Cold Showers

More research is needed into the benefits of cold showers (most of the scientific literature is related to full body immersion, so whether the claims below remain true for cold showers is to be seen), but based on what I was able to find, here is the quick summary.

Cold immersion is thought to activate your sympathetic nervous system, giving you more energy and making you more alert (Leppaluoto et al. 2008). There are also claims that it can provide a variety of other benefits such as increasing metabolism (leading to weight loss), improved circulation, better sleep, and improved immune system function (Brychta & Chen 2017; Bouzigon et al. 2014; Buijze et al. 2016; Healthline).

One of the most popular claimed benefits of cold immersion is that it alleviates muscle soreness and helps with recovery. While that is backed by literature (Moore et al. 2022), there are claims that cold actually decreases your “gains” because of a temporary decrease in blood flow, depriving muscles of nutrients (Roberts et al. 2015). It is worth noting that that stance is particular to full body immersion (like ice baths), not cold showers, so even if that critique is true, it may not impact the current discussion. If that particular discussion is of interest, I recommend reading Stephens et al. 2016, which attempts to lay out in what conditions cold therapy makes sense for athletes.

This final point, I share purely out of my personal experience and testimonials I have heard from others. But it feels good to safely push your body out of its daily comforts, and when you do so, you can carry that determination and mental strength over to other aspects of your life. And when you get out of a nice cold shower, you feel energized, accomplished, and ready to go.

So when should you take cold showers?

• Before bed? Probably not. Having your body full of energy is not going to bode well for your ability to get a good night’s sleep.
• After working out? If you buy into the research that says cold exposure will negatively impact muscle recovery and you want to play it safe then you can skip the post workout cold shower. But if you only want to shower one time a day (which would likely be after working out) and you do not believe it will negatively impact your gains, then go for it. So the answer is, most likely fine.
• Before working out? One study said that cold immersion before working out could decrease strength, but once again it was not referencing cold showers specifically. And what is sure is that cold showers give you energy, which is obviously important to have before exercise. So my personal (yet, not qualified) take would be, go for it!
• First thing in the morning? Yes, this seems to be the best time to do it. I did not come across anything that said this would be a bad idea. Some extra energy and alertness can definitely be a positive for many people. And who knows, if you are trying to be less dependent on caffeine this may help out.