Swiss study finds cold showers are good for your health

A word of warning to those who prefer warm showers: cold showers are good for your health Keystone-SDA

People who take cold showers are less likely to be absent from work. This is the conclusion reached by a study carried out by the University of Basel. According to the study, a daily cold shower reduces the number of days missed from work due to illness by more than 30%.

Over a period of twelve weeks, more than 700 study participants aged between 18 and 65 were asked to take as cold a shower as their shower facilities would allow, as the University of Basel announced on Thursday. To take part, participants had to be in good health and not have previously taken cold showers on a regular basis.

Compared with a control group who continued to shower as usual, the cold-showerers felt unwell on 26% fewer days on average. They were absent from work 31% less often than those who took warm showers.

Habituation effect proven

The experiment was part of a PhD thesis in which psychologist Lena Glaser at the University of Basel investigated how people can be motivated to adopt more environmentally friendly behaviour. She explored the question of whether people are more willing to change their behaviour if it can be easily integrated into their daily lives and brings them personal benefits.

She chose cold showers as an example. While these may be unpleasant at first, they can be integrated into daily life without much effort, explained Glaser. They also save energy and money.

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A particularly large number of participants dropped out of the experiment in the first two weeks. After that, the number of dropouts fell. “So there does seem to be a habituation effect,” Glaser was quoted as saying in the press release.

Over the course of the study, the remaining participants reported an increasing sense of physical and mental well-being. They cited feeling more alert and refreshed after showering as an immediate reward. The pride they felt at having overcome their reluctance also motivated them.

It is not known whether the participants continued to take cold showers after the twelve weeks were over.

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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist. 

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