Contrast Showers - The Pleasant Switch Between Warm and Cold

You can see it with children at the outdoor pool: they shower with cold water and then jump into the warmer water. For thousands of years, people have been jumping from warm springs into cold rivers. Contrast showers imitate this conveniently in your own home. This way, you can easily and quickly perform a simplified form of Kneipp hydrotherapy at home.

 

“Do you shower warm or cold?” “Both.” This is the principle behind contrast showers. This practice is often attributed to Pastor Sebastian Kneipp, who expanded hydrotherapy with the Kneipp methods in the 19th century. He recognized that water can bring numerous health benefits. Water therapy was already established in the 18th century by figures such as Théophile de Bordeu and the German doctor Siegmund Hahn.

Contrast showers work according to the following principle:

1. Warm start: You can start your shower normally with warm water.
2. Now cold water: After enjoying the warm water for some time, reduce the water temperature. It should be noticeably cool to cold. If you use a rain shower, you should now switch to the showerhead instead.
3. Legs and feet first: Direct the stream first onto your right foot and slowly move up the outside of the leg to the hip before cooling the inside of the thigh. This puts the least strain on the heart. Once the right leg is done, repeat the process on the left leg.
4. Now the arms: After the contrast shower for the legs, start cooling the back of the right hand and work your way up to the shoulder. Then treat the inside of the right arm, starting from the armpit. Repeat the process on the left arm.
5. Repeat! Treat yourself to warm water again until you feel ready for the cold shower. You should not treat the torso with cold water to avoid overloading the heart. By cooling the extremities, the blood cools, which transports the cold through the body and torso.
6. Then wrap up warm! To avoid hypothermia, the last shower phase should also be with warm water. After the shower, you should wrap yourself warmly.

 

Attention: (Older) people with heart problems should possibly avoid contrast showers. Be sure to consult your doctor! Contrast showers put strain on the cardiovascular system, which can cause problems for some people.

Otherwise, the rule is that the warm water should be as warm as possible and the cold water as cold as possible. However, it is important to start slowly and increase gradually. Many start with ice-cold water and lose all interest after the first contrast shower. It is absolutely sufficient at first to use cool water and keep the temperature fluctuations during contrast showers relatively small. Over time, tolerance increases.

It is also important to stay calm and breathe steadily during the cold shower. This is the true art of contrast showers. People experience a so-called cold shock, which triggers an increased pulse and faster breathing. You should try not to let this cold shock develop by breathing deeply and evenly. Calm breathing is therefore more important than the water temperature. You will notice that over time you remain calm even at colder water temperatures.

 

We must clearly say that there is no exact scientific evidence for health benefits of contrast showers. Therefore, for example, they are not part of conventional medicine.

However, it is known that blood vessels constrict at cool temperatures and expand at high temperatures to regulate body temperature. Regular sauna visits also show that the thermoregulation of the organism can improve. To what extent this also applies to contrast showers is unclear.

Reference is also made to a small study with 20 older patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It was found that a certain hardening effect occurs because increased lymphocytes (part of the white blood cells) were found in the blood. [1]

Smaller sports medicine studies have also provided indications of positive effects of contrast showers on recovery after sports sessions. This includes possibly better regeneration after running [2], cycling [3] and soccer [4].

Other benefits often mentioned online are not medically proven and therefore belong to alternative medicine. This includes, for example, the invigorating effect of contrast showers, where the temperature is said to improve alertness. This is not proven in any study, but personal reports can be found.

That the skin tightens is also such a myth. Perhaps studies will provide clarity in the future.

 

Many attribute benefits to cold showers. However, the importance of cold showers is often overestimated. For example, we advise against cold showers when you have a cold. When you have a cold, your body is already compromised and should invest all energy in fighting the illness. You should shower at a comfortable temperature when you have a cold.

Whether cold showers bring benefits to the immune system is much debated. We rather recommend contrast showers, as they are more pleasant.

Benefits of cold showers for the psyche are conceivable but need further research.

We recommend contrast showers because they combine the benefits of cold and warm showers. Also, it can be hard to shower cold every day; contrast showers are more pleasant.

If the cold is already underway, it is too late to help with cold showers. We recommend showering warm when you have a cold so that you feel comfortable. Showering too hot with a cold also makes no sense, as it puts strain on your body again.

Warm showers have benefits, cold showers too. Cold showers can increase blood pressure, promote circulation, and possibly have positive effects on the psyche. Warm showers also promote circulation and can provide well-being. Therefore, the middle ground with contrast showers is recommended.

You should not torture yourself. We recommend setting a cold water temperature during contrast showers that you can tolerate. Over time, you will notice that you can and want to use colder water. As mentioned, you should pay more attention to steady and even breathing in cold water than to the lowest possible water temperature.

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17596696/ [2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22173197/ 
[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20809231/  [4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22212263/