My Cool Hack to Cold Showers
If you hate cold showers, there is another way.
Come on, now. Sure, if you’re a movie star look-alike, like Dr. Andrew D. Huberman cold showers are nothin’. Get over it. It’s just a shower, but cold. Sounds logical but the logic isn’t true…as you may know by now.
Have you ever tried a cold shower? Of course, you have. You’ve overcome your rational fear of the idea and convinced yourself that if Huberman can do it then you can. After all, he’s a man. You’re a man. You are just like him, kinda.
So you took that cold shower and you discovered the awful truth: cold showers are unbearable!
So much for being a man like Huberman. If you are like me, you are probably average. You are probably not a movie star neuroscientist at Stanford. You probably don’t have much in common with Huberman or, for that matter, Wim Hoff who is known for his cold exposure techniques. Hof embraces the cold depths of frozen lakes or the abodes of penguins, swimming in icy slush with his hairy chest and beard all hanging out. Like a Viking.
Manly men take cold showers. Hairy cavemen dive in icy rivers and swim in the Antarctic sea. Or do they?
Time to put aside that idea. Do not believe that if you can’t stand cold showers then you’ll never be a man. You’ll have to give up the idea that only cold showers lead to that wonderful aliveness you feel after taking one. A feeling that can last for hours.
Put those ideas aside. You are a man. You can get that vibrant glow without the dreaded Cold Shower.
The Cool Shower: before you jump in the shower, turn the water to cold and slowly add just enough hot water until it is almost warm. Almost but not quite.
This temperature is easy to step into without the shock of pure cold. Stand under this for a bit, turn around, turn back, and generally let the almost warm but quite cool shower reach every part.
After just a minute or so you’ll be used to it and it will feel great without the fear of dying.
Now, ever so slowly, notch down the hot every minute or so. Get used to the drop in temperature. It’s very minor. Notch it down again. Get used to it.
Keep doing this until it is very cool, almost cold, but never actually full-blown ice water. Never go there. At least for now.
In the end, you will have taken a cold shower, just not an ice shower. After all, cold is a relative term. This cool shower is not Wim’s ice bath. But it definitely is cold.
You will get all the benefits of a cold shower, prove your manhood to yourself, and maybe even become a Viking someday.
And that’s cool.
