Cold showers

How many calories do they burn?

0?

I don't know. Hmmm...

Why would a cold shower burn calories. That just doesn't make sence

i actually heard it does burn extra calories because its making the body work harder to warm up the body, i just don't know exactly how much.

It's a myth. The myth is: "Showering in (or drinking) cold/iced water will help you burn more calories because it forces the body to work harder"... there's no evidence that proves this theory. No matter what kind of shower you take, or what kind of water you drink, your metabolism will be the same, therefore burning as many calories as it normally does.

^^ i think i agree. its most likely a myth or youll burn such an insugnicant amount (unless your talking about a 4 hour long cold shower) probally 4-6 cals if any for a few minute shower. personaly ill run an extra 50 feet and enjoy my warm shower :)

Chris

Actually, this is not a myth. When you shiver, or drink ice cold water, your body is forced to work harder in order to warm you up. As a result you burn a few extra calories. It isn't going to be significant, but the calorie burn is there.

I could actually see how it could burn extra calories.
Think about it. If you're cold and you shiver your muscles are constantly moving and contracting and there's a lot of motion going on even if it's slight vibrations or motions and whatever.
All that extra energy must burn a nice amount of calories.


If you have ever read any exercise books they often tell you to tighten your muscles during various exercies to make them work harder(in almost every written "technique" for the proper way to do a crunch or sit up they tell you to tighten your ab muscles.)

This... is a joke, right? :|

Not anymore of a joke than burning calories while sleeping is.

I read a computation somewhere... someone figured out you had to drink 30 gallons of ice water to lose a pound. I have also heard being colder when you sleep slightly raises metabolism.  But really, all these things have a very minor effect at best... way more effectrive to eat one less slice of bread or walk an extra mile.

So how come in the winter you tend to GAIN weight?

If it's so cold and your body has to work to warm ya up, I would expect the pounds to just melt away with the snowman.

What!

*re reads*

What!

being cold when you sleep is really miserable.
my bf likes to keep the house cool and i'm always freezing because i spent the last 2 years living in the desert.
there are so many better ways of burning calories i think!

it's true - you do burn calories. your heart needs to pump blood around your body faster to keep your muscles warm and working. i can't imagine it would burn many though, but as chris said earlier, just enjoy your warm shower and just walk a bit further or skip eating that odd snack :)

The cold shower does not burn anywhere close to the number of calories you would burn by the activity that it prevents.

Original Post by jessalice66:

it's true - you do burn calories. your heart needs to pump blood around your body faster to keep your muscles warm and working. i can't imagine it would burn many though, but as chris said earlier, just enjoy your warm shower and just walk a bit further or skip eating that odd snack :)

The OP is from 2007. I'm sure the OP has taken many showers since.

*Just happy the zombies are now showering*

Original Post by bagga:

*Just happy the zombies are now showering*

Filthy beggars.

for those of you who are still intereted, cold showers do alot for your health cold, also called active, water forces your body into action, by one, making your body have to ork harder to warm itself (yes this is true) and the cold also stimulates blood flow, which slightly raises your metabolism (not by any huge amount, but every bit helps) and the extra blood flow helps your skin alot to boot, by helping ot tightening your skin, which during weightloss we can all appreciate.

I'm not saying this because I saw this and looked it up, actually I found out by accedent, becuase the oil in my furnace ran out last week, and I notied a big difference in both my weightloss and my akin contition. Not haven changed anything in my excerscise and actually haven eaten more than usual becuase of cookouts, I lost more weight this week then I have any week of the past couple of months. Also my skin is usually very dry, especially after a warm shower, and even lotion sometimes down't hep, but all this week I haven't even had to have lotion cause my skin is nice and moist alread from the cold shower.

They also say that hot showers can have negative effects like depression (probably why people sleep so good after a hot shower, depression makes some people sleep alot) and bad posture. And that cold showers can even help releive anxiety

I can't say for sure about the posture thing, but I have bipolar disorder, which is mine and my sister's cause comes with depressions and anxiety. I decided to test this by not taking my medicationand fo the past five days I'd been off my medication and, depression and anxiety free, and even feeling happier myself cause I'm off the meds.

even straigh up cold showers are a bit intense for me, though, so I plan to get my hot water soon and do all my washing under the warm water, then for a few minutes at the wnd of my shower just let the cold water run over me, it honesly has the same effect.

You can also kinda say it has historical evience if nothin else, since cold water baths/showers are quite a common traditional eastern healing technique

so all in all, I think the bit of extra weight loss, the extra energy (if you take morning/afternoon showers) and tighter healthier skin (even if you don't beleive in the extra weightloss as any skin care expert, cold showers ARE good for your skin) is worth a few minutes of teh cold water treatment :)