By Dr. Jared Packer

A simple treatment for stress? Cold showers. Taking a cold shower is an effective way to relax the body. Stress can impact both pain and performance, and impede recovery. The more resilience we have to stress, the better we adapt, and the quicker our nervous system can return to a resting state.

As a species, this ability to adapt has enabled us to survive on an unforgiving planet. However, we now live much differently than our ancestors. Modern comforts keep us safe from the elements, but also stop us from using our “adaptation muscles”. This decreases our ability to recover from all kinds of stress. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Caveman Fred didn’t have a Nest to heat his room to 75F because that’s how he liked it after his morning shower. He had to deal with cold rain and hunger. That’s how sapiens lived for 200,000 years, and our DNA is no different.

A lot of the stress we encounter now comes in the form of lower-level, steady stress that accumulates in our body. As a result, there is less of a natural oscillation between our “fight or flight” and “rest and digest” states. Instead, we become stuck, and this can manifest as anxiety and depression.

So how do we counteract these effects of stress? We find ways to stimulate the body with the right amount of stress and let it find its way back to a neutral state.

There are many ways we can manufacture stress to accomplish this. Taking a cold shower is one of the quickest, most convenient, and effective. Read on to learn the benefits of cold showers to reduce anxiety, improve recovery, and promote resilience. Here’s why cold showers help with anxiety and stress:

Research Supporting Cold Water Therapy

There is promising research showing the effectiveness of cold water immersion in decreasing stress and improving recovery. 

This study shows a link between higher parasympathetic activity (i.e. relaxation) and cold water immersion post-exercise, which may indicate that the cold water facilitates a faster return to a recovery state after a workout.

Here is another study that shows more parasympathetic activity after cold water showers when compared to hot water showers.

Cold water therapy is nothing new. Tibetan monks have been practicing the art of Tummo for millenia, during which they produce “inner heat” by wrapping cold wet sheets around their body. Studies by Harvard scientists documented  their ability to dry wet sheets wrapped around their body in near freezing weather by increasing their body temperature. 

A contemporary of this practice is Wim Hof, nicknamed the “Iceman”. Some of his feets include submerging himself up to his neck in ice for almost 2 hours, and running a half marathon in snow and ice without shoes or socks (or a shirt). Scientists are currently studying Wim Hof and his students to gain evidence that others can obtain similar abilities through training.

How Do Cold Showers Work to Reduce Stress?

We don’t know exactly how cold showers relax the body. Theoretically, it can cause a rebound effect in the nervous system. It initially drives a sympathetic (Fight or Flight) response, and a subsequent parasympathetic rebound into a relaxed state. 

This works in a manner similar to how an intense workout can lead to a relaxed state after it is completed.

The Mammalian Diving Reflex may also be at work, which results in a lower heart rate when our face is submerged in water. Here is an example of this in action.

Some studies have shown a similar response with both breathing (water streaming on face) and without (face submerged). So let that cold shower hit your face as well!

Tips for Taking Cold Showers Ways to Take Cold Showers

Some general recommendations:

• If you have not taken a cold shower before, start with 30 seconds of cold water exposure, and work your way up to 2+ minutes.

• If at any point you start shivering the temperature is too cold.

Here are 3 tips to get you used to cold showers:

1 - Start Slow

Make the process tolerable for yourself by starting slow and making adjustments that you can adapt to. 

• Start with a 2-minute warm shower to increase circulation. 

• Decrease the temperature of the water to a level that is noticeably colder, but only mildly uncomfortable. Notice your breathing rate increase. 

• Allow yourself to adjust to the new temperature. Let your breathing return to normal.

• Continue to incrementally decrease the temperature and give yourself the time to adjust to each new level.

2- In and Out

• After a 2-minute warm shower, back away from the water, and decrease the temperature as much as possible. 

• Move your hand in and out of the cold stream, then switch to the other hand.

• Gradually move up to your forearm, then to your shoulder.

• Put your leg in and out, other leg. Then arm up to neck and back out, and so on and so forth. When you are ready, let the stream hit your head and neck, and eventually stay there. 

3 - Jump in the Deep End

• Put the water on as cold as possible, and jump in. 

• Stay there until your breathing returns to normal.

Cold showers are a simple way to reduce stress and anxiety. The shock can break you out of whatever is troubling you. There is nothing to think about but “wow this is cold”. But following these tips, you can get used to cold showers.

DISCLAIMER: I would not recommend this method to a beginner of cold water therapy, someone with a history of panic attacks, or other stress-related diseases that are prone to flare-ups, such as fibromyalgia. 

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