[vuciv1]

Eat fruit and take cold showers. The last time this was posted, someone said cold showers were the secret to looking young forever.

I can't find much convincing official research (just blogs) to support that cold showers are beneficial to skincare, but I've been taking them nonetheless, and honestly, my pores have looked better :)

[martamorena2]

There very likely is zero correlation. But potentially, people who take cold showers represent a biased subset of the population, which is statistically more inclined to look young.

This applies to pretty much EVERYTHING that is not done via high quality double-blind studies published in reputable, peer-reviewed journals.

Point being: Repeating single actions of successful people statistically does not make you successful.

[jiggawatts]

Why is this being downvoted?

As an example, there was a study that eating a handful of almonds every day is correlated with a bunch of positive health outcomes. Then a follow-up paper determined that this is simply because nuts are a relatively expensive snack, so they're eaten regularly mostly by wealthier people. It's well established that being poor is bad for your health, and conversely being rich tends to allow healthy lifestyles in general.

The kind of people that take cold showers are the "health-nut" types that prioritise healthy living over comfort. They're a rare, self-selecting subset of the general population.

It's extremely difficult to do good science based on statistics of self-selecting groups, or groups highly correlated with wealth.

[vuciv1]

That absolutely makes sense. Correlation is not causation.

I would probably be characterized as one of the "health-nuts," so between the cold showers, moisturizing twice a day, trying to perfect my indoor air pollution, and literally eating raw spinach and a bowl of fruit for lunch... Who knows what contributes to what?

I probably have health anxiety. I wouldn't characterize it as extreme, but it does force me to do anything I hear is healthy for me.

[gchamonlive]

Correlation can arise without necessarily having a cause and effect relationship. In this case it is quite plausible to have a correlation between longevity and cold showers, but that could be because people prone to cold showers are also more likely to face discomfort and lead more active lives, which in turn has direct correlation with a reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes. Then the point changed entirely, where once the focus was on the showers, now it is on something far deeper, like the hability to be comfortable with discomfort.

[majkinetor]

Here are some studies I collected years ago:

- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5025014/

- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24921042/

- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/mnt/releases/239174#1

- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2370378/pdf/can...

[zekrioca]

It is easier in tropical countries like Colombia, where “cold” is basically “warm”. In colder (northern) countries, I tried this but it is very hard because “cold water” (i.e., non heated) is way too cold (like minus temperatures).

[dghughes]

I'm in south-eastern Canada. Just now I checked the temperature of the water from my city water company I measured it at 8C. The current outside temperature is -1C. The water couldn't be lower than freezing or pipes in homes would freeze.

I agree cold, hot, warm are all relative. Somewhat related I've seen people from hot countries worry about "cold weather". To them ~20C is cold compared to 35C hot day and was blamed to be the cause of colds and flu. Often perpetuated in movies and TV too a tired old trope. So yes to someone in a hot country a "cold" shower may be considered warm to someone from a cold climate.

[spodek]

You're right about geography.

My record for cold shower temperature was 39.9F (4.4C), here in New York City. Five minutes at that temperature bordered on pain. My fingertips turned purple.

The warmest cold shower I took was in Brazil. Sadly, I didn't get to enjoy it because I was sunburned.

[Drdrdrq]

> minus temperatures

Nitpick: it is difficult to take a shower with water in solid form (ice).

[Jap2-0]

> > minus temperatures

> Nitpick: it is difficult to take a shower with water in solid form (ice).

Nitpick: having a temperature below zero does not necessarily mean that it is in a solid form; for example, it could be at a high pressure or not have a nucleus to freeze around (supercooling).

[hedora]

I’d like to see a video of this hypothetical subzero shower stream turning to a block of ice around an unsuspecting nucleus.

Bonus points if you can scale it up to a mannequin.

[Izkata]

Supercooled water isn't quite the same thing you're asking for - I doubt it could be done with a shower without special equipment - but here's a video of spontaneous freezing in two ways: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fot3m7kyLn4

The first, pounding it inside the sealed bottle, is creating some sort of disturbance to crystalize around (an "unsuspecting nucleus"), and the second is pouring it semi-shower-like.

[ColFrancis]

A shock would likely cause a nucleus site anyway. When people do this with water in the freezer a good knock sets it off. So when the water starts to flow I think it'd freeze in the pipes.

[Jap2-0]

High pressure would probably be a more likely explanation for a shower. As for the feasibility... we're talking about technicalities here.

I do think it would be interesting to see it, though.

[soheil]

Not if the water has enough salt mixed in it.

[CBLT]

It's certainly easier in tropical countries because you can just use the cold knob, but it's doable in colder places as well. Even using both hot and cold sources to get a comparable temperature, it isn't as easy to get into the shower when the weather is colder. I've noticed that the coldness of the water only bothers me for the first 20 seconds of the shower, so I'll use a bit more heat then turn it colder.

[vuciv1]

I'm in a cold area and experienced this recently. My hair started to harden and freeze. I started just putting the heat knob just the tiniest bit.

But I guess it depends on your knobs shower knobs.

[cambalache]

By his accent he is from Bogota, it may not be Canada, but the temperature can reach 6C, I wouldnt call that "warm"

[desiderantes]

Colombia has a huge range of climates. His city, Medellin, is a bit chillier than what you would expect.

[vecinu]

Medellin has highs of 28C and lows of 17C every month, pretty much.

Seems really warm!

[whymauri]

Yeah, they might have mentally flipped Bogota and Medellin. Bogota is a lot like SF's climate, but even steadier throughout the year.

[ninja3925]

Just googling for RCT, I found one convincing example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5025014/

[vuciv1]

Ah, I never thought to force RCT in the search to find evidence. Thanks for that.

[vuciv1]

Ah, this doesn't provide details on its effects on the skin.

[majkinetor]

I bet Russians and their scientists do know a lot about it. You usually wont find their thing on Internet tho.