Acne
★★★★★
ALS
★★★★★
...it occurs to me - you know how the universe sometimes puts things together in awesome and amazingly huge and "coincidental" ways? I've been looking at cold showers and, by the effect they have on the body, it appears to me to trigger a sort of reboot to critical systems in which, cold water over the head, in particular, appears to have a singular effect of its own.
The practice goes back thousands of years as both a spiritual and medicinal ritual. It feels so good to the body and mind that the horrible awesomeness of it is craved when it's not available because the effect is so immediate and profound and that got me wondering about the effect it might have on ALS. What if...eh? What might it be doing?
Dissipating an acute adrenaline attack? Breaking up loops of crippling thought patterns? Regardless of the PHYSICAL effects on the circulatory, renal, digestive, immune and nervous systems, I think everyone would agree that one's mental state is critical when it comes to serious illness. Particularly in this day and age, when it comes to the media's criminally negligent and deliberate horrification of the world around us.
Might it happen that an ALS patient who has found both his footing and his sense of humor might have a prayer answered? And might it happen that a universe/God with a divine sense of humor might answer and spread the results of such a prayer in such a light-hearted manner as the "viral" impact of something like the Ice Bucket Challenge?
A shallow lake is awesome for boat racing but it's horrible for cold water in a heat wave which got me wondering about the singular effect of dowsing the head first, The immediate effect on one's mental state, Lavina's idea of putting a camp shower bag of water in the fridge, ice water over the head in a pinch which made me think of the ice bucket challenge which turns out to be all about ALS which made me think about how I stumbled upon EC "way back when". And since 2 + 2 is 4, I thought about how AMAZING the universe/God is.
It probably seems silly, I know, but the most profoundly amazing things often are! Just a thought.
Anxiety
Marissa, all your symptoms are common in heavy metal poisoning. Do you detox periodically? Master Cleanse? Take Vit/min supplement? Eat lots of greens, Chlorella? Oil Pull? it could likely be anything else like allergy or who knows, just sayin' it's likely.
From what I've read, cold shower therapy can be dangerous for LOW blood pressure folks. Try CST s l o w l y. Just a little cool at end of shower, more cooler and end of next shower etc.
I would do the CST along with other detox methods. A high profile, high potency multivitamin/mineral/foods supplement as directed on label alone will help very much if you are one who never supplement.
Anxiety
★★★★★
Anxiety
★★★★★
Anxiety
★★★★★
Anxiety
★★★★★
Anxiety
★★★★★
(Monongahela, PA)
09/30/2008
★★★★★
Oh God...this is the most greatest thing in the world. I embrace the Eastern philosophy of medicine which talks about natural and organic treatments to the ailments that we all suffer. Unlike Western medicine that gives you toxic pills to swallow only to treat the symptoms and not to cure you. I feel great. I've never been so happy and energetic in my life and I feel like I'm high all day long...of course with out the impairment of psychotropic drugs. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED...yeah, there is the hesitation associated with jumping into a swimming pool, but please, just "bite the bullet" and do it.....every day.
THANK YOU EARTHCLINIC.COM!
(Wichita, Kansas)
12/28/2008
I agree. The Western medicine is atrocious. The only side effects I get from them is insomnia, weight gain, nervousness, and irritability. But most of all it tastes bad. I am glad to embrace the Eastern way of handling the problems with my body through taking cold baths and nasal cleansing. It works. It worked for Neiman in the Bible (leprosy), it worked for Father Sebastian Kneipp (tuberculosis), and it works for me (asthma and allergies).
(Toronto, Canada)
04/07/2010
★★★★★
Here's my own personal story that is related to this concept.
I've always been the person with the weakest immune system, when I was a kid I had anemia, and since then I would get the flu 3-4 times a year, each time resulting in 3 weeks in bed for recovery.
Then at age 25 by pure fluke I started taking cold showers (ok it was no fluke, I couldn't pay my heat bill so they cut off the hot water :S), and I immediatley started feeling a difference. I went on close to 5 years now without getting sick once! (I did eventually pay my bill but continued taking cold showers). As a matter of fact I once stayed in a household full of sick people, shaking hands, hugging and kissing, and I was the only who didn't get sick, even though I had the worst medical history of all of them.
Ever since, I've been taking cold showers exclusively. I've varied it now so that I start out with a hot shower, then halfway through I flip to cold water until my body temperature gets to the point where the water stops feeling cold and starts feeling refreshing. What this does is it promotes the flow of blood throughout your whole body, first by forcing the blood out of your organs to your skin (that's why your skin looks red-ish), then the cold water sends them rushing back into your vital organs. The amount of energy you gain is incredible, try it, you won't be sorry! Not to mention its better for your posture, & cures back pain.
Anyways, point is that showering with cold water everyday fools your body into thinking that you are about to get sick, so your immune system gets triggered and is prepared for any virus or microbes coming your way for the rest of the day.
I find it sad and ironic, that I've wasted thousands upon thousands of dollars going to doctors, taking medication, trying everything so that I can live a normal life without fearing something as trivial as a little WIND, having to spend 60-70 days a year in bed recovering, and the answer was as simple as a cold shower!
I don't understand why this isn't common knowledge. The answer isn't to try and cure diseases, it is prevention. Simple prevention.
In contrast, hot showers are so bad for you I'm surprised there are no awareness campaigns against them. Hot showers cause depression, bad posture, back pain, lowering of the immune system, low energy, they are horrible for your skin as they dry it out completely and makes your skin looser and makes you look older, its bad for your hair as it also dries it out and makes it weak and brittle...
In life there are few things that are for sure. Love, Reltionships, Religion, god, the future, the stock market....
But now, as silly as this sounds. the only sure thing in my life is a cold shower every morning!
(Budapest, Hungary)
10/07/2011
Let's be serious!
Hydrotherapy wasn't invented by the East, and not all people use all the day heavy synthetic drugs in the West. Moreover, in some situations you must use those heavy drugs to save your life. Even the "Easterners" know this, because they have adopted the "Western" medicine that has saved millions of life. Let's keep ourselves on the middle of the road.
(VA)
08/01/2023
But we are not talking about some situations that are life threatening. Just routine, daily activities that can avoid Tylenol, Advil and depressants etc. Are we going to compare post-heart surgery medicines or anethestics for surgery to Tylenol avoiding medicines and other over the counter medicines that can be easily avoided...not prescribed for cures but symptoms? Let's be serious again!
Anxiety
★★★★★
I've discovered a lot of useful information on this website, but what really caught my eye is the cold shower therapy. I've never taken a cold shower in my life so I tried it today. Honestly, I've never felt so great. I don't know what it did to me, but I got a terrible fit of the giggles that lasted half an hour. I feel a lot better, and motivated, which is rare for me especially in the morning. I'll keep it up and see what else happens, but I definitely recommend trying it, for whatever reason. And Thank You for this great website!
(Moscow, Russia)
02/21/2009
★★★★★
Dear Earth Clinic,
Thank you for this excellent forum on cold water therapy. I had an anxiety which seemed to 'come from nowhere'. Cold baths work on this much better than cold showers. Also swimming in the sea or lakes. There is a tradition of doing this in Russia and also northern China: but in modern times people think it is madness. In this time of credit crunch (2009) this is a practice which everyone can afford.
I have a question to people on this forum: what about time? I do it for 1-4 minutes, 2 times a day, before and after sleeping, every day, as my uncle showed me, like the brushing of the teeth. (The washing with warm water and soap I do before or after this: it seems not to matter which.) It seems that a longer time is not beneficial at all. So I am interested to know other people's ideas about timing.
Another question: I work sometimes in Arabia where it is very hot in the Summer times. There is no problem to make a bath of water, but it is not very cold. So do people know of any device/machine which can be put in a bath to make the water cold? Putting ice from the fridge is OK but this method needs a lot of ice.
Kind regards,
Igor.
(Lake Jackson, TX)
06/01/2009
★★★★★
I live in texas and in the summer months there is often no cold water in the taps. I am sure several people have this problem. May i suggest buying one of those basic camping showers that come with a hose and hanging bag. You can put the bag in the fridge every night before bed and have an ice cold shower for the morning. Most of them have some sort of hook so you can hang it right on your shower head.
(Melbourne, Austrailia)
10/06/2009
If you need to keep water cool, you could use an aquarium cooler in the bath. Its used to keep water temperature low for cold water fish.
(Loon Lake, Washington, Usa)
09/20/2010
Dear Igor from Russia, I have done hot and cold showers for many years. I have found that 3 minutes hot to 1 minute cold is just about right. Do this at least 3 times and each time increase the hot and then increase the cold. You will be surprised how much hotter and how much colder you can go. I aways end with cold and go at least 3 to 4 minutes longer on the last cold. You will feel amazing! When you are sore from working out or working hard, do the hot and cold, most of the time you will have no soreness when you are through. The hot opens the vessels and lets the blood flow freely and then the cold constricts the vessels and pushes all the old blood and toxins out, replacing it with fresh oxygenated blood, so you want to do this a few times to get all the pain causing toxins out. When ever you take a cold shower you want to do a few times of hot and cold to get the most benefit out of it. I hope this is helpful.
Anxiety
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Anxiety
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Anxiety
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Anxiety, Depression
★★★★★
Only about 2-3 days ago I came home from a jog and checked my Facebook and happened to notice a page "cold showers after a workout" and decided to try it out as I was pretty sweaty and hot from running (I live in Texas it starts to get warm/hot this time of year). I had my first cold shower probably about 3 days ago. I felt very refreshed and energized and almost anew after my first cold shower.
Now after only 2 days of practicing cold showers I have to say, it's definitely got some sort of therapeutic value in it for me. My thoughts seem clearer and a bit more focused but most of all I noticed the energy and motivation gain. I didn't have to make myself want to jog anymore, the jog was no longer an endurance. It was fun and I kept pushing harder and felt like it wasn't a chore but a pleasure. Everything seems the same way, it's no longer something I just have to do I enjoy doing more things. I guess to sum it up it's helped with my depression which I have also been suffering from since my recurring anxiety.
The most amazing moment during a cold shower is when you flip from hot to freezing water and nothing is there but the shock and the feeling of the freezing water rushing around your body. It's almost like a spiritual release of stress because your mind goes into a shock and all you can think of is how uncomfortable the water is, and on top of that it's healthy! My acne seems to be smaller, still breaking out but it's not huge bumps anymore more like dots which is amazing because severe acne runs in my family. It's been 3 days since I started and it's almost like hot water is uncomfortable and cold water is where the relaxation is at. It's just amazing. I highly reccomend this to anyone, don't be scared I encourage you to flip that shower handle from hot to no heat whatsoever. You'll know when there is no heat in the water when the lever or whatever u use to adjust your water temperature gets to a certain point and you can hear the pipes make a lighter noise.
To get the best mental results ( ie not skin health or hair loss but the mental clearness and motivational feeling) I would recommend no Luke warm. Endure the cold and it will gift you with a fortitude of mental strength and clearness. It's like a high when you first flip it to cold, don't focus on how cold the water is just try to think of something else while that waters rushing around you and you'll realize your completely stress free! Ok ive written too much! I hope you all can find the same experience with this as me. Good luck and glad I found this site many other remedies I intend on trying.
(Reston, Va)
05/14/2012
I used to be on a cold shower kick and loved but but got out of the habit going to try it again thanks for posting!!
Beautiful Skin
★★★★★
Beautiful Skin
★★★★★
