Cold Showers?

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  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    Doubtful, but I love cold at the end of my showers, especially with it being so disgusting and hot outside...
    No such thing as 'cold water' in the Arizona desert this time of year unless it comes from the refrigerator. It comes straight out of the tap at about 85-90 degrees!
  • jshort152
    jshort152 Posts: 80
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    When you shiver you burn extra calories, but you would not burn 100 in just 90 seconds or else eskimos and Alaskans would be shredded. All jokes aside, you will burn a little extra but usually a colder shower is better for after a workout when you squeeze out the lactic acid from your muscles, hope this helps!

    Jesse Short
    ISSA Certified Personal Trainer
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    a colder shower is better for after a workout when you squeeze out the lactic acid from your muscles

    Jesse Short
    ISSA Certified Personal Trainer


    explain?:huh:
  • NormalSaneFLGuy
    NormalSaneFLGuy Posts: 1,344 Member
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    Q=mc delta T = energy = mass x specific heat capacity x change in temp
    A human is a giant water bag, so lets use the specific heat of water.

    4.186 Joules/gram degrees C. Next, lets say the person goes into a cold shower for 1 minute as you described. First of all, their entire body can not and will not change it's entire temperature in that amount of time, but lets pretend in your scenario it is plausible idea. We now need a mass. Lets say a person of 180lbs which is 81646.6, but we'll round it to 81647grams. Okay. Next you need a temperature change. Hypothermia kicks in around 95F. Lets put 99 as our high and 96 as low. 37.22 to 35.56 = 1.66 C change.

    So Q = 4.186J/gC x 81647g x 1.66C =567345J=135 calories.

    So under the delusion that in 1 minute, our entire core body temperature OF ALL OUR BODY MASS dropped from 99F to 96F, then yes our body would burn 135 calories. That being said, if you think that is remotely possible with the limited flow of a shower of water hitting you at 70F exposed to open air in a room of 75F and the limited physical contact it has - you're an idiot.

    As per survival manuals, in say 70F water FULLY IMMERSED it will take approximately 20-30 minutes to drop your temp below 96 degrees. THIS change WOULD give you the calorie deficit calculated.

    So, if you take a person, put them in a cold BATH, fully immersed to the neck, and MAINTAIN the temperature at 70F for 20-30 minutes, then yes, at that point, they will have burned 135 calories.

    Edit: and entered hypothermia
  • Lift_hard_eat_big
    Lift_hard_eat_big Posts: 2,278 Member
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    Activating brown fat via cold showers may lead to a negligible increase in caloric burn. Doing 50 burpees daily would probably burn more kcals and help your physique look better than a cold shower will.
  • magj0y
    magj0y Posts: 1,911 Member
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    http://www.livestrong.com/article/154168-how-to-lose-weight-with-cold-showers/

    Yes, and it's effective at burning back fat. Burning *fat* , not calories.

    this is one reason swimmers burn so many calories. the water is cold and the body has to work over time to keep body temp up.
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,287 Member
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    I saw Tim Ferris of the Four Hour Work Week on Dr. Oz. His new diet book was his research on things that make you lose weight.. His "research" showed that taking a cold shower or bath did help one lose weight. It does something to make your body burn more calories. ..by recalibrating something internally. The entire book were just things that studies proved to be true to lose weight.

    I know that sounds sketchy but it was a while back and I can't recall the details. Just that it was research that was done long ago from a study.
  • kiminikimkim
    kiminikimkim Posts: 746 Member
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    I believe it may burn calories if you end up shivering to warm up. Shivering burns calories.
  • magj0y
    magj0y Posts: 1,911 Member
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    I saw Tim Ferris of the Four Hour Work Week on Dr. Oz. His new diet book was his research on things that make you lose weight.. His "research" showed that taking a cold shower or bath did help one lose weight. It does something to make your body burn more calories. ..by recalibrating something internally. The entire book were just things that studies proved to be true to lose weight.

    I know that sounds sketchy but it was a while back and I can't recall the details. Just that it was research that was done long ago from a study.

    I have the 4 hour body book, it has a lot of great info in there! He's a weird dude, but is great at explaining things.
  • donkraft
    donkraft Posts: 28 Member
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    Cold showers or even better ice baths can reduce inflamation and help recovery. But yes I do believe in the extra calorie burn. Your body spends calories producing body heat so if you lower your core temp it makes your furnace work harder to make more heat. I dont know how many extra calories it would be though.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    http://www.livestrong.com/article/154168-how-to-lose-weight-with-cold-showers/

    Yes, and it's effective at burning back fat. Burning *fat* , not calories.

    this is one reason swimmers burn so many calories. the water is cold and the body has to work over time to keep body temp up.

    Extracts from the study:

    <snip> Eleven lean male subjects (height: 184±3 cm; body mass: 77.7±2.7 kg; BMI: 22.9±0.6 kg/m2; age: 21.7±0.6 years), not using any medications and not seen by a MD in the last three years participated in this study. Subjects stayed twice in the respiration chambers of the department of Human Biology, Maastricht University, wearing standardized clothing. The two conditions are defined as follows: 1) baseline: 34 hours measurement of energy expenditure at energy balance, comfortable temperature (22°C); 2) cold exposure for 82 hours in energy balance, mild cold without shivering (16°C). Macro-nutrient composition was equal in both conditions: 47, 38, and 15% energy from carbohydrate, fat, and protein, respectively. After each respiration chamber stay a muscle biopsy was taken, from M. vastus lateralis according to the technique of Bergström [24]. A part of the biopsy was stored in a preservation medium for mitochondrial uncoupling measurement, the rest of the biopsy was quickly frozen in liquid nitrogen for protein quantification and CS activity analyses. <snip>

    <snip>The increase in energy expenditure, 0.32 MJ/day <snip>

    If my conversion is correct, thats 76 calories - over a whole day at a reduced temperature. So, as has been said, the impact of a shower is negligible and you would be better off doing a few jumping jacks or burpees.
  • Afterblue
    Afterblue Posts: 78 Member
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    I take cold showers for er...other reasons.

    But I suppose that would explain my shiny hair.
  • NormalSaneFLGuy
    NormalSaneFLGuy Posts: 1,344 Member
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    http://www.livestrong.com/article/154168-how-to-lose-weight-with-cold-showers/

    Yes, and it's effective at burning back fat. Burning *fat* , not calories.

    this is one reason swimmers burn so many calories. the water is cold and the body has to work over time to keep body temp up.

    Edit: Sarauk2sf said it best.
  • toysbigkid
    toysbigkid Posts: 545 Member
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    laughing@afterblue
  • ShrinkinMel
    ShrinkinMel Posts: 982 Member
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    I briefly dated a Jamaican guy that only takes cold/cool showers. Not only is it good for hair(hot water can damage it) its great for skin. He had the softest skin EVER.


    I've heard the theory with cold showers for calorie burns is that our body needs extra fuel(calories) to heat itself back up. Not sure a quick cold rinse is enough.
  • 12skipafew99100
    12skipafew99100 Posts: 1,669 Member
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    Dr. Oz says drinking really cold water uses up more calories too. Maybe.
  • KrisThomas1964
    KrisThomas1964 Posts: 150
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    Only if shivering is a form of exercise.
  • samhigh
    samhigh Posts: 86 Member
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    Q=mc delta T = energy = mass x specific heat capacity x change in temp
    A human is a giant water bag, so lets use the specific heat of water.

    4.186 Joules/gram degrees C. Next, lets say the person goes into a cold shower for 1 minute as you described. First of all, their entire body can not and will not change it's entire temperature in that amount of time, but lets pretend in your scenario it is plausible idea. We now need a mass. Lets say a person of 180lbs which is 81646.6, but we'll round it to 81647grams. Okay. Next you need a temperature change. Hypothermia kicks in around 95F. Lets put 99 as our high and 96 as low. 37.22 to 35.56 = 1.66 C change.

    So Q = 4.186J/gC x 81647g x 1.66C =567345J=135 calories.

    So under the delusion that in 1 minute, our entire core body temperature OF ALL OUR BODY MASS dropped from 99F to 96F, then yes our body would burn 135 calories. That being said, if you think that is remotely possible with the limited flow of a shower of water hitting you at 70F exposed to open air in a room of 75F and the limited physical contact it has - you're an idiot.

    As per survival manuals, in say 70F water FULLY IMMERSED it will take approximately 20-30 minutes to drop your temp below 96 degrees. THIS change WOULD give you the calorie deficit calculated.

    So, if you take a person, put them in a cold BATH, fully immersed to the neck, and MAINTAIN the temperature at 70F for 20-30 minutes, then yes, at that point, they will have burned 135 calories.

    Edit: and entered hypothermia

    This is the most intelligent post I have seen on MFP. Well done sir.

    I also like doing one minute of cold water following a workout, if nothing else it cools me down so I do not perspire while getting dressed and hauling *kitten* back to work.

    In the 4HB book Ferris talks about cold water baths if anyone wants further reading.
  • likemeinvisible
    likemeinvisible Posts: 309
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    All those calculations are based on body temperature, but the skin temp is much lower than that ! and when you are cold your blood vessels near the skin contract to lose less heat (less surface area). And fat insulates the heat as well. When I was little I was shivering at the pool while all the other kids felt comfortable. I guess you have to be very skinny to burn fat this way :)
  • dmpizza
    dmpizza Posts: 3,321 Member
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    The science on this is pretty solid. Some people take ice baths. But all of it is peripheral, in other words, it helps but it doesn't stand alone at all.
    You always need to eat right and exercise.

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