How to Take a Cold Shower

Other 4-Hour Body posts:

If you've been reading the 4-Hour Body, then you probably know that one of the techniques that can help you lose fat faster is to take cold showers. Cold showers burn fat in several ways:

  • They stimulate your brown fat cells, helping the ones you have reproduce, work harder
  • They cause your body to compensate for the loss of body heat through shivering and a higher metabolic rate.
But cold showers have many other benefits as well:
  • They can help reduce or avoid depression
  • Improves circulation, which is good for overall cardiac health.
  • Strengthens your immune system
  • Increases testosterone and fertility.

But how do you take a cold shower? If you just jump into cold water, you'll be miserable. There's a good technique that minimize the unpleasantness and actually maximizes the benefit you'll get, because you'll be able to stick with it better.
  1. Start with a normal, hot shower.
  2. Shampoo your hair and rinse normally.
  3. Soap up in the hot water.
  4. Then, turn the temperature to a low luke-warm. Nothing that you'd identify as cold, just neither cold nor warm.
  5. Rinse off in this low luke-warm water. This gives your body time to adjust to the temperature.
  6. Now, turn your back to the water.
  7. Turn the temperature down slightly, just a few degrees cooler.
  8. Wait about 30-40 seconds. You can count off one-one thousand, two-one thousand, or you can sing the ABCs.
  9. Repeat 7 and 8, as many times as you can. I can now go about 6 cycles of gradually reducing the temperature.
  10. I usually stop the cycle after my teeth start chattering while singing the ABCs.
The reason this process works is:
  • You still get to enjoy a hot shower to start.
  • You gradually reduce the temperature so that it is never an unpleasant shock.
  • By the time the water temperature is getting really cold, your upper back and neck are already somewhat numb, so you hardly notice the temperature change.
  • Using this method, you should easily be able to spend 5-6 minutes in an increasingly cold shower.
You'll finish feeling invigorated and refreshed. Give it a try!


6 comments:

Jason and Holly said...

I found the first two days were terrible, but after that, I don't mind them near as much. I take a 2-3 minute hot shower, and now just turn it full cold and back in. I wait 2-3 minutes of it just on my back, and about the time my buns go numb, I turn around and rinse off my front. Back and forth once or twice and it's time to get out.

It's important to remember to not get tense. I found that if I was relaxed, I suffered less than when I was tense and rigid.

rain said...

It helps to have a nice bathroom equipment as well to have a refreshing shower experience.

bathroom remodeling nyc

John said...

I usually take a cold shower because I find it refreshing. Yes, hot shower is good for our health but I just feel like having it during the winter season.

espar heaters

Johannes said...

It helps too if you have the proper insulation from your tiles.
timber flooring perth

Anonymous said...

Is it necessary to alternate between the 30-40 seconds in the water and time spent outside of it? Can i just take a cold shower for an amount of time while consistently in the water? And for how long?

Unknown said...

Ap: I don't wait outside: I am waiting 30 seconds, and then turning the water colder and colder. Sure, you could just go straight to the coldest temperature, but personally that's pretty dang unpleasant. (I also live in Portland, and the water is pretty cold here in the winter.) By waiting a few seconds, and then turning the water cold in intervals, it's never quite so shockingly cold all at once.