Back and Body NJ wants you to know that cold showers have many benefits and date back to ancient times, even as far as Hippocrates to be exact. Benefits of a cold shower encompass treating serious illnesses and maintaining good health in general. Back and Body NJ is going to show you research found on this topic.
A study was conducted in 2016 by Dutch researchers. They took a group of about 2,800 people and split them into four smaller groups. Three groups were asked to take a 30, 60, or 90 second shower every day for 30 days (the experimental group) and the fourth group was asked to avoid cold showers to serve as the control group.
About 80 percent of people successfully completed the study, and two thirds actually continued to take regular cold showers after the 30 day study had ended. Those in the experimental groups experienced an expansion in the quality of life, and a 29 percent reduction in sick days from work that was not found in the control group. Experimental group participants also found an expansion in energy similar to drinking a caffeinated beverage. These results were steady between all three experimental groups, and proved that a 30 second cold shower provided the same benefits as a 90 second one.
Currently, researchers can only estimate what the study participants gained from the cold showers. Some explanations could be: the shivering from the cold water elevates hormones in the body that impact the immune system, cold water has a of neurological benefit, or the influence on participants was psychological, since they knew they volunteered for a study about how cold showers can improve one’s health.
The researchers say that taking cold showers could affect the body how normal exercise affects the body. They quote “In the present trial, reduction of sickness absence of a routine cold shower (29%) was comparable to the effect of regular physical activity (35%).” Some more research is needed to back this claim up and even just to understand why cold showers have a history of health benefits. Back and Body NJ will provide this information as soon as it is published so you can better understand cold showers.
Why don’t you try a 30 second cold shower at the end of your regular showers for a week and see how you feel?
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