SFH #71: Power of the Shower
Get to know a few reasons to reconsider your showering experience. 🚿
Those who know me well over the last five years know how much I love taking a bath. I even go to Bathhouse when I'm in NYC to enjoy my ritual to its fullest. It's not just pampering to me, I'm putting myself through a love fest with the hot and the cold. 😂 It’s the science behind thermoregulation that captures my attention, for example, the roles of vasoactive neurotransmitters.1 There are studies showing our ability to activate our thermodynamic systems enhances our metabolic functioning.2 Exciting stuff for me. 🔥
And there is even more compelling science in the breath-focused work that Wim Hof has built around cold exposure and regulation.3 If you don't know him, I suggest watching this. 👇🏽
He is a character, and the results are the real deal. See these studies.4
Today, the case for showers as a healthy tool. 🛠
As I’ve highlighted above, thermoregulation can be very beneficial when we tap into our body’s natural abilities. We highlighted a few examples above. Here's one more.5 I personally love to give myself at least a 20-30 second cold rinse over the head nearly every time I’m in the shower just for the autonomic nervous system recalibration it may provide.
The sensory experience of the shower is why we have 'aha' moments inside. We make connections with our right temporal lobe versus our frontal lobe that helps our ideas and associations intersect.6
Finally, we can be intentional or build a ritual around our showering experience. If you google intentional or ritual shower, you'll come up with a few recipes. Here's one. Overall, the mood and mindset change you can activate is what we aim for when focusing on this methodology.7
Showers even help Ferris realize the greatest version of himself. Enjoy your next rinse.😉
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/advan.00126.2014
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7805583/#:~:text=The%20two%20neurotransmitters%20vasoactive%20intestinal,3%20and%2020%20nM%20respectively.
https://www.pnas.org/content/111/20/7379
https://www.wimhofmethod.com/science
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2211456/
https://www.headspace.com/blog/2017/07/28/shower-epiphanies/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6011066/