What have you heard about bathing with cold water or hot water? Are both just good for you anytime of the day?
Are there health benefits attached to bathing with cold water that is higher than a hot water bath?
Unfortunately, these questions hardly come to your mind when you rush off to the kitchen to boil yourself some water.
If you are used to bathing with hot water in the morning, you are not alone.
Even I do it until I found a Hydrotherapy that embodies the healing power of water.
I will share with you this wonderful therapy and also let you see what research says about bathing with cold water versus hot water.
Bathing With Cold Vs Hot Water
Indeed, there is this chill that runs through your vein when you pour cold water on your body. it is worse when it is an early morning bath.
Some persons cannot just stand the shock that comes with pouring cold water on their skin.
But hot water just takes away these circumstances and gives you a calmer more relaxed mind.
These are just peripheral reactions that go with your choice of bathing water.
However, there is more to the water you are bathing with than these feelings you get.
Benefits Of Cold Water Bath
1. The Shock Just Wakes You Up
Essentially, bathing with cold water in the morning wakes you up.
As the cold water hits your body, you experience a shock and that makes your alert and then there is an increase in oxygen intake.
2. Increase In heart Rate
Another thing that happens when you get this shock is that your heart rate increases.
3. Cold Water Increases Blood Circulation
Also, bathing with cold water increases circulation of blood through your body.
Once cold water touches your body, it reduces the rate at which blood circulate on the surface of your body.
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When this happens, blood in the deeper tissues circulate at a faster rate to maintain the ideal body temperature.
Here, cold water is really beneficial to someone with cardiovascular disease or hypertension.
This is because it triggers the circulatory system to reduce inflammation. This helps prevent cardiovascular disease.
4. Beneficial To Someone Exercising
A cold water bath is helpful after exercise because it can help your muscles relax and heal after workout.
5. It Can Help You Lose Weight
Also, when you take a cold shower, it causes some fat cells to generate heat and burn fat.
These fat cells are located around your neck and shoulders and those are some of the first places that cold water hits once you pour it on your body from your head.
6. Hair And Skin Glow
Unlike hot water, cold water does not dry out the sebum layer of your skin. This layer naturally provides protection for your skin and hair.
Also, the constriction of blood flow in the upper part of your skin gives your skin a healthier glow.
What To Have In Mind
Most importantly, it is okay to remember always that when you have cold or cough, bathing with cold water will not be a good option.
It will worsen the situation.
Also, if you are ill, bathing with cold water may not be a good choice.
Hot Water Bath Benefits
One of the very good times to bath with hot water is when you need to sleep.
Basically, this kind of bath promotes sleep.
Experts say a hot shower activates the parasympathetic nervous system which makes us tired.
So you should try a hot water bath when you are finding it hard to sleep at night.
Other benefits of bathing with hot water are;
1. Relief For Respiratory Symptoms
Bathing with hot water can help relief cold.
When you bath with steam all over, it will help open the airways, loosen up phlegm and clear out your nasal passages.
This really works.
2. Clears Your Skin Of Blemishes
One of the things that hot water does is to open the pores of your skin and this cleans out lurking dirt and oil.
3. Muscle Relaxation
Indeed, hot water can also help relax your muscles if you feel sore. This is why it is used for massaging the body. If you have massaged your body with warm water before, you will remember that feeling.
What To Have In Mind
A few downsides of bathing with hot water is that it could dry out your skin, increase blood pressure, cause itchy skin and worsen certain skin conditions.
Cold Or Hot, What Experts Suggest
Earlier, I mentioned something about the healing power of water – Hydrotherapy.
Hydrotherapy is the external or internal use of water in any of its forms (water, ice, steam) for health promotion or treatment of various diseases with various temperatures, pressure, duration, and site.
It is one of the naturopathic treatment modality used widely in ancient cultures including India, Egypt, China, etc (1).
Studies found that, at different temperatures, water produces different effects on the human body.
A study found that one hour head-out water immersions (WI) in various temperatures (32°C, 20°C, and 14°C) produced various effects.
Immersion at 32°C did not change metabolic rate (MR) and rectal temperature (Tre), but it lowered the heart rate (HR) by 15%, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) by 11% and 12%, respectively, compared, with controls at ambient air temperature.
Along with HR and blood pressure (BP), the plasma renin activity, plasma cortisol, and aldosterone concentrations were also lowered by 46%, 34%, and 17%, respectively, while diuresis was increased by 107% (2).
Furthermore, this study says that at immersion at 14°C lowered Tre and increased MR by 350%, HR, SBP, and DBP by 5%, 7%, and 8%, respectively.
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As a result of this finding, hydrotherapy experts promote the use of cold and hot water bath at the same time to help proper circulation of blood through the tissues.
It does not necessarily mean bathing with both hot and cold water at the same time. You can bath with them at different intervals.
But if you can also use both at same time, begin with cold and then use a hot water.
When you pour cold water on your body, the inner circulation of blood happens.
On the other hand, when you pour hot water on your body, circulation increases in the surface level. This alternate occurrences balance the temperature of the body and help in proper circulation of blood in your body.
This reactions create the balance that promotes a great health.
It is advisable therefore, that you do not just bath with cold water all the time. The same goes for hot water.
Always create a balance.
It is for this reason that the creator provided us with warm and cold springs so that we can have the needed balance.
This natural occurrence, like we have in Nigeria’s Ikogosi hot and cold spring, is a pointer to how our bathing water should be. Create that balance in the temperature of the water you bath with.
If you find this helpful, kindly share with your friends and loved ones to help them understand the need for balance.
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