The Best Thing You Can Do Before Taking A Cold Shower To Boost Longevity

Many of us are aware that genes play a part in how long we live. It is also commonly accepted that making certain health choices, including eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly, will improve your chances.

And one expert said that if you want to live longer, you should change the way you shower.

Cold showers are recommended for a long life, according to Sir Christopher Ball, cofounder of the Oxford Longevity Project.

Achieving a long and healthy life is not solely dependent on good genes. By incorporating a healthy lifestyle and positive mindset, we can all increase our chances of living a long and healthy life, according to him.

In an interview with Express.co.uk, he explained:

“I use the first five letters of the alphabet (A-E) to remind myself of my daily routine to ensure that my mind-set and life-style are appropriate.

“So far, so good. I am aged 87, healthy and happy – I plan to live to the age of 111.

“C is for ‘cold showers,’ in particular.

Simple yet effective, cold showers have been proven to boost the immune system, resulting in fewer sick days. In fact, research shows that individuals who regularly take cold showers are 29% less likely to call in sick to work.

“Cold hydrotherapy has also been shown to relieve depressive symptoms which we know is a risk factor for mortality.

“The trick is to enjoy a hot shower (as hot as you can bear) first, and then switch to the coldest setting available, while thinking of the challenges of the day and week ahead and ensuring that you feel positive about them.”

What does the evidence show?

One study, which came out in 2016 in the journal PLOS One, looked at how cold showers affected the number of self-reported sick days taken by workers.

The experiment included more than 3,000 individuals between the ages of 18 and 65 who did not have significant comorbidity (the presence of more than one illness) or regular exposure to cold showers.

They were divided into four groups; one group had a regular 30-day shower, while the other washed in a (beginning hot) cold shower for 30, 60, or 90 seconds.

According to the study, the findings revealed that a regimen of hot-to-cold showers resulted in a 29% reduction in sickness absence compared to the control group. The results showed that taking a routine hot-to-cold shower led to a statistically significant decrease in self-reported sickness absence, but not illness days, in adults without severe comorbidity.

Additionally, a separate study published in Medical Hypotheses in 2008 found that cold showers can alleviate depressive symptoms.

“Practical testing by a statistically insignificant number of people, who did not have sufficient symptoms to be diagnosed with depression,” according to the authors, “showed that the cold hydrotherapy can relieve depressive symptoms rather effectively.”

This may be attributed to the release of hormones and electrical impulses in the body.

The study noted that exposure to cold stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, elevating the levels of beta-endorphin and noradrenaline in the blood, as well as increasing the release of noradrenaline in the brain.

Additionally, the high concentration of cold receptors in the skin leads to a large number of electrical impulses being sent from the skin to the brain during a cold shower, which may have an anti-depressive effect.

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