Hot showers and baths can inflame the skin, causing redness, itching, and even peeling — similar to a sunburn — and can disrupt the skin's natural balance of moisture, robbing you of the natural oils, fats, and proteins that keep skin healthy.
Cold and hot showers each have health benefits, but a shower that's 95 °F to 99 °F is typically best. Cold showers can help reduce itchy skin and aid recovery after a workout. Hot showers help to relax muscles, improve sleep, and relieve respiratory symptoms. Visit Insider's Health Reference library for more advice.
Scientists have proven that standing in a hot shower with steam helps open airways, loosen phlegm in the respiratory system and clears out nasal passages. A good hot shower can open up the pores of the skin and wash out some of the dirt and toxins from it. This can result in fresher and cleaner skin.
Spending some time in a hot bath helps make them feel clean, great and gives them a fresh feminine appearance. According to a Dutch study, women are more comfortable at temperatures that are 2.5-Degrees warmer than what men prefer.
Keep warm. Use a humidifier or take a hot shower for sore throat and cough. Take acetaminophen, ibuprofen or naproxen to reduce fever and relieve aches and pains.
HBR: But why would cold showers make us less sick? This is a subtle but important point: Participants who took the cold showers actually reported feeling ill just as many days, on average, as the people who showered normally.
Hot showers can even help reduce stress and anxiety because the heat can stimulate the brain's release of a hormone called oxytocin, which is known to be correlated to anti-stress effects, or relaxation [1].
Cold showers may help boost weight loss
Some fat cells, such as brown fat, can generate heat by burning fat. They do this when your body is exposed to cold conditions like in a shower. Gerrit Keferstein, MD, says these cells are mostly situated around the neck and shoulder area. So, perfect for showers!
“After a swim or a shower, your body can absorb 1 to 3 cups of water, increasing your true weight by a few pounds.”
Risks of taking a cold shower
Your body's reaction to cold water puts added stress on your heart and could lead to an irregular heartbeat, or arrhythmia. “It's going to tax your heart in a way that could be dangerous,” says Carter.
Decreased Anxiety
This is because taking a warm shower can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. The body's reaction to being warm naturally relaxes your muscles and thoughts. Because of this mechanism, the risk of depressive symptoms is lower following a shower.
Take a hot bath or a shower.
This can sometimes be an instant fix, but you should let yourself soak in the peace of the moment. Allow the warmth to calm you, and allow yourself to feel safe. The feeling of being clean is also anxiety reducing, so the whole process can diminish any panic.
Studies that Show How Hot Showers Help to Relieve Anxiety
According to a study conducted by New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, this drop causes you to relax and can put you into a deep sleep. It can work better with a bath because you're submerged in the hot water, but a hot shower has always worked well for me.
Bae adds some in dermatology also theorize cold showers have even more benefits, too, such as "a little bit of (skin) tightening or at least also temporary decrease in redness of the skin. "If you are a healthy person, then taking a cold shower every day would be much better for your skin.
But before you start turning the cold tap on towards the end of your shower, you should know that there are some risks to a cold shower. Because a sudden gush of cold water shocks the body, it can be dangerous for people with heart disease and could precipitate a heart attack or heart-rhythm irregularities.
Hot water relaxes the body and better prepares us for falling asleep. When a tense body enters a warm bath, the hot water increases the body temperature and relaxes the muscles. Relaxing the muscles not only soothes us physically but also mentally.
Taking the edge off an iced-cold shower helps the body to relax, which reduces anxiety and soothes tired muscles. This slows the heart rate, releases unwanted tension and heightens feelings of comfort and rest. When it comes to sleep quality, cold showers are best kept for the mornings.
A big event or a buildup of smaller stressful life situations may trigger excessive anxiety — for example, a death in the family, work stress or ongoing worry about finances. Personality. People with certain personality types are more prone to anxiety disorders than others are. Other mental health disorders.
It can become an addiction: Bathing in hot water can turn into an addiction and your body might demand hot water even during summer.
While there is no ideal frequency, experts suggest that showering several times per week is plenty for most people (unless you are grimy, sweaty, or have other reasons to shower more often). Short showers (lasting three or four minutes) with a focus on the armpits and groin may suffice.
“Hot temperatures can trigger anxiety and cause an increase in the stress hormone cortisol, which can exacerbate your anxiety symptoms,” Caroline Harper, specialist mental health nurse advisor at Bupa UK, tells Stylist.
Cold water can be especially beneficial for dry or acne-prone skin, says Knapp. “If you have chronically dry skin, hot water can strip your sebum levels (oils) and exacerbate the issue, so cold water is a good alternative.”
Showering after exercise should be an important part of your post-workout routine. It not only gets you clean and protects you from breakouts, but also helps your heart rate and core temperature naturally decrease. Taking a lukewarm or cool shower works best.