Is Cold Water Bath useful ?

Is Cold Water Bath useful ?

It is stated that cold water bath is good for health.

Is it true ?

If yes in what way ?

P.J.LAKHAPATE
plaakhapate@rediffmail.com

 

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there are ayurvedic statements about the benefits of taking a cold bath - from memory I think it mentions something about a cold bath, particularly in the morning, washing off the toxins accrued from a nights sleep (a hot bath sends the toxins back into the body that excreted them) - also mentions how a cold bath rejuvenates the mind (certainly I can attest for that one - wakes you up pretty quick) and I also recall some detail about how one runs the risk of developing some chronic head problem (head aches perhaps - can't remember ....) from repeated hot baths

 

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As I suspected, according to this link it's not recommended for those with weak hearts.

 

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I tried a whole week of cold showers in the morning once. Made me feel nothing but miserable.

 

The Romans bathed in tepid, hot, and then cold water.

I myself like to end all my showers with cold water and have taken cold baths and showers before.

 

human civilisation has been running on for thousands of years and now suddenly it will grind to a halt if our hot water systems pack it in?

 

Wow, there's a slippery slope! Fraggle doesn't get out of bed, and civilisation collapses.

 

well it was described as a fundamental benefit of civilisation

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A fundamental benefit does not equal a fundamental need.

 

I agree with Fraggle, I took a cold shower every morning for weeks as did another poster here, it made me feel nothing but miserable.

I wouldn't be able to survive without heated water, I would likely die from being cold. In truth I'm cold most of the time as I'm near Chicago and the snow will soon start falling.

 

I think it is a matter of temperment.

 

definitely healthy. Alternating between cold and warm->hot water is also very good, as it promotes blood flow and rejuvenates the system.

 

At an old job i had to take cold showers with other men, it was very traumatic.

 

psychologically...but not physically

 

Actually water hooked up to water mains and the like is more icy than normal - water that is pumped directly from the ground is naturally quite warm in the winter (warm enough to generate a tiny bit of steam - a bit less than luke warm) and cool in summer - actually I must admit that I was like fraggle (horribly addicted to hot water systems) before travelling around india for several years - it s just something you get used to when there is no alternative

 

A few years ago, I spent a week in the mountains. Which mountians these were isn't too important except temperatures dropped as low as -9 F, -23 C. I had read somewhere that mountain climbers that do the big mountians will train to prevent frostbite by sticking their hands in buckets of cold snow-slush for a few minutes. Apparently, when the rest of the body is warm, blood-flow to the hand in slush is increased such that one can semi-permanently dialate the blood vessels in that extremity.

I figured that doing this on a full-body scale for short periods of time might not be a bad idea. So for about a month, after showering like normal, I'd flip the hot water off, crank up the cold, and let myself become comfortable in the cold water (tends to be tough to breath, instincts fight against it). Afterwords, yeah, you're cold, but you warm up right away when you step out, get dressed, get breakfast, etc.

Doing that for a month let me become so used to the cold that I've won a few bets for who can stay in a snowbank shirtless for the longest time

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. If nothing more, cold showers can psychologically adapt you for cold, and maybe even physically by stimulating the blood-flow to the skin.

 

By cold are you just talking about cold to the point of discomfort?

I have taken a fair amount of ice baths over the past year. It is very helpful in recovering. Since your body increases blod flow to counter the cold you heal faster. It is quite a different experience from using an ice pack.

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Or just taking a cold shower. It really does get the blood flowing in a different way, I think it is good to do once in a while (even if not recovering from some sort of athletic strain).

 

They have annual gatherings up North in the Arctic where they jump into the freezing water as a sport, but that's beside the point.

I take a luke warm shower, followed by an ice cold rinse to wake me up in the morning. It perks me up so that I'm wide awake for the day. It's been my habit for over twenty years - love it!

 

It is my personal opinion, though not backed up by any official science studies in my post, that acclimating one's body to climate differences can induce automatic increase in body health.

Having said that, I confess that I truly HATE to be too hot or too cold, and will seek whatever level of moderate temperature comfort that my circumstances allow ( hot baths, air conditioning, etc. ).

I freely confess that I strongly suspect that my comfort-seeking moves undermine the essential intrinsic health of the automatic mechanisms within my physical body: I do not want to stand before my Creator a hundred years from now and have Him say " I gave you hot water and air conditioning because I loved you and did not want you to suffer any more than you had to; why did you akways stay too hot or too cold?".