Cold showers

In the month of February I decided I would take a cold shower everyday regardless of the weather. The only time where I did not take a cold one was when I didn’t shower at all that day, so I would say it was a pretty successful challenge. And for those in the northern hemisphere you may think I’m crazy, but it’s summer for me in the southern hemisphere so I’m not completely crazy.

So why cold showers?

Well most people hate it, it’s not very pleasant and also a task in which I would really have to encourage myself but in many ways it was simple for I did not have to change my lifestyle, routine, I just never turned on the hot water tap.

There are also many health benefits in taking these cold showers. It reduces your stress levels because it imposes a small amount of stress on your body so in a way you are conditioning yourself to actually face a situation that causes tension.

Cold showers are great in the morning for it increases the state of alertness. You will need to take deeper breaths when in the cold shower decreasing the carbon dioxide in the body helping you to concentrate.

Gives you a stronger immune system. Cold showers have shown to increase the amount of white blood cells which protects you from diseases.

You can even experience weight loss with cold showers.

As always the first few days were difficult, but when I came to visit my family the beach changed from the Indian ocean to the Atlantic, and that is a stark contrast in temperature, so much so that after swimming at the beach the cold shower is actually warmer. It was just like extra conditioning for my body and adapting to the cold.

They say in a marathon one quits somewhere in the middle because at the start you have the adrenaline keeping you going and at the end you realise how close you are to finish. For me though in this challenge it was at the start and the end in which I wanted to quit. The start made me question what I was doing and what the meaning of all of this was and the end I started to lose that motivation, thinking that I’ve done enough cold showers already.

But I made it!

I would encourage you to try it out for at least a week and see the changes in your life and body. Do it for whatever reason, but have a good one for that will help you to never stop.

This challenge made me realise how important it is to push through and encourage yourself because there will be times where you will be the only who can, you may get into a situation in which you are alone and then you will need that inner-being pushing you and taking through your ordeal.