A cold shower is one of the most popular holistic remedies to promote health and well-being. It is a natural, healthy way to cleanse the body of dangerous toxins, improve circulation and boost your immune system. But how many calories does a cold shower burn? Is it true that a cold shower can help with weight loss?
You’re not the only one who craves hot showers. There may be a reason you don’t want to take a hot shower, but it could be because of weight loss.
Hot and cold showers have one purpose: hygiene. It is surprising that cold showers can also help you burn calories. It is quite amazing, but it is fascinating to see the effects of cold water in the shower on your body.
Cold showers can help you burn shocking amounts of calories, no matter how uncomfortable or cold they might sound. While we don’t recommend skipping the gym, a cold shower can be a great way to lose weight.
This article will tell you everything about cold showers and weight loss, including how many calories a cold bath can burn.
Facts:
Any shower that has a temperature of less than 70 degrees F is considered cold. They could have health benefits. Hydrotherapy, also known as water therapy, has been used for centuries to harness our bodies’ natural ability to adapt to more harsh conditions. Our bodies are more resilient to stress.
Research has shown that icy showers can boost your immunity and increase resistance to illness. In the Netherlands, a clinical trial found that cold showers resulted in a 29% decrease in sick calls to work. A second study found that cold showers are associated with better survival rates in cancer patients.
Before you turn the cold water tap on at the end of your cold shower, it is important to know the risks associated with cold showers. A sudden shock of cold water can cause severe damage to the body.
People who take cold showers often praise the many benefits they receive, including faster recovery from intense training or lowering their chances of getting sick.
It is best to slowly ease into a cold shower. Begin by gradually lowering the temperature after a normal shower. Make sure the water is not too cold that it makes you feel uneasy. Next, place your feet underneath the water for about 2 to 3 minutes.
The majority of temperature research for men focuses on the testicles or scrotum. To keep the body at the optimal temperature for sperm production, the scrotum is located outside. It hangs around 35 to 37 degrees C.
Cold showers are thought to lower the scrotal temperature and allow the testicles produce the maximum amount of testosterone and sperm.
A cold shower can help improve the complexion of women. A simple cold shower can make your skin brighter. To lock in our core temperature, our skin’s pores can shrink to improve the texture and appearance.
It is best to wash your face with lukewarm water. However, cold water can have its advantages. Coldwater can tighten the skin and make it look younger. Your skin may also look healthier temporarily thanks to the increased circulation.
According to Internet experts, cold showers can be one of the best ways to “level up your biology.”
Some benefits claimed to be…
- Better skin and hair
- Greater muscle recovery
- Increased calorie intake and fat burning
- Increased testosterone production
- Immunity increases
…and more.
This is, unfortunately, more fiction than reality.
- Ice baths for 10 minutes can help reduce muscle soreness after a workout, but they can also hinder muscle growth and strength gains. However, cold showers are unlikely to do the same.
- It’s not something I like. The more I can force myself into doing things that are painful or uncomfortable, even though they may not be my preferred choice, the better my life will be.
- The cold shower will not help you lose weight faster, boost your post-workout recovery time, make you look younger, or make your skin and hair prettier.
Table of Contents
Does Cold Shower Help Burn Calories?
Cold showers can be very uncomfortable, especially if they are new to you. Although they can be a shock to your system, there are some health benefits.
There are many benefits to taking cold showers:
- After a hard workout, it relieves muscle soreness.
- Boosting weight loss
- Calming itchiness
- Glamorous skin and hair
- Increased circulation
- Waking you up
However, not all cold water showers are created equal. It is important to choose the right “coldness” and water temperature for burning calories.
You can burn fat by taking a shower at a temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
Here’s how to take a cold shower to burn calories if you are still curious!
How do cold showers help burn calories?
Brown fat produces heat when it gets cold, such as when you take cold showers.
What is brown fat? What does brown fat do for weight loss?
Let’s talk about the two types of fats. Bad fat is also known as white fat. This is the horrible guy that everyone complains about and struggles to get rid of. Brown fat is often called the “good fat” because it generates heat and burns calories.
Brown fat is not always active. To start burning calories and generate heat, you will need to activate brown fat.
You guessed it, cold showers activate brown fat to produce heat. This can help you burn a lot of calories and aid in weight loss.
A tip for weight loss: Take a cold shower. Make sure that the water is in the areas where your brownest fat is: the back, neck, and shoulders.
The idea of losing weight by freezing to death is not a new idea. Studies on this phenomenon have been around for decades. The first published study was in the Journal of Applied Physiology, 1985.
It’s really quite simple. As your body temperatures dip due to cold water, your body enters a phase known as “non-shivering thermogenic,” in which it burns calories to generate heat.
The number of calories you eat increases as the temperature drops. You will eventually start to shiver, which is your body’s attempt at generating more heat through burning calories.
How Many Calories Can a Cold Shower Burn
There are two things that will affect how many calories you can burn while taking a cold bath: the water temperature and how long it takes.
If you take a cold, 60-degree water temperature shower, you can burn approximately 75 calories in just five minutes. This is assuming that your shower generates at least 5-gallons per minute.
You can potentially burn around 225 calories per day if you take 15-minute showers. You can burn up to 450 calories per day by taking a shower in the mornings or evenings.
You don’t have to shower in cold water all the time. You can shower with cold water if it seems difficult to you.
You can still use your brown fat to produce heat by switching from lukewarm water to cold. You can still burn 75 calories by staying under cold water for five minutes even if your shower was lukewarm.
Showering can help you burn calories, regardless of the water temperature. One thing is certain: a colder shower burns more calories than a hot one.
Hot showers can be relaxing and act as a mini massage for your neck, back, shoulders and neck. You can burn about 140 calories an hour. Who has the time to spend an hour in a hot tub, no matter how relaxing?
Hot showers burn only 35 calories per fifteen minutes, according to the math. However, taking cold showers at the same time could potentially result in six times more calories.
This is enough to make it a habit to switch from hot to cold water next time you take a bath.
Can You Lose Weight With Cold Showers?
Although it is nice to think you can lose excess fat by taking a shower, it is not the best way of losing weight. Although it is possible to lose weight by shivering when exposed to cold, such as from a long, cold bath, it is not known if it does.
You could also be at risk of hypothermia which can lead to death. Instead, focus on a healthy diet and getting more active to lose weight. It’s not new that cold exposure can help you lose weight. This idea has been around for decades.
In 1985, the Journal of Applied Physiology published one of the earliest studies of this phenomenon. The authors examined both calorie burning and fat loss in men who bathed for two hours in cool water.
The cool bath increased fat burning and the men used stored carbohydrates to increase energy. Your body will burn more calories when it is cold to maintain body heat.
Your body’s temperature drops slightly and you enter “nonshivering thermogenesis,” a phrase that increases your calorie burning.
You’ll feel colder and start to shiver. This heat also helps you burn calories.
The theory is that cold showers can help you lose weight. According to a 2014 study in Cellular Metabolism, shivering can increase your calorie burn and trigger brown fat production.
Brown fat, unlike normal fat tissue which does not burn many calories per day, is metabolically active and can produce heat.
This is more common in people who are lean than those who are overweight or obese. Increasing your brown fat levels may help you lose weight by increasing your calorie intake throughout the day.
Researchers found that shivering increases the levels of “irisin,” a hormone that triggers brown fat production. This is similar to exercising.
The results from the Cellular Metabolism research suggest that taking cold showers might be a good way to lose weight. However, it’s still too early to say for certain.
In an interview with National Geographic, Dr. Francesco Celi, the study’s principal author, explained that shivering may not be beneficial for your irisin levels if you are already exercising (which you should) when you’re trying to lose weight.
Long-term cold showers can also be dangerous as they could lead to hypothermia. Hypothermia can be caused by prolonged exposure to cold water.
Hypothermia can reduce your reflexes, cause weakness in your muscles, and lead to fatigue. This could increase your chances of falling in the shower or sustaining injury.
Hypothermia, which causes a drop in body temperature, can lead to dangerous heart disease. To burn calories is not worth risking your safety.
The bottom line
Imagine burning 225 calories in just 15 minutes. It is tempting to leave the hot water on for another 60 minutes to lose even more fat. However, it is not possible or appropriate to spend an hour in an icy cold water shower for weight loss.
It will be an extremely unpleasant experience. However, it can also cause hypothermia. It’s not good to take too many cold showers.
However, cold showers can be a great way to lose fat. Although it won’t lead to significant fat loss, cold showers can be a great addition to any weight-loss program.
People take a shower to wash away the sweat, dirt, and grime they have accumulated throughout the day.
Some people use showers to improve their health. They claim that cold water can reduce symptoms of depression, increase mood, strengthen the immune system, tighten pores, and trigger endorphins which will make you feel more alert and awake.
Research has shown that cold water immersion can relieve sore muscles and increase endurance training. It also speeds up recovery from intense cycling training.
Some interesting research has shown that cold water swimming can have many benefits. However, it can pose a serious health risk to inexperienced or untrained swimmers.
There is no evidence that 30 seconds of cold exposure can have a significant effect on your metabolism. The idea that cold exposure can cause fat loss is also based on very weak evidence.
Yes, cold can burn calories. However, it does not mean that colder temperatures will make you lose weight quicker than hot. Cold exposure can also cause a decrease in appetite so you might end up consuming more calories than you originally burned.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Brown Fat Affects Your Metabolic Rate?
There are four types of fat tissue in your body.
- White fat
- Brown fat
- Beige fat
- Pink fat
It's brown because it's tightly packed with mitochondria. This is where fat is burned.
Brown fat is inactive as long as it is within your thermal comfort zone. This is why it is so rare to detect and why brown fat has been considered irrelevant for adults.
Recent evidence indicates that it is more common in adults than previously believed, with a greater likelihood of detection in leaner people and women.
You can make yourself cold by taking a shower in ice-cold waters or by sliding into an ice tub. This is thought to activate brown fat which, in turn, generates heat and helps you burn regular fat.
You should take a cold bath for 30 seconds and let the icy water flow over your neck, shoulders, back, and neck. Research has shown that this area is where most brown fat cells are located.
How many calories does a cold shower burn?
If you take a five-minute cold shower with a water temperature of at least 60 degrees F (15.55 degrees C), you can burn about 75 calories. That means your shower produces at least 5 gallons of cold water per minute. And in 5 minutes you will use 25 gallons of cold water.
how many calories does a 10 minute cold shower burn?
Research has shown that cold exposure can increase metabolic rate by as little as 1-2 calories per hour. A 10-minute cold shower will burn approximately 10-20 calories.
Also, cold water Increases the body's metabolism Because it must work harder to maintain stable temperatures. A cold shower lasts for about 5-10 minutes so it should not be used as a weight-loss technique.
how many calories does a 30 minute cold shower burn?
Under normal conditions, the water temperature is between 15-20 degrees Celsius, an estimated 76 calories are burned by showering for 30 minutes
How many calories does a 15 minute cold shower burn?
To correctly answer the question "How many calories does a 15-minute cold shower burn?" we need to determine the water temperature and other ideal conditions.
However, under normal conditions, a 15-minute cold shower can burn about 62 calories. This number can fluctuate larger or smaller depending on the condition of each person as well as the water temperature.
