known that cold showers not only wake you up but could help you live an overall healthier and longer life? Consider adding this to your daily routine, it's only 30 to 90 seconds of discomfort for a lifetime of benefits.
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