There’s nothing more soothing than a warm bath, good music, and a glass of your favorite beverage. A cold shower is the jarring opposite of that relaxing picture, but for the sake of wellness, it might be time to turn the faucet. A cold shower might not sound pleasant, especially on a winter morning, but there are several benefits to taking the plunge. According to UCLA Health, a cold shower can fight depression, improve circulation, boost immunity to common colds, reduce inflammation, soreness, and pain, and more. Best Life spoke with people who took a cold shower every day for a week, and here’s how they felt. You’ll be shocked at the life-changing results.
RELATED: 7 Cold Plunge Benefits for Your Health.
Better Focus
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For over 10 years, Peter Shankman, Founder of Source of Sources, has been taking cold showers. “I can’t fit an ice plunge into my apartment, so cold showers it is,” he jokes.
The entrepreneur, author, and keynote speaker racks up 350,000 miles a year traveling, and cold showers help keep him focused.
“I love the dopamine hit, the feeling of being awake, the instant stop to sweating from my workout before the shower,” he says. “It helps me master my breathing and focus on knowing what I can control and what I can’t, which comes in handy a million times each day.”
Improved Mood
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Taking a cold shower is shocking to the system, but in a good way because endorphins, a hormone that improves mood, are released, which is what Stephen Boatman, Principal at Flat Fee Financial, loves about cold showers.
“Cold showers improved my mood at and out of work,” he says. “I felt more stable and less stressed overall. That residual stress was relieved, and my productivity increased substantially, allowing me to make decisions faster and with more confidence.”
Increased Productivity
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Cold showers could do the trick if you want to feel more energized and less sluggish. Shawn Plummer, a retirement planner and the CEO of The Annuity Expert, was tired of relying on coffee in the mornings to get him going, so he tried cold showers.
“The first morning was brutal,” he says. “The initial shock of cold water was strong, but after about 30 seconds, I adapted and could feel my body waking up in a way that coffee never did.”
But he stuck with it, and by the third day, he noticed a change. “I didn’t feel groggy heading into my workday, and my focus was noticeably sharper,” he explains. “Meetings at 8 a.m. were more reasonable, and I wasn’t looking for another cup of coffee by 10 a.m.
He adds, “I believe my productivity increased by 10-15% because I was able to begin work earlier and with more energy. The mental challenge of tolerating the cold shower also made me feel more resilient, like if I could handle that first discomfort, I could handle anything the day threw at me.”
Mental Clarity
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Cold water jolts the mind and can boost alertness, causing a “mental reset,” Boatman explains. “I observed that after each shower, I was much more alert and focused, allowing me to navigate a busy workday more clearly. That surge was temporary; it established a favorable tone for the remainder of the day.”
Refreshing Results
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A refreshing way to start the day is with a cold shower, according to Dennis Cullen, a retired financial executive. “I started taking cold showers in high school at the suggestion of my basketball coach,” he explains. “He believed that after taking a hot shower, turning on the cold closed your pores and improved your health,” Cullen says.
He continued his routine for years and explained, “Cold showers leave you refreshed and invigorated. It’s a great way to start the day and gets you moving. While I still curse my high school coach every time I turn the knob to cold, I appreciate his wisdom.”
Stress Relief
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Stress is a part of everyday life and can be overwhelming to manage. One way Taylor Wilson, CRS -1 Certified Recovery Specialist and Founder of Active Recovery Companions, helped get stress under control was cold showers.
“It took some time for the first shock of the cold water to go away, but eventually, it became a solid mental reset, which really helped me feel calmer and more focused throughout the day.
Boatman also felt less stressed as a result of taking cold showers. “When I’m stressed, I usually have a low degree of anxiety throughout the day,” he says. “ After a cold shower, I had a sense of relief, as if I’d left the worry behind.”
He adds, “That influence had a significant impact on how I responded to issues at work – I was calmer and more solution-focused rather than reactive.”