On Cold Therapy

I've been taking cold showers every day this week (except one day, which I spent 2.5 hours of shoveling out my neighbor's car in 15 degree temps).

This morning I did not take a cold shower for personal reasons and I have been sweating my ass off at work all morning.

Here's what I'm thinking:

The point of cold therapy is to cool your body temperature so that your body has to produce heat (and therefore use energy, boosting your metabolism). I have been cooling my body temperature every morning for the last 5 days, except this morning. Since my body has become naturally very efficient at creating body heat, my hot shower this morning actually caused my temp to kick into overdrive.

I'm thinking that when you're warm because you're dressed in a thousand layers, you're actually allowing your metabolism to slow down. It's an interesting theory and I suggest, if you're struggling to stay warm this winter, to experiment with a little cold therapy. Don't give up when you get out of your first cold shower feeling cold (duh). It takes a day or two to kick in. I drive to work without a jacket. I clean off my car without a jacket. It was 10 degrees this morning when I started my car in a t-shirt. It felt like 30 to me. Granted, I wasn't out there long, but I think there's something to this. In fact, I know there is.

Try some cold therapy and get back to me.