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Cold Shower Evidence

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Is there any good researched cold shower evidence for health? And
are cold baths any good for you?
This site is about Chinese medicine and acupuncture so what's a page
on Cold Showers and Baths doing here?
The reason is that during my research on a new book "Yin Deficiency Burnout and Exhaustion: What to Do!" I was looking at ways to
increase resilience, including to cold.
Guess what? Cold immersion turns out to be good for you - just as my
father always said (he who when well into his sixties broke his small toe
jumping into his cold bath one morning, so perhaps not so good for him
on that occasion).
I've nearly always finished off a warm shower with a cold one and so for
me, personally, I think cold showers are great. I believe there is strong
cold shower evidence for health and that Chinese medicine has its own
explanation for why. More, I believe it tells you the best way to take a
cold shower.

FAQs

But first, read what cold shower evidence there is.

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Benefits of Cold Showers or Baths

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You don't have to be a Samurai or Keep-Fit warrior! Men: once women

understand the benefits, many get into the habit and feel great! It's
really not that hard to begin.
Before considering from the Chinese medical point of view why you might benefit,
what are the right and wrong ways of taking cold showers

Links

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... let's look at what

modern science has found
out. Note, some of the
research was on the effects
of cold baths not showers!

Cold Shower
Evidence for
helping Stress
Free Radical Biology and
Medicine March 1994
This cold shower evidence
research examined how
people who swam regularly
in ice-cold water reacted to
stress.
Huge decrease in
their
uric
acid
levels. Uric acid
levels
are
often
found in people
with
kidney
disease,
obesity
and
high
blood
pressure
and
gout. When uric
acid levels exceed
5.5mls/dL
the
incidence increases

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of heart disease and diabetes. These

cold swimmers' uric acid levels became
very low.

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Pulse Diagnosis

Glutathione
increased
markedly,
glutathione being your body's most
powerful antioxidant, used to combat
all sorts of stress. When glutathione
levels are high, your body's other
antioxidants also remain high.

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The abstract says:

"This can be viewed as an adaption to repeated oxidative stress, and is
postulated as mechanism for body hardening. Hardening is the exposure
to a natural, e.g., thermal stimulus, resulting in an increased tolerance
to stress, e.g., diseases. Exposure to repeated intensive short-term cold
stimuli is often applied in hydrotherapy, which is used in physical
medicine for hardening."
So the theory says that cold water increases 'hardening' and stresstolerance. For someone with a weak constitution or with Yin deficiency
or Yang deficieny or both, this might be very beneficial. (However, there
are less extreme ways of getting the benefits, see below.)

Beauty Care

Cold Immersion boosts Brown fat cells

Cold Foods

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19357407

Cold Showers

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19357405

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The results of this cold shower evidence and other research showed that
cold, such as in cold baths and showers, benefited creation of brown fat
cells, the kind of cell that creates warmth and burns energy, so keeping
you trim.
So, far from cold immersion making your body produce extra adipose
tissue to keep you warm, actually what it does is increase the amount of
brown fat that raises your ability to burn fat!
The implication is that controlled exposure to cold this way helps you
slim.
Another study http://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/abstract/S15504131%2814%2900006-0, shows that shivering induced by cold
exposure produced something called irisin that, in effect, encouraged
brown fat formation and muscle contraction to burn fat.

Cold Showers help Depression

Cold shower evidence Research at the Department of Radiation
Oncology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
showed that short cold showers can stimulate the brain's blue spot, the
area where most noradrenaline is created. The result? Less depression!
(I don't have the reference for this, and would be grateful if someone
could tell me.)
(And this was also the result in a statistically insignificant number of
people tested - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17993252)

Cold Showers increase Male Fertility?

This cold shower evidence research showed that exposure to wet heat
(hot showers, saunas and jacuzzis) decreased sperm motility. The
researchers considered that this was reversible by ceasing wet heat
exposure.
Research done under the auspices of the British Thrombosis Research
Institute apparently showed that the metabolic rate increases after cold
exposure. Other German research backs this.
If you look in the research lists, you'll find a good deal of proposed
research by Nikolai Shevcuk on the benefits of cold immersion, but not a
lot of actual research done on it, at least, as far as I can see, by him or
as a result of his proposals. Still, click the links for lots of citations and
suggestions for further reading.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2164952/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17335598

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8925815 showed that repeated

cold immersions over a period boosted levels of T lymphocytes, for
example.
These tests were done on 'athletic young men', so you can't draw
definite conclusions for everyone of course.

Down to -30C exposure helps kid be fit!

Children at kindergarten who regularly play almost naked in snow
reportedly have less illness.
But these were Siberian children who do physical exercises before going
out in the snow so get used to it from very early on. Still, they look
cheerful.
Click here for the link to the Siberian Times.
And click this for some research on winter swimmers.

Do it like a Man?
This isn't research but still, quite compelling!

Wind

Xang-fu
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Of course, this Dutchman has made it some kind of a mission in life, and
many of us don't have that time or commitment. But the link shows you
how he did it and implies you can too.

More, much more ... at least discussion

Be warned - not all of the following cold shower evidence is research.
There's lot of anecdote and opinion, some quite entertaining: also, some
repetition of sources.
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/hydrotherapy.html#
http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/04/27/coldwater-immersion-benefits.aspx
http://impossiblehq.com/cold-shower-health-benefits
http://philanthropy2012.hubpages.com/hub/10-benefits-of-coldshowers
http://wakeup-world.com/2012/04/11/ten-health-benefits-ofcold-showers/
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/01/18/the-james-bondshower-a-shot-of-cold-water-for-health-and-vitality/
http://www.fitsugar.com/Cold-Showers-vs-Hot-Showers-HealthBenefits-Both-15021710
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/surprising-benefitscold-showers.
html http://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/health/lairdhamilton-why-cold-showers-are-good-for-you-20131205
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17993252

Liver Yang

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8925815

Liver Blood

http://www.normalbreathing.com/l-cold-shower.php

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http://www.normalbreathing.com/l-cold-shower-ref.php
http://www.thefeelgoodlifestyle.com/how-i-crushed-the-30-daycold-shower-challenge-the-great-life-secret-i-discovered.html
http://www.thehackedmind.com/7-reasons-to-take-coldshowers-and-1-that-really-matters/
Essentials of Anatomy & Physiology, Elaine Marieb
The Cochrane Library February 15, 2012
Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport Volume 10, Issue 6 ,
Pages 398-402, December 2007
Free Radical Biology and Medicine March 1994
New England Journal of Medicine 2009 Apr 9;360(15):1518-25

Genetic inheritance
Before covering what Chinese medicine has to offer, consider that until
we discovered fire and found a way to heat enough water to have a hot
bath in (and a tub for it), the human race has either not washed or done
so mostly in cold water. (But we probably discovered early on that
washing cleans wounds and improves body odour.)

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So our genes - which

haven't altered that much
in the last 10,000 years are probably still adapted
to taking cold baths.

What about HOT

showers and
baths?
It is amazing how quickly
you can persuade yourself
that hot baths are better!
They relax and warm you.
They are easy to stay in.
They open your pores
allowing you to perspire
and feel cleansed. Many
soaps dissolve faster in
warm water so produce
soap suds for washing
more easily.
Here's what they found
about the effect of warmth
on rats:
"Oxytocin levels increase in blood
and CSF after various kinds of
non-noxious sensory stimulation
such as touch, light pressure and
warm temperature in both female
and
male
rats." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9401603

So, if you're like the rats, you probably feel warm and cuddly after a warm bath!
From the Chinese medical point of view, warmth can help certain kinds
of colds, for instance.
AND ... in a warm bath you can easily persuade children or partners to
join you!
(But ... wet warmth encourages fungi, bugs and other undesirables to
occupy the shower/bath surrounds too. Hot water causes condensation,
peels wall-paper; promotes damp. So there!)
OK. That's enough Western Science and anecdotes. Click Cold Showers
for what Chinese medicine theory says about it.

Find an Acupuncturist!
If you live in the Edinburgh area of
Scotland, where the author of this site (and
of the books described below) works, click on Edinburgh Acupuncturist.

If you live elsewhere, click on BAcC.

3000 years of Chinese being

stressed, and at last, here's a book
showing how all that experience can
help you!
By the author of this website, it
explains in simple English how to
use stress to improve and
enhance your life.

For the Latest Reviews of 'Qi Stagnation', click here!

NB You can also order 'Qi Stagnation - Signs of Stress'
from your bookseller.
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