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Cold Shower Cures

Updated: 11/02/2009

DISCLAIMER
Our readers offer information and opinions on Earth Clinic, not as a substitute for professional medical prevention, diagnosis, or treatment. Please consult with your physician, pharmacist, or health care provider before taking any home remedies or supplements or following any treatment suggested by anyone on this site. Only your health care provider, personal physician, or pharmacist can provide you with advice on what is safe and effective for your unique needs or diagnose your particular medical history.

DEPRESSION

5 YEA

[YEA]  06/23/2007: Sabrina from Libertyville, Illinois writes: "Hi, wow how interesting to read these reviews. I have severe depression. It comes and goes, I'm 24 and can't stand having absolutely no control of my thoughts. I was desperately searching the web today (while at work of course) to find more cures. I am going for a jog, and taking a cold shower. I will follow up with all of you to let you know. Sounds inspiring to me."

[YEA]  05/03/2007: Jacklyn from Vancouver, Canada writes: "I've been living with depression for two years, I wanted to find a natural way to help ease the stress of life, cold showers every day have helped me feel better and have elevated my mood substantially, I feel less stress, I especially love taking a cold shower after a workout or jog, I am so happy to hear that cold showers have helped do many people, we have to get the word out!by the way, my hair is a lot shinier too!"

[YEA]  03/28/2007: Blanco from San Diego, CA writes: "I have recently started taking cold showers. On 03-16-07, I was feeling very depressed because I lost my job (nothing I did), isolated from previous co-workers (I really miss them), concern about finances (having lost a few weeks of pay and dealing with unemployment), and other issues related to stress that can trigger my health; which leads to a cold or fever. While I was at the gym on 03-16-07, something told me to go home and take a COLD SHOWER. Maybe because I believe in a higher power and was talking to my higher power about my concerns, worries and depressed moment. I got home and debated for about 30minutes to take a COLD SHOWER or not. At first, I felt my hands moving towards hot, but something told me not to and to challenge myself with a cold shower. I shivered. I stayed frozen. I couldn't move. I felt I was in Alaska dipping into a frozen lake. I took a deep breath and after doing that I felt sooooo good and wow did I feel so good and actually I stayed in the shower for like 20minutes feeling the cold water hit all over my body. I am feel like I am getting a cold, but I only hope is the changes in body temparature and that it is for the best for me. My skin feels so soft and I see a change in my face. COLD SHOWERS are WORTH a TRY...."

[YEA]  02/26/2007: Cory from Tacoma, WA writes: "I am 52 and have been swimming in cold water all my life, and always enjoyed how the cold water made me feel afterwards. I only recently started taking cold showers, and I wish I had started years ago. I had been taking Prozac and other anti-depressant medications for eleven years and desperately wanted to get off them, but the withdrawal symptoms would hit like a nightmare. The cold showers have enabled me to get off these drugs cold turkey. I keep the water ice cold for at least five minutes, then switch to warm and finally hot. I aso discovered that targeting the armpits is absolutely essential."

IMMUNE SYSTEM

4 YEA

[YEA]  04/06/2007: Hi from Indianapolis , IN writes: "I HAVE TAKING COLD SHOW FOR 9 YEARS. I THINK THIS IS THE MOST POWERFUL NATUREAL THERAPY. MY IMMUNE SYSTEM IS SO STRONG THAT I SELDOM GET SICK. I SUGGESTED MY COWORKERS TO TRY, THEY SAID I AM CRAZY."

[YEA]  12/18/2006: Sandi from MA writes: "Well, I have this bronchial thing going on, and being a teacher, I cannot afford to be sick. Tonight I decided to take a cold shower, and this is big for me. I HATE COLD WATER! I always take very hot showers, and tonight I thought, I cannot break the congestion. Well, I gritted my teeth, and ran under the shower. I came out of the shower, and the phlegm started to come up big time. No explanation, but I hate to say it, it felt good, and I do feel refreshed! I think I will do the same tomorrow!"

[YEA]  David from Los Angeles, California writes: "I used to catch a cold 2 or 3 times a year. But ever since started taking a cold shower every day 11 years ago, I have had a cold only once or twice, and simply feel great in general."

[YEA]  Tim from NSW Kitchener, Australia writes: "I decided to finish every normal 'hot shower' with a blast of totally cold water, after reading a book by an old healer by the name of Jethro Kloss. Anyway, I am a bad asthmatic, and used to get sick around 6 times per year. When I got sick it really affected my chest, with huge amounts of mucous, and real bad asthma.

Now I rarely get sick (it boosts the immune system as well as circulation), and if I do it's usually just a mildly sore throat. I wish I could better explain the massive difference this has made. Even if you feel sickness coming on, a cold shower will often stop it in its tracks."

MIGRAINE

1 NAY

[NAY]  01/14/2008: April from Savannah, GA writes: "I stood in a freezing cold, icey shower for nearly 20 minutes with no relief. My migraines are debilitating, throbbing aches that stop me in my tracks. The cold felt good on my skin, but didn't help my pain."

MIGRAINES

02/16/2007: Araeshkigal from Hurst, TX writes: "I first started taking cold showers as a suggested remedy for migraines. It more than worked. It also helped alleviate skin breakouts, regular muscle cramping, and some blood pressure issues (I changed nothing else in diet or exercise to be sure this was what was having the effects) I find it's best to start barely warm and slowly get to cold. If you can't stand ice cold at first just go "on the cool side" till you get a tolerance. You don't have to *freeze* to get the benefits. Also I find cold baths do *not* have the same therapeutic effect as cold showers (anyone else?)"

PAIN RELIEF

1 YEA

[YEA]  09/25/2007: Burness Speakman from Fredericktown , MO writes: "I read about the cold showers here 3 days ago. I have experienced whole body pain for as long as I can remember. Recently it has become unbearable to try and sleep without double doses of over the counter pain killers. The legs throbbed, prickley needles in the soles of the feet, leg muscle pain, skin pain, hip pain, numbness in the shin area. It was building up for years. I was ready to check myself in somewhere but I do not go to doctors. Anyway to continue. After reading the messages, I went and took a cold shower. This was the afternoon. Just before retiring I took another. This one really affected my body. Gasping and panting but not painful I stayed in the shower. For the first time since I could remember I had a peaceful night sleep. No pain in the legs at all, no numbness, no prickleys. I took three the next day with the same good results at night but with one more added strangeness. My Bowel Movement turned green. Not a dark green a kackie green and I was not constipated as usual. I gathered my bile was flowing. I had come to think I had a gallblader problem years ago but never associated the whole body aches with it. There might be some siatic nerve situation involved also, but I don't know. All I do now is that this seems just short of a miracle for me. I certainly hope it continues, because I don't know if I ever want to take another hot bath again as long as I live. Oh, the energy and high spirits are there too as others reported. Bless you all."

SKIN CARE

4 YEA

[YEA]  12/14/2007: Kathryn from Melbourne, Australia writes: "I had a terrible rash under my armpits a couple of years back now. I tried EVERYTHING! I remember it would flare up and the itch would increase 10-fold when I had hot showers. It got that bad that the skin had broken. In conjunction with a honey based cream and using bicarb. as a deodorant, the cold showers bought IMMEDIATE relief. With the water directed into the armpits, the itch would go straight away. Most certainly, the hot/warm water did 'something' to stimulate the bacteria (or whatever!) that was present. Thanks for such a wonderful site; I've been a long time reader and always visit whenever ailments inflict me or my family. ACV and H202 being my favourite remedies!!"

[YEA]  10/31/2006: Stan from Cleveland, OH writes: "Cold showers cured my dry skin and poor circulation. Wow! Just found this site after having tried this the past few weeks. Usually, I alternate between cold and hot -- always finishing my shower with at least 1 minute of ICE COLD water. My skin feels great when I get done. I feel energized, and often aroused after my shower! I'm totally hooked! TRY IT!!"

[YEA]  05/30/2006: Jameson from Costa Rica writes: "OMG, I feel like I've discovered the HOLY GRAIL! I'm taking 5 cold showers a day, sometimes 4. I didn't expect to be in the city again and have temporarily ended up in San Jose, Costa Rica, after having been in the country near Nicaragua for 3 months chillin' in nature. It's an armpit of a city and very noisy and my nervous system goes into overdrive in this kind of environment and I get rashes! Anyway, I know 5 cold showers might seems excessive but it totally calms me down, brings me to life, washes away a lot of the over stimulation feeling (which can drive a person mad with hyperactivity) and keeps the rashes down to ZERO! WOOHOO! Whenever I start to feel messed up, i just hop in the shower and zZIP, I've got a whole new body and outlook!"

[YEA]  Edwin from New York writes: "I have been doing cold shower therapy now for about 3 weeks; I shower twice a day. I feel great, look great, and feel a sense of well being all around. I also started using Pure Almond Oil, and my wife says that my skin never felt so soft...like a baby! I'm 51 years old and to have skin feel soft like a baby...well...you know the rest."

SLEEP ISSUES

1 YEA

[YEA]  07/28/2007: Leon from Wichita, KS writes: "I started taking cold showers on July 23 and felt very confident and able to get thru one day with little sleep, but then I felt used to taking cold showers that I sleep better. My body is softer and my mind is clearer. I spoke with several people about it and they were surprised and couldn't do something like that."

TIPS FROM OUR READERS

2 YEA

05/05/2009: James from Roseburg, Oregon writes: "This is a submission for the cold showers remedy.

My Method and what I Know:

First how I got started. I got involved because my father told me about it (he his interested in some of the Hindu's practices and practices some of them) and that it was beneficial to ones health. He also told me of some other Hindu practices that I now combine into my shower regime.

So, next is what I do. First I turn the tap on warm. But since I am not close to the hot water source, it takes some time for it to reach me. So I usually have a 10-15 second cold shower. I then take a hot shower for the next minute or so. Following that I rinse myself with another 10-20 second shower. At the end I pat myself dry with a towel. Also during the shower I usually yell as loud as I can for stress relief reasons. Plus to give my vocal cords some exercise.

Now I will tell you what I experienced during my time taking cold-hot-cold showers. First, I noticed a peculiar thing about my perception of the waters temperature. The first section felt quite cold and I usually try to keep it short. The portion after the hot part on the other hand did not fell anything like the one before. It was almost like my body had created a shield; likely to be the blood rising to the surface from the first cold water blast, and then my body was further heated from the hot water. Two last thoughts, At the beginning I had a lot of trouble turning the water on. But, I noticed that as I continued it was taking less and less effort on my part, till now I have next to no trouble. Thought two, I also noticed that taking my shower is very revitalizing, and is good for clearing my head so I can think properly.

This next section I will talk about the benefits I have seen of taking a cold-hot-cold shower. I know it would be good for warding off sickness in two ways. First, it acts as a mixer to the blood. The cold bringing the blood to the surface, then the hot driving it inwards, and finally the cold drawing it back out again. ( I think the blood does this because of homeostasis, a bodies mechanism for keeping balance.) The second reason I think these showers are good for wellness is that hot promotes openness and movement, essentially opening the pores of your skin. Cold on the other hand closes things and promotes stillness.

So, I would advise a person to end with a session of cold water at the end of a period of hot water. UNLESS, that is, they wish to have their pores open for health purposes. Although as general practice I would usually close my pores.

Also a word of caution. Try to keep the water from being to hot. Especially where your hair is concerned, as it can cause damage to the roots. (Or so I have hear. But it does make some sense.)

Thank you for reading this, and I hope you got something out of reading it.
Good Vitality and Enthusiasm to you!"

05/17/2007: Adil from New York, USA writes: "I find taking cold showers hard (painful), but I discovered something that significantly helps: Bring a few ice cubes in a glass with you to the shower and keep an ice cube in your mouth as you shower. Take another when it melts."

[YEA]  01/31/2006: Ahmad from Kansas City, Missouri writes: "Cold showers are not for everyone! Your body will tell you; shivering inconsolably like a pager on vibrate without acclimating. In this case, the potential good will have to be outweighed by your own mental well-being and stamina. But if you're those fortunate ones to stomach this midwinter dance, then try to make routine the targeting of the area under your arms (where the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems connect. This is a conduit point for blood flow and setoffs the body for a silent symphony of contractions between your bouts of frigid shower time."

09/26/2008: Jeff from Madrid, Spain replies: "That's interesting about the underarm area you mentioned...I had a hard time hitting that and the shoulder area...thanks for sharing the tip!"

[YEA]  Siva from Burlingame CA writes: "I somehow sensed that hot water was making me spend a lot of time in the shower. So I decided to have cold water shower, but I found it very difficult as I started showering but felt great by the end of the shower. As opposed to a hot water shower which feels great at the beginning and made me dull and drowsy by the time I stepped out, cold water felt scary and chilly in the beginning but got better and better, and made me feel fresh and energetic by the end of the shower.

I was looking for some info on cold water therapy a few months ago and I found this web page. Everyone's comments have helped me a lot. Let me add my 2 cents:

The most challenging part of the cold-water shower is the initial part of the shower, i.e. the first 10-30 secs. A few things that have helped me either some or all of the following:

1. Doing some mild exercise like skipping, jogging or push-ups just before taking the cold shower.
2. As mentioned about massaging the body with almond oil before taking shower.
3. Dancing in the shower while taking shower!
4. Starting with normal or luke warm water.

A cold shower causes a sudden increase in heart rate and breathing rate. So if we increase our heart rate and breathing by some mild exercise like the ones mentioned above, it really prepares us for the cold shower, and makes it pleasant throughout.

I start with a blast of moderately cold water and run it all over my body from head to toe as someone has mentioned. Then when I reach the feet, I make it colder. Then back to head, colder... Then I repeat a mantra 10 times keeping the water at head level. Back to torso and feet....repeat. Wow, that was cool.
Enjoy!"

WEIGHT LOSS

1 YEA

[YEA]  06/02/2009: Lana from Des Plaines, IL writes: "I've been doing cold showers for 2 weeks, and my appetite significantly decreased, and i lost 4 pounds already. Amazing! ACV helps too, but it doesn't decrease appetite as cold showers do, at least for me."

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