I Tried Switching to Cold Showers, Here's What Happened
If social media teaches us anything, it’s that our morning routines ought to look something like this:
5:00 am: Rise and Grind
5:05 am: Morning Meditation
5:20 am: Bullet Journal
5:30 am: Workout
6:00 am: Cold Shower
6:05 am: Breakfast w/ Pour-Over Coffee
7:00 am: Emails
9:00 am: Trade Crypto
I’m not bashing the concept; it seems like a healthy routine (except, possibly, the crypto part). However, I know if I tried to adopt the whole thing at once, it would crash and burn spectacularly.
Instead, I’m opting to build up the “perfect” routine slowly and test out each element. This brings me to this month’s experiment: switching from hot to cold showers. Plenty of wellness gurus swear by cold showers. Is it all hype or is there something more to it?
In this post, I’ll take you through my first week of cold showers and share my thoughts.
Day 1: This Was a Mistake
The second I closed my bathroom door, I wanted to quit. Oh come on, I thought, how bad could it really be?
Um…bad.
As I leaned into the frigid downpour, my entire body screamed “this is a HUGE mistake.” After an eternity of uncontrollable gasping and regret, I escaped my objectively terrible shower.
What happened next, though, was nothing short of magical. Instead of feeling cold and lethargic like usual, I felt warm and alert. My body was electrified, and I even skipped my morning coffee. Maybe there was something here after all.
Day 2: Get Me Out of Here
The one good thing about Day 1 was at least I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. That was not a luxury I had on Day 2—the dread started from the moment I decided it was time for a shower.
I eventually psyched myself up enough to step into the shower, and I have to admit that it was just as bad as the day before. The whole time, I wanted out. But after the shower, in addition to the warmth and energy I had experienced the day before, I felt a strange sense of pride. I had overcome my fear of the cold a second time.
Day 3: Each Day is a Win
By Day 3, I started to accept the inevitability of the shower and resign myself to the daily cold. That empowered me to “just get it over with.” And in return, I was getting a sense of accomplishment. For three days in a row, I had managed to haul myself into the bathroom and douse myself with cold water despite knowing it would be uncomfortable. That felt like a win.
It’s also worth noting that during the shower, I was solely concentrated on the cold and my breathing. I wasn’t thinking about anything happening in the outside world. The cold was blocking out the stresses of everyday life, stresses which had often crept into my warm shower thoughts. In that sense, cold showers were helping me escape “the real world” better than hot showers.
Day 4: It’s Just a Shower
Around Day 4, I tried a new strategy: blanking out my mind and acting autonomously—from the moment I decided to take a shower until I was in the water. I didn’t protest or whine in my head, I just went and did it. I was no longer amplifying the discomfort in my mind, which made the process easier.
There was a comment in a Reddit thread about cold showers that captured this attitude perfectly:
It’s just a shower.
Five minutes of a cold shower wasn’t going to kill me. At worst, it minorly inconvenienced me by not granting me the warmth and comfort I had become accustomed to. But, in the larger scheme of things, it was really no big deal.
Day 5: It’s Not That Bad
I take back what I said: the shower isn’t actually that bad. Day 5 made me realize that the discomfort I was feeling was almost exclusively driven by panic. I was panicking about feeling uncomfortable and cold. I was panicking about pain and numbness. I was panicking about gasping for air. I was panicking about having to bail out without getting a proper shower. All of this was pure fabrication.
While the first 30 seconds of a cold shower may be rough, once I calmed down, I realized there was nothing to worry about and that I actually enjoyed the cooling effect of the water. By controlling my breathing, I was able to significantly reduce the shock and gasping associated with the cold (limiting it to about 5-7 seconds). This helped me feel more in control.
Day 6: I Actually Look Forward to This
On Day 6, I woke up looking forward to the shower, specifically to that feeling of accomplishment and energy that always seemed to follow. I saw each day as a new challenge, an opportunity to demonstrate my willpower to not turn the handle to “hot”. The electrifying jolt of energy and warmth afterward was like a reward for my grit, and the lack of mental distractions while experiencing the cold was much appreciated. My showers were also super efficient, clocking in at under 5 minutes, which I suppose helps both the planet and my habitual tardiness.
Day 7: Give Me a Challenge
Having not taken a hot shower in a week, I was (1) feeling very good about my commitment to this new habit and (2) seeing great rewards. But in the interest of pushing my willpower to the max, I decided to set a personal record for my longest shower at 5 minutes. This meant that I needed to bear the cold for about 66% longer than I ever had before. This was a real “mind over matter” challenge. The more I tried to anticipate the timer, the colder and more uncomfortable the water felt. When I brought myself back into a calm and meditative state and focused on the present, time flew by. Before I knew it, I had set a personal record and completed a whole week of cold showers.
Conclusion
As with any lifestyle or wellness regiment, there is an intense debate about whether cold showers actually improve one’s physical and mental wellbeing. For example, there are claims that cold showers help your skin and hair look healthier, boost your immune system, improve blood circulation, alleviate symptoms of depression, and even contribute to weight loss. As I am neither a scientist nor doctor, I can make no claims as to whether these benefits are real or exaggerated, so I’ll defer to the experts. Instead, I’d like to focus my conclusions on some psychological and motivational benefits I experienced from taking cold showers.
First, I greatly enjoyed starting my day with high levels of energy and the feeling of victory over doing something I always dreaded slightly.
Second, taking a cold shower required me to charge headfirst into something that was outside of my comfort zone. Over time, I was able to greatly suppress that voice that told me to dread taking a cold shower. That voice exists in other areas of life: school, work, social gatherings, etc. If I can convince myself to take a cold shower everyday no matter how cold it is outside, what else do I have the willpower to do, even if my inner monologue is telling me I can’t?
Third, cold showers raised my tolerance for discomfort. No matter what life throws at me, I have a benchmark to say that I can withstand at least 5 minutes of cold water no matter my motivation level. That gives me confidence in my ability to handle minor inconveniences without them ruining an entire day. Plus, it lowered my electricity bill.
For those of you who are interested in trying this experiment, my biggest advice is to stick with it. There are a number of methods aimed at easing one into the practice of cold showers, such as introducing cold water at the end of a hot shower, switching between hot and cold showers, and so on. Whichever route you take, you really must persevere for at least 1-2 weeks to be able to make an informed judgement as to whether it’s something you’d like to continue. As with anything, though, be safe and listen to your body.
I’d love to hear about your experiences, should you give this a try. And for what it’s worth, I don’t see myself taking a hot shower any time soon.