Early Retirement Extreme Forums

The Zen of Ice Cold Showers

https://medium.com/the-lighthouse/the-z ... .c4512q7zi


The next time you shower, set the water to be cold. Not just cool or lukewarm, but ice cold......

Now recognize the fact that you are feeling something unusual but that it’s ok. It’s just a signal from your nerves to your brain. You’re not dying. You’re not in danger. You’re simply experiencing something far outside the normal boundaries.

And if you don’t panic or try to escape the feeling by moving around quickly or tensing up or getting impatient to escape, everything will remain as it is, and there’s nothing all that terrible about doing just a little longer what you’re already doing right now.

That’s a superpower. Your mind is able to be stable and calm and focused against almost any force, any challenge, any problem. Your brain is like the large jets most people fly in, which are built for insanely greater stress, power, and force than most of us will ever experience on any flight. You can thank your ancient ancestors for that. They lived and died in unimaginably horrible conditions, building and fighting and hunting and reproducing in the barren deserts and frozen mountains, terrified of the night and striving with their last ounce of strength to stave off the moment when hunger, thirst, disease or predators would inevitably snuff out their precarious existence.

I the Scottish shower some time ago, and but delayed trying it as hot showers are my 2nd favorite thing.

But last week at the end of a shower, I just decided to flip over to cold. My body's uncontrolled response was... laughing. It's pretty great; something I look forward to at the end of a shower now. The most important thing (mentioned above) is to avoid trying to cope. Let the whole body be soaked in cold water, don't just let one part adjust to the temperature.

I'll continue with this.

...then, after that, you could have somebody wrap you very tightly in plastic wrap from neck to toe.

Also, it's kind of a different experience when you slip off a boulder and wind up in Lake Superior in April with all of your clothes on.

I still do this at the end of every shower and have done for years. As a result my circulation is great, I sweat fast in warm places and I am never cold. Its really good for you physiologically as well as psychologically.

He sells it better than I did: http://earlyretirementextreme.com/cold- ... later.html ...

I'm doing it now but it's really hot where I live now and the cold shower is actually warm. I won't be doing this in winter when it is freezing.

This is something I would try if I didn't love silky smooth legs as much as I do. Goosebumps push the hair up and ruin all the hard work of leg shaving.

It's 15 degrees out, and my water heater went down yesterday. I decided to camp in the basement then shower at the gym in the morning because I had been painting and doing other house stuff. Then I remembered this thread. It was only painful until I went numb. Once I stepped out of the shower and towelled off, roughly 70 seconds after I got in, I actually felt pretty good.

For some reason, we didn't have a water heater through most of my high school years, so I took cold baths. At least once there was ice rattling in the pipes. I was in sports and PE so had hot showers at school, but I wasn't always there.

I don't remember that time fondly, and enjoy warm showers now. I also think warm water rinses off shampoo better, which is another indulgence I use.

jacob wrote:He sells it better than I did: http://earlyretirementextreme.com/cold- ... later.html ...

I hadn't seen that. I really liked the tolerance zone post.
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/toler ... owers.html

I liked it so much that today was day number one of the "Don't Touch the F#(&!^% Cold Knob on the Faucet Experiment"

It was cold. But it felt good afterward.

Day 2 went better than Day 1. Utilizing navy showers makes it much better. Exposed to that idea through Jacob.

There is a woman I work with who says I hate joy. One of her examples of this is the fact that I take cold showers. Little does she know that I actually enjoy cold showers. Warm or hot showers are miserable after you make the switch.

I also cite cold showers as a partial reason I can keep my room at 40°F and be comfortable. Having exposure to frigid outside temps helps too.

I got onto this for awhile about 5 years ago. It's invigorating and doesn't feel too bad once you get past the initial cold shock. For some reason my shoulders are the most sensitive to the cold water.

My father used to say this old German (he claimed) proverb.
"I like to pound my head against the wall because it feels so good when I stop"
That's all I have to say about cold showers.

I have started ending my showers cold. I would like to work up to more and more of my shower being cold. I have noticed a few benefits I did not expect.

As I am doing it, I feel like that is the hardest thing I will do all day. My day is all uphill from there. When I can do that, I can do anything.

I feel a bit like the guy from fight club when he says with fighting it turns down your life. When I start the day with a cold shower, the things that would normally bother me, I don't even notice.

o

JasonR wrote: Why would I want to learn to acquiesce to the things in life that I can easily change with little effort?

Maybe as practice for dealing with the really hard things in life that you cannot change. Also for the physiological benefits.

I'm cold-showering about 50% of the time. It is easy after a long run. The last two days I rode in the rain/wind then swam in a chilly outdoor pool. There was no way I was taking a cold shower to boot.

I agree. Ice cold showers are very therapeutic. This has allowed me to withstand cold temperatures and also made my skin firm a bit. Not sure though if it's placebo or something. Imagine if I've done it every single day.

I had no idea there were benefits aside from financial... I'll have a go first thing!

The financial benefits are practically non-existent unless you spend hours showering each day.