Other Cold showers/baths/swimming bad for you?

Just an appeal for anyone with definite medical knowledge on this point, because I've heard conflicting accounts. I'm quite taken with cold showers at the moment and was wondering if there are negative side-effects to it over time.

I've known of people taking cold baths for years, and people have swum the English channel competitively without (a.f.a.i.k.) dying later on. But does it do anything more low-level and insidious like lower your immune system or anything?

edit - for posterity,
http://thenextchallenge.org/2010/02/cold-water-swimming/

 

I'm not doctor but I know it makes your nipples stick out and makes your willy shrink.

 

I'd be interested to hear about this as well, because during the summer I usually take a cold shower every now and then. During the winter, though, I need a good hot shower to loosen me up in the mornings. My hands, left knee and left shouldr stiffen up badly at night.

 

i lol'd rep to you sir

 

I can't think of it doing too much if you are fit and healthy. The shock from the cold is supposed to trigger the mammalian diving reflex which drops your heart rate and causes blood vessels to close in your peripheral limbs. I suppose theoretically it may trigger an odd rhythm in your heart which may be nasty.... but I don't think there are any case reports of this happening Search pubmed.

As for your immune system, the cold shower's probably too short to do anything permanent.
Again theoretically the cold can paralyse the cilia in your respiratory tract so that you are more prone to infection, but again it's temporary and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger

P.S. I'm not a doctor.

P.P.S. If you stay in the cold water long enough your fingers and willy will freeze and fall off

 

When man evolved as a species, one of it's first tasks was hot water plumbing.




Unless you're exposing yourself to hypothermia, you're going to be OK.
A body core dropping to 32-35 degrees is fine short term.

You won't get hypothermia in a shower, unless your shower is 20 mins, outside in the wind at 10 degrees.

Swimming in cols water is fine as the activity creates heat and keeps your body core at a higher temprature.

 

Also if you stay in to long your fingers and toes do that weird raisin thing and you look like you have a skin disorder.

 

I've never even heard of cold showers being possibly harmful. Cold water in general being a no-no seems odd to me as it's a hobby for lots of people to swim in wintertime.. And they just tell it's good for your immune system and blood circulation. Go figure.

 

Of all the years of cold showers, pools and lakes I've been in - Despite getting close to hypothermia - I've never been adversely affected by cold water, no.

 

I'm sorry but you'd be just about dead.
Considering the core body temperature is roughly 37.5c on average a drop to 32c will very nearly kill you. Considering hypothermia is defined as any body temperature below 35c, anything below is obviously very harmful.

To keep on topic, apart from the aforementioned willy shrinkage (which isn't permanent, despite all the excuses) you should be fine.

 

Took cold showers everyday for two years straight, and aside from the side effects mentioned by Cookie ( which can be dealt with with a vigorous toweling off ) had no ill effects whatsoever.

 

Interesting euphemism.

 

It's the shock that'll kill you instantly, especially if you're hyperthermic to start with, you'll have a heart attack basically and your body will try and retain core heat at the expense of extremities.

With gradual heat loss your body tries to preserve core heat at the expense of extremities again but obviously at a slower rate, complications in that would be frostbite, and eventually death due to hypothermia (core temp <35 deg C)

Cold showers while uncomfortable should be fine as long as 1) you're not having an ice cold shower and you're already boiling 2) you're not an idiot and get out if you feel really uncomfortable.

For males, it's been shown that cold for the 'two veg' is actually better for sperm production, and the opposite is true of reduced fertility.

And no I'm not a doctor, but it's not bloody rocket science now is it?!? If you want a nice experiment (anyone who's worked in bars can testify to this quite well), Make a glass really hot say by washing it in boiling water (or hotter) or washing it in a comercial dish/glass washer... then put it in cold water, or even barely clank it against a cold/room temp glass... the hot glass will shatter due to the temperature change.

Most things aren't meant to be flash cooled, and if they are they're usually metal!

 

I'm thoroughly convinced and shall cold shower all I like. I know what you mean about sudden temperature change, though, Lorquis - I went straight from a boiling hot bath and stood under an ice cold shower once and collapsed, all my muscles stopped responding including my diaphragm, causing me to do Grape Lady impersonations briefly. It would probably have been pretty funny if I hadn't been me

 

at least cold water is not nearly as harmful for your skin as hot water is... I speak from experience

 

Surely a cold water tap is not actually cold enough to actually cause any damage over the course of a ten minute shower. I doubt it's cold enough. Compared to the hot tap it is, but compared to a pond outside, it's a lovely and warm.

Unless you shower outside or have some water source that lives outside I'd say cold shower all you want and you'll be absolutely fine. If you notice your going blue, then perhaps stop.

 

Someone I know did that sort of, hot shower to cold shower to help relax muscles. Ended up having a severe fit.

 

what do you mean, a severe fit ?

 

It just kind of screws up your muscles, they go into something like shock momentarily (well, only lasted about 10 seconds for me). It's not massively harmful in itself as far as I know, but you usually end up falling over in some painful manner. It's a bit like having the wind knocked out of you.

Go try it in the morning if you want, it's fairly harmless if rather unpleasant

 

Cannot say I've ever heard of this particular bit of disinformation, but I'll add my two cents into the mix anyway:

Why did we not die out as a species several hundred thousand years ago? Think about it: primitive people had to of immersed themselves in water at some point in time to help stave off disease, and being that most naturally forming bodies of water are not heated up to or above our natural bodily temperature, I'd have to theorize that if there were any notable effects of cold-water immersion, then those primitives would have all died off of either internal organ failure, or disease.

Remember: despite what the news agencies try to tell you, not everything leads to cancer (some things lead to super cancer!)