Body is a machine designed to run and regulate at certain range of temperature. But even this temperature vary from person to person depending on factors such as their individual physiology. Feeling cold or hot is relative that depends on the body temperature and surrounding temperature.
Important note: if a person is exposed to very cold temperatures for a prolonged period, they may experience hypothermia, which is a dangerous condition that requires medical attention.
Comfort Baseline of the Body
Imagine your brain is a processor, taking information constantly- taste, temperature, sound, color, smell. All these information is registered in your brain, and based on your likes & dislikes a comfort baseline is set.
If color is too bright and goes above the comfort-sight-baseline your sensitivity triggers feeling uncomfortable. If brightness drops to an intolerable level, you tend to adjust the brightness until you are comfortable.
Similarly, if your living and working conditions are at 74 degree Fahrenheit, and if home temperature is set to 78 degrees Fahrenheit, even that three degrees in difference can make you feel hot. During winter, we tend to keep thermostat at 69-75F. If we keep thermostat at 66F, we tend to feel cold.
Effects of Taking Cold Bath in the winter and Room Temperature
Suppose room temperature is 70F, outside temperature is 40F, and you plan to take cold tap bath temperature of 37F.
Initially, one may feel colder due to the sudden drop in temperature. However, as the body begins to warm up and regulate its temperature to the baseline temperature, body will start feeling warmer. Let’s dive into this with further biological explanation.
When exposed to cold water, the body undergoes a process called vasoconstriction, where the blood vessels in the skin narrow to reduce heat loss. After the cold exposure ends, the bloods vessels dilate allowing blood flow and warmth to return to the skin and extremities. Contraction and expansion of blood vessels results to shivering as body tries to generate more heat.
The human body will feel warmer due to the difference in temperature of cold body that just escaped the shower of 37F and entered the room temperature 70F.
Cold-induced Thermogenesis
After a cold bath, body burns more calories to produce heat and regulate its baseline temperature. This leads to feeling of increased warmth and over time this process cold shower can increase the overall energy levels.
The amount of calories burned during cold shower is relatively small. As a rough estimation, a 160lb human can burn around 60-80 calories with heart rate of about 100-120 bpm at 33 degrees Fahrenheit. However it is important to note that the number of calories burned in a cold shower is not significant enough to be considered as an effective weight-loss strategy.
Benefits
Taking a cold shower can have potential benefits – increasing alertness, improving circulation, and boosting immune system. It is still recommended to focus on maintaining on a healthy diet and engaging in regular physical activity for sustainable weight management.
Tuning the brain to tolerable level.
Have you ever seen shaolin monks climbing the snowy mountain with the bare feet? They trained their mind and body to do so. Taking cold shower in winter, overtime, can build the tolerance to stay comfortable at thermostat of 62F – 65F which could save you money from additional heating. It’s laughable, it could be painful, or it could be fun- but you save when the economy is tight.