March 21, 2022 5 min read
Having a good night’s sleep is essential for our health, mood, and productivity. Nighttime is the time we take for ourselves to rest, regenerate, and recharge our batteries. It’s supposed to heal us in every aspect and give us the energy we need for the next day. But, what if sleeping tight isn’t always such an easy task? We know how hard it can be to fall asleep quickly, sleep without interruptions, and wake up well-rested. This is why we suggest taking matters into our own hands. If we create a healthy pre-bed routine, we’ll help ourselves fall asleep faster and tighter.
Cold showers before bed are a practice so many people adopted as a regular part of their pre-sleeping routine. The question is- is this good or bad for sleep? Here at Moona, we want to make sure nothing stands in your way when it comes to solid sleep and comfortable nights. That’s why we’ve decided to answer this question:
The article below examines how a cold shower before bed influences your sleep and helps you determine whether you should do it or not. We’ll break down everything you need to know about cold shower sleep to adopt completely reject this habit. Let’s take a closer look.
We’ll begin with explaining some of the main benefits our mind and body experience when taking a cold shower just before bed, especially if you’re a hot sleeper. This is key to understanding how a cold shower improves our sleep and influences our systems positively.
So, here are the main benefits of taking a cold shower before bed.
Did you ever lay down in your bed and try to fall asleep but instead spent an hour trying to calm your mind down and shut down the hundreds of thoughts? We’ve all been there. Luckily, a cold shower before bed can help you settle down and even feel better about yourself.
How?
Simply, the cold impulses stimulate the parts of our brain that release endorphin, also known as the happiness hormone. We become more alert, start to see things clearly, and start feeling better.
This way, we can reach an emotional balance right before we go to bed which can be crucial for falling asleep quickly and without much trouble. Many people find this strategy to work every time.
When we have been particularly active during the day or we exercise regularly, we might experience sore muscles in the evening. This can cause discomfort and prevent us from sleeping well.
Cold showers before bed can reduce muscle soreness and eliminate the pain or discomfort we’re going through.
If you have a skin condition that irritates you and causes itchiness, that could also prevent you from sleeping well. A cold shower is great for calming the skin and removing the persistent itchiness.
This is because, unlike hot showers, cold showers soothe your skin, leaving it without irritations. It’s way less invasive and leaves you without the urge to scratch.
Finally, a cold shower before bed can help a hot sleeper regulate their body temperature and feel less hot during the night. If you take a cold or even lukewarm shower right before going to bed, you’re likely to reduce the feeling of hotness during nighttime.
This is because a cold shower will lower and regulate your body temperature, making it easier for you to adapt to room temperature. The best temperature for sleep will be achieved quickly and without much trouble. Also, you’ll find it easier to maintain this temperature during the rest of the night.
Even though the benefits of taking cold showers before bed are obvious, we still need to consider the other side. Some people may experience the negative effects of a cold shower, and here are the most common ones.
When we’re about to go to bed, we want to calm down, lay in our bed, and fall asleep. But, a cold shower might overstimulate our minds. That means that instead of feeling drowsy we end up feeling fully awake and alert.
For instance, you’re a student who’s been up late trying to get a paper written in time. You finally finish, exhausted, and decide to take a cold shower. Once you’re in bed, you realize your eyes are wide open and you’re completely alert.
Overstimulation is not something we want to experience late at night. So, those of us who experience it after a cold shower should give up this practice completely.
For some of us, a lowered body temperature can be quite unpleasant. This is especially the case if it takes us longer than what’s usual to heat our bodies and start feeling pleasant and warm again.
So, this can cause us to feel cold for the rest of the night, no matter what we wear to bed or how many blankets we use. This is why cold showers aren’t for everyone and we first need to make sure our bodies can take that shock and recover from it quickly.
Now that we understand the benefits and potential risks of taking a cold shower, it’s time to understand what this process implies and how to do it properly.
A cold shower is considered to begin the moment our water drops down to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, or below. Our typical steamy shower is somewhere around 100 degrees Fahrenheit, so it’s quite a difference.
The key to success is in gradual adaptation and patience. Here’s what the experts suggest we do.
With every new attempt, we make the water a bit colder and stand under the water for thirty seconds longer. Ideally, we’ll be able to stand under a truly cold shower for 2-3 minutes to say we did it successfully.
Another important thing to remember is that the discomfort is only in our minds, not in our bodies. When we’re able to wrap our minds around that idea, we’ll be able to fully enjoy the benefits of a cold shower before bed.
Sleeping tight and having enough hours of proper sleep behind us is a precondition to being mentally and physically healthy. This is why a cold shower before bed is a great way to enhance our nighttime and sleep much better than before. Naturally, we need to try it first and see if it’s something our bodies would thank us for. If so, we can begin practicing it every night.
The guide we’ve shared above will hopefully help everyone understand the benefits of cold shower sleep and encourage people to start doing it every night.