| 5 star (15) | 94% | |
 (1) | 6% |
Adil (New York, USA) on 05/17/2007: 
Ryan (Lansing, MI) on 01/11/2007:
I just wanted to share an insight: I'm still acclimating to taking cold showers, although I'm really starting to enjoy them. Something I HAVE noticed that may help others who can't imagine a cold shower is to slowly reduce the temperature of the water and, when it feels uncomfortable cold, to spray it on your underarms. Just put them right up by the shower head so they are taking the brunt of the spray. I don't know if it's the nature of the skin there, it's proximity to your vitals or what, but it takes the body "sting" out of the cold temperatures. Just a few seconds of armpit cold and you can start to enjoy the energy of it all.
Hope this helps others:)
JC (Colorado) on 11/23/2006:
Emrah (Turkey-Ankara) on 09/25/2006:
Ahmad (Kansas City, Missouri) on 01/31/2006:
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. Siva (Burlingame CA) on 03/01/2004:
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!
