The energy crisis of the last year made me reflect on how I consume energy, mainly ‘harmful’ energy like gas. My appartment is heated using gas and due to the insane prices of the past year, I too lowered my heating. I spent a big part of december with the heating turned off but once it got to 8 degrees Celsius in my appartment I figured that I should turn on the heating. It was set to 13-15 degrees Celsius throughout the winter. It made me realize that I don’t mind living in these temperatures. With a sweater on and underneath a blanket, it was actually quite comfortable. I also slept better in these temperatures than winters with the heating on.

So now that it’s getting warmer again, I felt like I might as well have cold showers. To save on gas (note: it’s not like I’m living in extreme poverty or anything, I just like finding ways to consume less), but also to see if the claimed health benefits are true. People like Wim Hof made a fortune selling books and courses on how to make your body adapt to cold temperatures and ice baths, making sometimes outrageous claims about its health benefits.

While I do know there are studies on the topic, I am also curious to see if you guys have any experiences taking cold showers and what effects it had for you.

  • @TheAnonymouseJoker
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    11 months ago

    Very based in winters if you can do it. In winters I try to keep water as cold as 16°C, where outside temperature is 12-15°C. As an Indian, being a tropical country, cold showers are harder than me than for Westerners in Northern Hemisphere, for example. This makes it even more beneficial for me, and for those living in tropical or equatorial countries.

    Last winters that went by, I could not keep the water as cold (22°C) compared to the past 4 years before it, most likely due to contracting Omicron twice that affected my great immunity against cold weather. However I developed it back again, by discovering my love for soup and noodles in winters. I purposely avoided medication for the most part, and relied heavily on soups, warm milk and noodles to let my body fight by itself.

    Cold showers have insane effects, and I learnt it from NoFap (one of the only good advices there) when I was in that community 6-7 years ago. It is no pseudoscience, and cold showers really make you superhuman-like.