Q. What uncomfortable things, such as cold showers, can improve your life?

Doctor Answer is medically reviewed by SecondMedic medical review team.

Answered by Secondmedic Expert

Cold showers can have numerous benefits for your physical, mental and emotional health. From boosting alertness to improving circulation, a cold shower can be a great way to start your day.

Physically speaking, taking cold showers can help boost your metabolism and burn more calories. Research has also shown that regular exposure to cold temperatures helps promote weight loss. Additionally, a cold shower is great for toning your skin; the cool water constricts blood vessels and reduces puffiness while tightening pores - leaving you with healthy looking skin!

On the mental health side of things, researchers believe that regularly exposing yourself to mild stressors (such as stepping into an icy-cold shower) may increase resilience against stress in general. In other words, if you can handle being doused in ice-cold water each morning then it’s likely you will be better equipped at handling whatever life throws at you during the rest of the day! Taking regular hot/cold showers has also been linked with improved concentration and focus every single day by providing an otherwise ‘normally relaxing’ activity with some stimulating contrast - which is why many people choose to end their daily shower routine with a blast of ice-cold water !

Finally (but certainly not least!), taking those dreaded but invigoratingly chilly showers could have positive effects on our emotional wellbeing too! Studies have found that exposing ourselves briefly to extremely low temperatures triggers certain brain regions involved in both pleasure detection and reward processing helping improve our overall levels of happiness! And even though it might be tempting to take one chilly dip every now and then – experts argue that committing yourself consistently over time is what really reaps real results when it comes down long term psychological & physiological improvements from regular exposure to cold temperatures (i.e from those shiversome but ultimately beneficial icy baths).