Lifestyle Navy Seal explains why cold showers are good for you.

[Mix6APlix]

Former Navy SEAL Clint Emerson, author of 100 Deadly Skills: The SEAL Operative's Guide to Eluding Pursuers, Evading Capture, and Surviving Any Dangerous Situation, explains why it can be healthy for you to end a shower with cold water. Following is a transcript of the video.

Cold water will wake you up, without a doubt, and it will keep you awake. But it has more health benefits than anything else. In SEAL training you spend a lot of time in cold water and there’s actually some science to the madness of putting us in cold water. One, the reason professional athletes do it all the time after a workout is it increases recovery. It vasoconstricts the entire body, squeezing out all of that lactic acid so that you can feel good to go the next day and be ready for the next day training.

That cold water is therapy. Even though it was torture, it’s therapy so that it keeps you healthy, keeps your joints and inflammation down, vasoconstricts everything down and allows you to keep moving forward, hopefully without any more injury."

 

[Mix6APlix]

Sorry. Don't know why I got duplicitous quotes there...

 

[Filthy]

i thought the 'ice water dunk' after exercising was debunked...vasconstriction doesn't squeeze lactic acid out of muscles.

A Recovery Ice Bath Isn't (Always) Such a Good Idea

 

[Wintermute]

Sound like broscience. If I'm exerting myself, the last thing I want is my blood vessels smaller in diameter.

 

[Mix6APlix]

Meh. Don't know about the validity, just thought it was a good read. I also ordered his book because my train has been stopped for almost half an hour now and I'm bored.

Then I realized, it won't be delivered to me on the train. Fuck, guess I'm having a beer.

 

[Rambo John J]

I have healed some super sore muscles with alternating hot and max cold showers
healed a badly sprained ankle overnight by going super hot shower into Ice bucks Repeat 25 times and woke up able to walk normal again

Besides....

 

[Wintermute]

I have healed some super sore muscles with alternating hot and max cold showers
healed a badly sprained ankle overnight by going super hot shower into Ice bucks Repeat 25 times and woke up able to walk normal again

Besides....

That's contrast baths, that's different. That forces blood to and from the injured area, clearing swelling in the cold bath, and letting oxygenated blood in with the hot bath.

 

[Robbie Hart]

Sorry. Don't know why I got duplicitous quotes there...

It's not ok

 

[Rambo John J]

That's contrast baths, that's different. That forces blood to and from the injured area, clearing swelling in the cold bath, and letting oxygenated blood in with the hot bath.

OP post talks of finishing shower off with cold water

kinda same thing IMO...just only one cycle

 

[Wintermute]

OP post talks of finishing shower off with cold water

kinda same thing IMO...just only one cycle

Nope, you gotta have the hot shower. Cold, hot, cold, hot. That's contrast baths. Ice baths/cold showers are different, that's being researched now for RECOVERY, not injury healing.

 

[Rambo John J]

Nope, you gotta have the hot shower. Cold, hot, cold, hot. That's contrast baths. Ice baths/cold showers are different, that's being researched now for RECOVERY, not injury healing.

"explains why it can be healthy for you to end a shower with cold water."
this is what I read^^^and what I am referring to...didn't read whole article

 

[Wintermute]

"explains why it can be healthy for you to end a shower with cold water."
this is what I read^^^and what I am referring to...didn't read whole article

I understand- I'm not exactly sure, but I know cold reduces swelling post-exercise, not during? Be interesting to know. You can't recover WHILE you're exerting yourself.

 

[Yossarian]

Cold showers are the shit.

Cold water therapy goes back to as far as 1850 or so, the Germans were all over it. Maybe even further back in India. Legit as fuck.

Increasing the immune system, recovery of sore muscles, fights insomnia, increases metabolism, good for autonomic nervous system, pain reduction, improves mood, improve circulation, better dealing with cold exposure, weight loss, stress reducing, improve skin and hair, testosterone increase, boost fertility, wake you up, and lastly, they keep you from being a pussy. What other reason do you need?

 

[HEATH VON DOOM]

He is a Navy Seal, i believe him yo.

 

[HEATH VON DOOM]

I am going to try this. Will let you know how manly I feel afterwards.

 

[Hwoarang]

Cold water at the end of your shower is good because it makes the body produce more white blood cells to fight infections.
That's not what he's talking about here. He's talking about getting rid of lactic acid. Which your body uses it's circulatory system to get rid of, so don't know if slowing it down with icy water will help.

 

[BeardOfKnowledge]

they keep you from being a pussy.

Although this is as good a reason I can think of for doing anything.

Doing something for a long time doesn't give it validity.

 

[IschKabibble]

Cold showers also cure baldness.

 

[Yossarian]

Although this is as good a reason I can think of for doing anything.

Doing something for a long time doesn't give it validity.

Except for science.

Scientific Evidence-Based Effects of Hydrotherapy on Various Systems of the Body

 

[BeardOfKnowledge]

Except for science.

Scientific Evidence-Based Effects of Hydrotherapy on Various Systems of the Body

1) I didn't say it's useless. I simply pointed out that doing something for a long time has no bearing on its validity.
2) That isn't about cold showers. It's about hydro therapy. I skimmed through it (because fuck reading all that) and most of what I read was ice or heat related.

 

[Yossarian]

1) I didn't say it's useless. I simply pointed out that doing something for a long time has no bearing on its validity.
2) That isn't about cold showers. It's about hydro therapy. I skimmed through it (because fuck reading all that) and most of what I read was ice or heat related.

The fact that cold water therapy has been used for hundreds of years has no bearing on its validity?

Long time use allows study which is the core of scientific progress. Cold water temperature is explicitly mentioned by the Navy Seal. That means cryo, cold shower, cold baths, etc. Hydrotherapy stems from a time that didn't have hot showers, so naturaly cold water is used.

They may not be able to know understand the mechanics of hydrotherapy, but the same can be said about meditation, yoga, and acupuncture. But the benefits of these treatments are well documented, thus scientifically observed. The medical community will remain divided over anything that is not medicine.

Fortunately you are not forced to believe in it, or force to use it. I always seek for alternatives before I take painkillers or go through unneeded medical procedures. I have been prescribed many painkillers by people who told me I couldn't run again, or I may have to use a cane when getting older. I am running three times a week, without even a fucking peep. I will continue to explore health through non intrusive therapies and diet before I walk in any doctor office. Except for serious complaints of course.

 

[KWingJitsu]

Wim Hof ftw.... and he actually backs up what he talks about...

 

[BeardOfKnowledge]

The fact that cold water therapy has been used for hundreds of years has no bearing on its validity?

No.

Cupping and acupuncture have been used for thousands of years. Both are useless.

 

[Yossarian]

Wim Hof ftw.... and he actually backs up what he talks about...

Yeah, quite a movement he started. Didn;t hear about him until the JRE podcast.

 

[IschKabibble]

No.

Cupping and acupuncture have been used for thousands of years. Both are useless.

I'm not sure about cupping, but acupuncture can be a recommended medical treatment per evidence-based guidelines.