Is it better to take a shower with cold water or hot water?

We all know that Mao Zedong once swam across the Yangtze River in winter, which is considered winter swimming. We can imagine how low the temperature of the river water is in winter. If we want to wash our hands with river water, we will feel it is very cold, let alone taking a bath? There may be many people around us now. Some people always insist on taking cold showers, no matter it is winter or summer, they use cold water in all seasons. But most people still take hot showers. So is it better to take cold showers or hot showers? Let’s find out together!

Cold water bath for bodybuilding

A cold water bath refers to taking a bath with cold water between 10 and 20 degrees Celsius, which can promote skin metabolism and enhance skin nutrition. People who insist on taking cold water baths for a long time have smooth, rosy and elastic skin, showing the beauty of health.

When taking a cold water bath, the blood vessels will push a large amount of blood into the visceral blood vessels. After a short pause, the skin blood vessels will expand again, and a large amount of blood will flow from the visceral blood vessels to the body surface. This expansion and contraction increases the blood vessels' tolerance, enhances their elasticity, and helps prevent vascular sclerosis.

In addition, cold water baths can enhance the functions of the respiratory and digestive organs, and have a positive effect on preventing the occurrence of upper respiratory tract infections, rheumatism, arthritis and other diseases.

Taking cold showers should be done gradually. Do not use very cold water all at once. The water temperature can be gradually lowered to no less than 10℃ to give the body some time to adapt. You can start in the summer and continue until winter, all year round. It is best to choose the morning, which helps to eliminate the inhibition after sleep and make people refreshed. You can also choose noon, but it is generally not suitable at night. The washing time should not be too long, a few seconds at the shortest and a few minutes at the longest. You can take the approach from local to whole body, that is, first bathe your face and head, then bathe your feet, and then take a full body wipe bath and shower. Those with good physical fitness can also go winter swimming.

Cold showers are not for everyone. Some people's skin is sensitive to cold water, and they will develop urticaria, hemoglobinuria and purpura when exposed to cold water. Patients with severe hypertension, coronary heart disease, acute hepatitis, cavitary tuberculosis, active rheumatism, sciatica, joint pain and high fever are not suitable for taking cold baths.

Calming hot bath

The water temperature of a hot bath is between 38 and 40 degrees Celsius, which can cause vasodilation, promote blood circulation, relieve muscle spasms, and have a calming effect. For insomniacs, taking a hot bath before going to bed can help them sleep and relieve skin itching. A hot bath can remove dirt from the skin, clear the pores and sweat glands, and improve the skin's metabolic capacity and disease resistance.

Experiments have shown that when typhoid bacteria are inoculated on clean skin and dirty skin respectively, and samples are taken for testing 10 minutes later, the bacteria on the clean skin have died while the bacteria on the dirty skin still exist. In medicine, hot baths are used to treat chronic arthritis, heal fractures, and other chronic conditions.

Now we have the answer to the question of whether it is better to take a cold shower or a hot shower. Regardless of whether it is cold water or hot water, first of all, our physical condition must be good. Only a good physical condition can allow our body to withstand the cold water. What kind of water we use to take a shower is for the sake of our own body, because we want a healthy and strong body and want to enhance our body's resistance.