You've been showering wrong - small change can make you look young again

12 November 2023 , 13:10

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You should take a cold shower for at least 11 minutes during a week (Stock Image) (Image: Getty Images/Image Source)

Let's face it, no one likes taking a freezing bath or cold shower especially when the temperatures drop during the winter, but experts have shared that regularly rinsing with cold water could actually improve your health overall.

The pull of a warm shower or bath may be tough to resist as the mercury plummets, but according to one doctor, keeping it cool can also help you look more youthful.

Dr Poonam Desai suggests that just 11 minutes a week of exposure to cold water can boost collagen, which will in turn reduce wrinkles, keep stress levels lower, decrease inflammation, and can even improve sleep.

The American doctor, who shared a clip on her Instagram page said: "Did you know that exposing yourself to cold for a brief amount of time has many, many health benefits?

"What I mean by exposing yourself to cold is taking a cold shower or cold bath, taking a plunge into an ice bath and you want to make sure that you do that for a brief amount of time."

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She recommended trying it for 11 minutes per week, saying that it should be divided up into three sessions of two to three minutes, so it's not too harsh on the body.

The doctor also revealed that the method has another potential benefit - it can help prevent facial aging. She added: "What that means is it helps reduce wrinkles and increase the elasticity of our skin. It also helps reduce stress, decrease inflammation and it may even improve our sleep."

She finished the video by saying: "If you haven't tried cold exposure, definitely add that into your routine, it has many benefits for our overall health", but Desai urged people to consult with their doctor before trying out a new routine, especially if they're pregnant.

Renowned TV doctor Michael Mosley revealed that having cooler showers can help lower stress, improve cardiovascular health, and strengthen your immune system. "There really is something to it", he said on the Just One Thing podcast.

There's mounting evidence of the benefits of cold water, for example, cold water swimmers seem to have fewer upper respiratory tract infections, which scientists believe is due to the cold water rather than the swimming.

He explained that scientists are in the very early stages of discovering the health benefits of cold water on the immune system, but one study found that having 30-second cold showers every morning for 60 days could decrease the number of sick days by 30 percent.

Ayaan Ali