Some people prefer cold showers, while others prefer hot showers. While everyone has their preferences, it’s led to a bit of a debate. Which one is better, cold showers vs. hot showers?
Well, the answer isn’t as clear-cut as many people think. It depends on multiple factors, with both hot and cold showers offering their benefits. Then, there are personal preferences and similar areas to consider.
What might be the better option for one person could be different for another. Add in shower filters and similar additions, and the answer could get a little more complicated. Let’s dive into these to see which one’s better and which one could be recommended.
What are the Benefits of Cold Showers?
There are plenty of cold shower benefits, and they can help people feel better and improve their mental health. Let’s take a closer look at cold shower benefits.
1. Cold Showers Soothe Irritated Skin
Cold showers are known to soothe irritated skin, and there are several reasons for this. Irritated skin is usually somewhat inflamed, and the coldness of the shower helps to minimize this. It can also help with the itchiness often associated with irritated skin, too.
2. Cold Showers Invigorate You in the Morning
When cold water hits you first thing in the morning, it can almost come as a bit of a body shock. With cold showers, this can be a good thing. It increases your heart rate, oxygen intake, and overall alertness.
To put it bluntly, it wakes you up in the morning. When you’re getting ready for work and something similar, this can be a great way to wake up quickly.
3. Cold Showers Alleviate Muscle Soreness
Countless people experience muscle soreness regularly. Anyone who goes to the gym regularly will know exactly how regular this can be. One of the main benefits of cold showers is alleviating muscle soreness.
A lot of this focuses on the inflammation and stiffness that often causes this. With a cold shower, these start to go away. It can also help with muscle fatigue after a long workout.
4. Cold Showers Enhance Blood Circulation
One of the main reasons experts recommend cold showers is because they can improve your blood circulation. This could end up helping with your overall health. The main reason for this is that the cold water causes the blood vessels on your body’s surface to constrict.
This then forces the blood in your deeper tissue to circulate faster. It does this so you can maintain a proper body temperature, but it helps with your overall circulation. This is the exact opposite of what happens in a hot shower.
It can also be beneficial for people with hypertension or cardiovascular disease. It helps to reduce inflammation and has an impact on the chances of cardiovascular disease developing.
5. Cold Showers May Help Boost Weight Loss
Weight loss is one of the more unexpected benefits of a cold shower, but there’s some science behind this. Speeding up your blood circulation and offering similar benefits helps your body burn fat more effectively.
While this can be relatively minor, it can be a great addition to a weight loss routine. It even helps with insulin resistance, further adding to the weight loss benefits of cold showers.
6. Cold Showers Improve the Appearance of Your Skin and Hair
While many people assume hot showers improve the appearance of their hair and skin, that isn’t actually the case. Cold showers are much better with this, and there are several reasons why.
Because of the constricting of the blood flow, a cold shower helps to give you a healthier glow once you’re done showering. Then there’s the impact cold showers have on the sebum layer, which is a natural barrier that’s there to protect your skin and hair.
Or, rather, the lack of an impact. Cold showers don’t dry this out, helping your skin and hair stay protected and look healthier longer.
What are the Benefits of Hot Showers?
Like cold showers, there are plenty of hot shower benefits, which is why countless people prefer them. The benefits of hot showers are worth diving into.
1. Hot Showers Alleviate Cold and Respiratory Symptoms
Hot showers normally mean a decent bit of steam when you’re in the shower. This is great for minor colds and respiratory issues, helping you feel a little better after having the shower.
The heat from this steam and the water itself open up airways and clear out your nasal passages. It can also loosen up any phlegm in your chest or nasal passages, helping you to breathe easier.
2. Hot Showers Help with Blemishes
Hot showers are known to open up the pores on the skin, which provides more than a few benefits. Once the pores are opened up, it’s a lot easier to clear out trapped dirt and oil.
These are known to cause multiple issues, with blemishes being the most notable. You can reduce the appearance of these blemishes by having regular showers. While they might not go away completely just with hot showers, they’ll have an impact.
3. Hot Showers Promote Muscle Relaxation
While cold showers can benefit how your muscles feel, it doesn’t mean hot showers can’t, too. In fact, they have a noticeable impact on how muscles feel. Hot showers encourage your muscles to relax and can relieve body tension.
There should be less muscle pain and tension in your muscles once you’re done showering. They can also help you relax more overall, benefitting your mental health. The stress reduction alone is more than enough to help with this.
People who use hot showers regularly also report better emotional health.
4. Hot Showers Enhance Sleep Quality
Speaking of muscle relaxation and stress reduction, hot showers can help improve your sleep. After a hot shower, you should be more relaxed and in a better position to drift off to sleep. It also helps to enhance the quality of your sleep every night. This is especially true when experiencing any cold or respiratory symptoms.
Can a Shower Filter Enhance Your Cold or Hot Shower Experience?
Shower filters can often be a great addition to a shower, especially when you’re using the right filter. AquaBliss shower filters are more than capable of helping with your showers and improving the overall experience.
The temperature of the water doesn’t change how effective these are, with our shower filters being effective no matter what. The key benefits of these are reducing chlorine and other substances that could be found in your water supply.
Pick up a shower water filter today, and you’ll see the benefits before you know it.
Potential Risks
While both hot showers and cold showers offer benefits, they also have their drawbacks. Let’s take a look at these.
Disadvantages of Cold Showers
Cold shower benefits can make having one quite tempting, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any drawbacks. Instead, there can be several of these, with the most notable being:
- It's not a recommended option when you’re already sick. Cold showers could make the symptoms worse, especially with cold and respiratory symptoms.
- It is not recommended if your body temperature is already low. Cold showers will naturally decrease your body temperature even more, which could lead to health issues.
While these can be noticeable drawbacks, they’re easy to work around. Avoid having cold showers when you’re sick or cold, and there shouldn’t be anything to worry about.
Disadvantages of Hot Showers
Hot showers can also have their drawbacks, and they’re worth being aware of. The largest of these include:
- Hot showers can dry out your skin. This leads to irritation and similar issues, worsening any skin conditions you might already have.
- Hot showers can cause too many mast cells on your skin. Overly active mast cells can cause mast cell disease. Symptoms include skin rashes, hives, itching, swelling, or flushing.
- Hot showers increase blood pressure. This can be a major problem if you already have cardiovascular issues or similar conditions.
Avoiding hot showers when you have skin conditions or cardiovascular issues is recommended. It’ll make sure you don’t need to deal with any of the potential side effects.
When to Take Hot or Cold Showers?
There will often be times when a hot shower or cold shower could be recommended. Hot showers can be great when you want to relax and drift off to sleep easier. It’ll even be recommended when you’re dealing with cold and respiratory issues.
They could even be the better option in the morning time when the weather is usually colder. Cold showers, however, can be better for warmer days and when you have any skin issues.
Even people experiencing cardiovascular issues would be better off having a cold shower, no matter the time of day. They might even be better recommended after you’ve been to the gym.
Wrapping It Up
Cold showers and hot showers both offer pros and cons. Both can be recommended under specific instances, with more than a few factors playing a role in this. No matter what, shower filters can be recommended.
They work great in both hot and cold showers and offer more than a few benefits, like helping protect your hair and skin. To learn more about AquaBliss shower head filters and how they can enhance your healthy shower benefits, visit our Shower Filter page. Take that first step towards healthier, more refreshing showers today.
