Each of us has this one male uncle or friend who likes to take a cold shower, breathes quite loudly and “feels so refreshed and manly” afterwards.

But did you know that taking a cold shower is generally very healthy and also supports you in your sporting goals? Get the benefits of a cold shower for your health today.

Today’s post is from Martin Auerswald . Martin holds a degree in biochemistry and writes on Primal State and SchnellEinfachGesund about biohacking and healthy living. He attaches great importance to healthy habits that can be implemented quickly and require little effort.

cold showering – A basic human need?

What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. This is the best way to describe the principle of hormesis. A short stimulus that throws you off balance, but leads to long-term adjustments that make you stronger.

Cold has always been an important stimulus for the human body and causes a whole Crowd, as you are about to see. But most people today are no longer in contact with the cold and avoid it like the devil does holy water.

Today we have warm clothes, warm beds, air-conditioned rooms, air-conditioned cars and think that we get sick immediately when we freeze. The opposite is the case: Freezing now and then (preferably only briefly and crisply) strengthens the immune system and protects against various diseases.

Why do we think that the cold makes us sick? Cold can weaken an already weakened body even more if it is not short but lasts longer. Cold can make an already strong body even stronger. That’s how you could sum it up.

An important basis for regular cold training or cold showers is to live reasonably healthily: In other words, to eat reasonably healthy, to sleep well and adequately and to exercise regularly. An important foundation on which we can build.

Why are-cold-showers-so-important in biohacking ?

The aim of biohacking is to transfer the natural needs of the human body into our modern, technical world and to incorporate scientific knowledge let go.

Cold has always been an important stimulus for people and still is today; we only have to turn a tap and cold water comes out of the tap. We can use that.

9 advantages of cold showers for your health

You will then receive a list of many healthy effects of cold on your body. An important basis is a reasonably healthy lifestyle and regular relaxation. A cold shower is the easiest way to reap the benefits of the cold and to keep the ” short and sweet ” stimulus.

The first cold showers are for most people Terrible because it’s unfamiliar, because it’s cold, because the body has to get used to it. Most of them write to us after one or two weeks, how great it is and how difficult it was at the beginning. So hold on!

The advantages:

# 1 blood flow

The cold water cools your upper skin, fat and muscle layers and the body has to increase blood circulation to counteract this. All in all a very good effect, especially in the morning when the blood circulation is stimulated.

# 2 immune system

The cold stimulus is an important stimulus for the immune system. In particular, the innate immune system around the cytotoxic T cells, neutrophils and macrophages is activated by the cold and can counteract pathogens faster and better. Those who take frequent cold showers are significantly less ill .

# 3 Fat burning

The cold temporarily stimulates fat burning because fat is primarily used to produce the necessary heat (keyword: UCP) . More on that in a moment. If you do this often and would like to lose weight, the cold shower is a very important tool.

# 4 Brown fat tissue

When babies are born, they hardly have any muscles. How do you protect yourself from hypothermia and produce heat if you can’t shiver?

You have brown adipose tissue . This is a fat tissue that is not there to store energy, but to burn energy and produce heat (tremor-free thermogenesis ).

It is brown because the Cells are full to the brim with mitochondria.

Even in adulthood, you can “grow” this brown adipose tissue again  and thus not only increase your basal metabolic rate, but you will generally freeze less. A nice effect in everyday life, especially in winter.

# 5 Hormonal adaptations

The brown adipose tissue and the muscles react to the cold stimulus with metabolic hormones that are difficult to produce in any other way: Irisin and adiponectin are the two most important of these .

They have many great effects in the body, increase basal metabolic rate, improve muscle growth, and more.

In addition, the thyroid gland is stimulated, the conversion of fT4 to fT3 works better, which also increases the testosterone level.

According to estimates, the basal metabolic rate can be increased by up to 300 kcal per day if your The body is adapted to the cold and operates more thermogenesis .

# 6 growth stimulus

Today it is assumed that the cold stimulates the growth of the slowly twitching muscle fibers.

You can also use this: If you have had an endurance session with which you trained the slowly twitching muscle fibers, then add a cold shower after the workout to give the muscles additional stimulation.

This also means that you should not take a cold shower immediately after strength training in which you have trained the fast-twitch muscle fibers. More like after an endurance session, or right in the morning.

This also has the great side effect that you wake up:

# 7 Concentration

Try to shower for about 3 minutes in the morning after getting up for a month. This makes you incredibly awake, refreshes and increases your ability to concentrate. Responsible for this is the production of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which is important for alert focus.

You could combine the cold shower with a cup of coffee afterwards to produce even more norepinephrine and start the day with a lot of flow .

# 8 Pain reduction

The cold stimulus causes synapses in the central nervous system to be briefly decoupled from each other and go through a kind of reset . Nerve fibers that are inflamed or otherwise emit a chronic pain stimulus are calmed down and send much less pain signals.

That is the reason why cold therapy, alternating showers or Kneipp therapy are so effective in pain therapy.

# 9 discipline

Do you want to be more disciplined, in everyday life and in sports? If you have made the habit of starting the day with a cold shower, it gives a good boost to your discipline. Not only do you start the day much more disciplined – that also extends to other areas of your life.

What’s the best way to start?

Are you convinced of the advantages of cold or cold showers at this point and are you wondering how you can start? ? We recommend taking a cold shower more often. Make it a routine, a habit. Start every day with a cold shower:

Immediately after getting up, go to the kitchen and drink one or two glasses of water. Turn on the coffee maker. Then go straight to the bathroom and jump in the cold shower before brushing your teeth.

Make the cold shower part of your daily morning routine . Make it a chore, not an option – a habit.

The first few times can be very tough and your body will have to get used to it. After about a week, your body has usually got used to it, and there is a positive feedback :

You notice how good this is, how awake and you become active, as you freeze less in everyday life and fat burning is increased. That motivates you to keep going and in the end you even look forward to the cold shower every morning.

Procedure:

• Start the Cold shower as normal with lukewarm or hot water, which is important to wake up the nervous system.
• After about one to 2 minutes, turn the water regulator all the way to the right to maximum cold.
• Start with the legs, move the shower head from the outside in.
• Then the lower stomach, then you work your way up to the shoulders.
• From there, shower 3 Minutes ice-cold and keep moving the shower head from front to back, from left to right, keep moving.
• Don’t forget to breathe.

conclusion – unusual progress through a cold shower

A cold shower hardens not only off, but has many health effects ready. Today you received a small listing of the benefits of a cold shower. Try it out, make a 14-day challenge out of it and draw a conclusion after 14 days.

I can tell you one thing: Nobody has told me after a fortnight that it doesn’t feel good and doesn’t work has not had a positive effect on different areas!