During the last two years, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with cold showers. I love them because of the myriad benefits I’ve experienced. But I’d be lying if I said I don’t experience the temptation every morning to turn the nozzle a few degrees more counter-clockwise. Cold showers are something I tolerate because I know they make me better. And I have no intention of going back to my old regimen.

There’s one benefit of cold showers that I have yet to address–and it surprisingly has to do with meditation. A few months ago, I published an article on the three important life skills of meditation—concentration, clarity, and equanimity (emotional stability). Nothing will make you concentrate and think clearly faster than a cold shower. And, when you take them regularly, you learn to be less reactive to physical and emotional pain and discomfort. It follows that cold showers are meditation in the same way that exercise is meditation.

Recently I was feeling distracted as my mind wandered from this responsibility, to that chore, to the other commitment. Being my own doctor, I knew that a solid cold shower was just the prescription I needed. The longest cold shower I had ever taken was on January 2, 2019. It lasted 20 minutes–a lot longer than the usual 2-3 minutes. I had just completed a workout that day and the water didn’t even feel that cold. I learned a long time ago that no two cold showers are alike. There’s the subject’s body temperature prior to entering the water (did you just hop out of bed or did you just finish working out or sunbathing?) And then there’s the temperature of the water itself (is it cold, frigid, or downright icy?). I would place my typical cold shower somewhere between cold and frigid (I’ll get back to you when I invest in a water thermometer). I have found that the colder the shower, the easier it is to be mindful — and the more caution and common sense you should exercise.

Back to the cold shower itself. I knew I wanted it to be on the longer side to see what I was capable of and to experience maximum therapeutic effect. I started with the nozzle in the cold range and slowly turned it clockwise. As always, the first few minutes were the most uncomfortable. But in the midst of that discomfort there was a fascinating side effect: supercharged mindfulness. Within seconds of my skin touching the water, I wasn’t thinking about the assignment I had to complete for university. I wasn’t thinking about my car that needed fixed. I wasn’t thinking about the research I’ve been working on. I wasn’t thinking about relationship problems. I wasn’t thinking about what’s for dessert. In fact, I wasn’t thinking about anything–except being there in that shower under that cold water. And it was powerful in the most down-to-earth, die-hard fashion.

Fast-forward several minutes and I felt like I had got what I came there to get. I could have stayed in the water longer and pushed the envelope on my previous record, but at that point it would have been more about ego than therapy and I wasn’t feeling particularly ego-driven that day. The mindfulness effect of my cold shower carried over into the rest of my evening. My brain knew that I had accomplished something and generously rewarded me with endorphines. And the experience sharpened my conviction just a little bit more that mindfulness was possible in every moment.

Stress has more to do with perspective than it does circumstances. The human mind has the power to make a mountain out of a molehill and a molehill out of a mountain–and it does it all the time. Sometimes life experiences empower us to see this crystal-clear. People who have near-death experiences commonly come away with a whole new outlook on life. Suddenly the worries that consumed their mind don’t mean as much in the conscious light that death is imminent. Cold showers similarly minimize the important ascribed to the petty disturbances of life. But the most beautiful thing is the fact that anyone can change their perspective right where they are with no outside help.

If a single cold shower can contain so much insight, imagine taking one every day for an entire year.

There are few things in daily life I resent more than trying to fall asleep to the sound of environmental noise. Environmental noise happens when people talk, watch TV, play party music, or snore within earshot of somebody trying to catch some shut-eye. Environmental noise has been scientifically demonstrated to decrease sleep intensity, increase stress hormone secretion, reduce cognitive performance, increase tiredness, and may be a long-term risk factor of high blood pressure and heart disease (link). What’s the best way to combat environmental noise before bed? Noise of a different variety. Enter the sound therapy known as white noise. White noise refers to sound that contains frequencies with equal intensities. In layman’s term, white noise produces an even, consistent sound that is effective at drowning out disruptive noises that interfere with the quality of sleep. People who rely on the sound emitted by their fan or essential oil diffuser to fall asleep at night are utilizing white noise. In my experience, white noise is the easiest and cheapest method (it’s free) to fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. And its benefits are backed by science.

In this study, broadband sound (a type of white noise) was administered to 18 healthy subjects. Researchers found that sleep onset latency (the time it takes to fall asleep) decreased by 38%, as well as the frequency of arousals from sleep during the night. Participants were also asked to rate their subjective sleep quality and they affirmed having slept better with the white noise. the authors of the study concluded, “These findings suggest that broadband sound administration might be helpful to minimize insomnia symptoms in selected individuals. “

Another study tested the effect of white noise on patients admitted to a coronary care (a hospital unit specializing in the care of patients with heart problems). The researchers discovered that patients for whom white noise was administered got more total sleep and stayed asleep longer than the control group. They concluded, “The use of white noise is recommended as a method for masking environmental noises, improving sleep, and maintaining sleep in the coronary care unit.”

One beautiful thing about white noise therapy is the great variety of options available to the user. iOS and Android applications enable the user to download free and premium white noise tracks while YouTube is a gold mine of white noise publications. Here I present you my two favorite white noise tracks, free to use on this website or download on your phone. The first track emits the sound of a smooth fan, ideal for the majority of people seeking to get a better night’s sleep. The second track is a little deeper and rougher but is equally effective at drowning out environmental noise. It is a personal favorite and I used it to fall asleep for years before switching to the smooth fan.

“Smooth Fan” White Noise Track:

“Deep Sounds” White Noise Track:

Conclusion:

Sometimes before bed I play white noise in the background due to sheer force of habit even in the absence of environmental noise. White noise has helped me sleep faster and deeper wherever I am in the world.

I am not a morning person. I get most of my work done at night and feel increasingly energized as the day moves along. Like many people, I still get up early because I have responsibilities scheduled during those hours. Not being a morning person may not be an issue for you if you aren’t a student and don’t work a traditional job. But for most of us getting up in the morning is a routine part of our lives. There are good reasons for getting up early other than social obligation. Many of the world’s most successful people swear by waking up early (link). Exercising during the day, limiting caffeine intake to the morning, and eliminating blue light exposure before bed are all sensible strategies to sleep better and feel more energized in the morning. But there’s another strategy I want to address that tackles the root issue of having low energy early in the day.

The sun has not caught me in bed in fifty years.

Thomas Jefferson

Our minds have an internal clock called a circadian rhythm that tells us when to be alert and when to be tired. It operates on a 24-hour cycle and is based on internal factors like our thoughts and environmental factors like sunlight. A big factor governing how much energy we have at any given moment are past memories and future expectations. On Christmas morning, I rarely have a problem getting up early. In fact, my energy Christmas morning is better than my energy in the evening on any other day. The same basic observation holds up on vacations and weekends.

Contrarily, when I was in college I used to hate getting up early to go to class. If I had a dollar for every time I hit the snooze button, I would be a rich man. I used to feel much better in the evening when I had fewer obligations and could go to the gym or watch a live sports match. These examples clearly and powerfully demonstrate the psychological factor at work. People who love the morning tend to look forward to the opportunities presented by a new day. Others loathe the morning because they see only challenges. If we repeatedly refuse to get up early, even at risk of being late for an obligation, this may be evidence that we are resisting our lives. And that is an anti-progressive attitude.

The fastest way to become a morning person is to practice controlled visualization. Rather than subconsciously linger over all the challenges that await, a better use of the imagination entails visualizing the morning as a breeding ground of opportunity. Opportunity to create the life we desire rather than to mindlessly go through motions, like a pig on a leash. In the process, we may discover that being a morning person has less to do with who we are and more to do with how we think.

For more on visualization, see my article entitled the key to successful visualization.

I never knew a man come to greatness or eminence who lay abed late in the morning.

I find that most of wake up day, not because we genuinely ‘want’ to, but because we have to. We have to be somewhere, do something, answer to or take care of someone. But when you shift your intention and create a genuine desire – event enthusiasm – for waking up in the morning, your entire life changes.

How we start our day determines how we create our life. Are you snoozing through your morning… snoozing through your life… and snoozing through your unlimited potential… Or are YOU committed to waking up each day with passion, purpose, and a plan so you can create the life you truly want and deserve?

The old saying, “You snooze, you lose,” may have a much deeper meaning than any of us realizes. When you delay waking up until you have to–meaning you wait until the last possible moment to get out of bed and start your day–consider that what you’re actually doing is resisting your life. Every time you hit the snooze button, you’re in a state of resistance to your day, to you life, and to waking up and creating the life you say you want… It’s as if you’re saying, I don’t want to live my life, at least not to the fullest.

If you’re anything like me, you enjoy spending the last waking moments of the day surfing the web and chatting with friends on WhatsApp. We can debate whether or not this is a healthy use of time, but one thing we cannot debate is the effect this habit has on sleep quality. Harvard researchers discovered that blue light suppressed the release of melatonin (link). Melatonin is a hormone that signals to the body that it is time to go to sleep at night. One of the ways it does this is by monitoring light in the environment. The sun used to be the primary guide in this process. Melatonin levels would plummet during midday when the sun was its hottest, and they would gradually rise after sunset. By suppressing the release of melatonin, our smart phones interfere with the body’s natural circadian rhythm. This is the body’s internal clock that dictates when we feel tired and when we feel wide awake. Being on your phone late at night can affect the time it takes for you to fall asleep and the quality of your sleep. Other studies have confirmed the detrimental effect of light exposure on sleep quality (here and here).

Fortunately, there’s an easy fix for iOS users. Apple developers aware of the potential sleep damage caused by blue light developed a special setting called Night Shift. Night Shift modifies the amount of blue light being emitted by your smartphone. The app enables you to program the time of day your phone’s light becomes warmer (warm light is closer to red on the spectrum). Red light, unlike blue light, has no negative effect on sleep quality. Studies have, in fact, demonstrated that red light exposure improves sleep quality (here). To access the Night Shift app, go to Settings –> Display & Brightness –> Night Shift. As you can see in the graphic to your right, I have my phone programmed to emit warm light from sunset to sunrise. You can also modify the “color temperature” of the light. As the circle moves closer on the spectrum to “more warm,” the light emitted by your phone becomes redder. I find this effect cool and sometimes turn the setting on during the day.

For Android users, there is a similar fix available. A quick Google search found me this article explaining how to reduce blue light on Android devices.

I’ve shared this knowledge with my friends and family, and they’re already sleeping better. Don’t be mastered by your smartphone. Be the master instead.

There are two types of people in the world. Those who take cold showers and everybody else.

Cold showers have become a fad in recent years. An increasing number of people are adopting the ancient art of cold hydrotherapy as a means of self-improvement. They claim that an act as simple as turning a nozzle clockwise in the morning can bring life-transforming benefits. About 18 months ago, I made the move and ditched warm water for good. Here I outline the benefits I have personally experienced that have left me with zero intention of ever taking a hot shower again.

1. Increased Energy

Energy is arguably the most important benefit of taking a cold shower. Like many of you, I am not a morning person. My energy peaks in the evening and stays elevated into the wee hours of the night. The most expedient way I have found to overcome low morning energy is to subject my body to a cold shower. Cold water acts as a shock to the whole system and puts the mind to work to restore homeostasis. The end result is an organism that is highly energized and ready to move about the day. I challenge everyone reading this to take a cold shower and fall asleep immediately afterwards — it simply can’t be done. (Give it at least 15 minutes, but you get the point.)

2. The Release of Happy Hormones

Nothing is free in nature. Our brain rewards us with happy hormones only when we have achieved something that contributes to our survival. A cold shower is a surefire way to get the endorphines and dopamine flowing early in the morning. After taking a cold shower, you will not only have greater energy but will feel good as your brain’s pleasure reward system is activated.

3. Greater Resilience

Resilience is something that does not come easy. On the surface mental strength is nothing more than a mind game. In reality, however, our brain takes past behavior and outcomes as hard evidence of how it should act in the face of new challenges. Taking cold showers is a proven way to build mental toughness. No matter how many cold showers you take, there will always be the temptation to feel instant gratification by turning the nozzle counterclockwise. With experience, you will learn to silence this voice, callous your mind, and acquire the stoic demeanor vital to navigating other life challenges.

4. An Antidote to Depression

Cold showers are an effective tool that everyone suffering from depression should have in their toolkit. While the benefits outlined above are sure to lift anyone’s state of mind, particular studies have been carried out on those suffering from depressive symptoms. Take this study, for example, in which cold showers relieved depressive systems in a group of test subjects. However, you don’t need a peer-reviewed, double-blind study to tell you something you can test on your own within a few minutes. If you are suffering from depression, why not give cold hydrotherapy a try. Commit to taking a 3-minute cold shower every day for a week. It costs almost next to nothing and may supply the boost you need to move forward with your day.

5. Improved Male Reproductive Health

Wet heat exposure is a well-known cause of low sperm count and infertility. The decision to implement a cold shower regiment is usually accompanied by the decision to abandon hot showers altogether. In this study, infertile men who gave up their hot baths, hot tubs, and Jacuzzis experienced a mean increase in total motile sperm counts of 491%. The author of the study concluded that the toxic effect of hyperthemia on male reproductive health may be reversible in some men. Whether you are in the baby-making business or not, as a man you should think long and hard about continuing a habit that has such a damaging effect on your vital reproductive organ.

6. An Increase in Testosterone

It is conventional wisdom among guys who take cold showers that they increase male testosterone levels. I have yet to come across a study that confirms (or refutes) this claim, so I will instead focus on my personal experience. After years of paying close attention and getting lab work done, I have a good general sense of where my testosterone levels are at any given moment of time. That said, I do believe that cold showers increase my testosterone levels over the course of an hour or two after exposure. I experience increased energy and feel eager to hit the weights.

Russian powerlifters, known among other things for their astronomical testosterone levels, seem to agree with me. Russian powerlifters have been known to ice their balls prior to competition. The routine is based on the fact that the optimal temperature for testosterone production is lower than the body’s overall temperature (hence why the testicles sag away from the body). Exposing the testicles to cold temperatures is believed to optimize this process and increases testosterone production. What science has definitively shown is that hot water has a negative effect on male hormonal health. As someone who has taken cold showers for 18 months, I believe the opposite is also true.

7. Save Time and Money

Hot water is rare in nature and takes technology to sustain. Even during the summer months, natural water rarely ever reaches the temperature of your average suburban shower. This is because the cool temperature at night does not allow the water to remain as hot as it would be if it remained under the midday sun 24/7. In short, by taking cold showers you will save money on your gas bill. You will likely also save on your water bill as most people who take cold showers stay under the water for only a few minutes. Cold showers will also save you valuable time in the morning and give you a head start on your day. In my experience a three-minute cold shower is sufficient for reaping all of the benefits. The length of time may vary for you, but I have found that any amount of cold exposure is better than nothing.

In this article, I laid out a case for the benefits of taking cold showers based on my experience and research but the jury is still out until you experiment for yourself. No two people are alike, and everyone’s experience will be different in meaningful ways. Let me know in the comments what your experience has been with cold showers and any questions or insights you may have gained from the discipline.