Everyone loves a good bath. A warm steamy bath to be precise. However, did you know that sometimes, it’s better to take a cold bath, or even a cold shower instead? The truth is cold baths provide so many benefits, that it’s a shame to stick only to warm baths. Here is why taking a cold bath is great for you:
Energizes
Taking a cold bath or shower in the morning, doesn’t seem really appealing, does it? However, taking a cold bath can be really soothing, and give you an energy boost even if you hadn’t had your morning coffee! The cold water comes as a short shock in the first minute or so to the body.
The response to your body to the shock is simple – it makes you take deeper and faster breaths to increase warmth inside your body. The higher levels of oxygen in your body, also increase your heart rate, which lets a rush of blood through your whole body. The increased blood flow gives you a natural energy boost that will wake you up, and help you be more energetic during your day.
Improves Muscle Endurance
If you are sore from a workout, a warm bath is your best friend, but if you want to increase the endurance of your muscles, then take a cold bath instead. The cold bath helps to condition your muscles after a workout, and by constantly taking a cold bath after a workout, your endurance during exercises will also increase.
Lowers Stress
Taking a cold shower, or a cold bath is a bit stressful to the body. A small shock because of the difference in temperature of the body and the water. This, in turn, does a few things: lowers the levels of uric acid that can cause stress, and increases glutathione in the blood, which reduces stress. Cold baths also stimulate your brain to produce more noradrenaline which plays a role in lowering depression levels.
Besides the physical benefits, taking a cold bath is good for your emotional wellbeing because by exposing yourself to the small shock, which causes little stress to your body, you are conditioning yourself to react better in stressful situations.
Better Skin & Hair
When it comes to cleaning your pores better, a warm bath is excellent. However, if you want to improve the health of your skin and hair, a cold bath is much better. This is because cold water doesn’t rinse all of the natural oils which your skin produces. You might think that that is a bad thing, but that’s not true. The natural oils which your skin produces are actually good and beneficial for your skin and hair in moderate amounts.
Stimulates Weight Loss
In our bodies, there are two types of fat – white and brown fat. White fat is usually the one with which we all struggle with because it piles up when we eat more calories than we spend. This, in turn, increases the white fat build up in your waist, neck, thighs, etc. Brown fat is the fat we need to keep our bodies warm and healthy. When you take a cold bath, you increase the brown fat activity, which can help you to lose some weight.