8 Powerful Benefits of Cold Showers With Nofap

NoFap is a life-changing practice on its own.

But you’d be missing out on many benefits if you didn’t combine it with other healthy habits.

One of those habits is cold showers.

Cold showers can improve your overall health and appearance. It also paves the road for a smoother NoFap experience (more on this later).

All it requires is a tweak of the faucet when you’re showering.

We get it, it’s easy to sit here and say this when we’re not the ones under frigid water. Turning the knob all the way cold comes with an initial shock that’s downright unpleasant.

Your body and mind will take some time to adjust to your new shower temperature. But just think of the benefits!

Today, we’ll outline some of those benefits.

Cold showers are an excellent complement to NoFap. They help you uphold your streak, and provide additional benefits.

We’ll advise you on how to make the transition from warm to cold water.

We’re confident that if you give cold showers an honest try — you won’t want to go back!

The Benefits of Cold Showers

As promised, here are some NoFap-relevant benefits of cold showers.

Note that these aren’t all the benefits. We hand-picked these after careful consideration because they proved to be particularly helpful on our NoFap journeys.

1. It Boosts Testosterone

One of the best benefits of cold showers, for men, is that they will cause a surge in testosterone levels.

Testosterone is a reproductive hormone that plays a vital role in the body.

In men, it’s thought to control sex drive (libido), bone mass, fat concentration, and energy, and the creation of red blood cells and sperm.

Moreover, it’s responsible for primary male characteristics such as a deep voice, facial hair, and muscle mass. Basically all the things ladies love in a man.

Of course, this isn’t some “wee woo bro science.”

The positive effect of cold showers on testosterone levels has been documented for many years.

This study for example highlights the effects of cold stimulation on serum testosterone levels in men.

It’s been proven that heat is harmful for your testicles (and testosterone as a result).

Do what you can to keep things cool down there. Wear looser underwear, keep your room temperature cooler, and of course take cold showers.

2. It’s Incredible for Your Skin

Better skin is a benefit shared by NoFap. And cold showers boost this benefit.

Hot water can remove protective oils from your skin.

In contrast, cold water soothes irritated, dry skin. However, once the oils are removed switching to cold water won’t bring them back.

Cold water also leads to more youthful skin. It activates muscles in your pores to tighten your skin. Cold temperatures reduce swelling by restricting blood vessels. That’s why experts recommend using ice under your eyes to get rid of dark circles.

It also keeps your hair and scalp healthy. Cold water helps retain moisture in the scalp. And it seals hair cuticles too. This means moisture is locked in and your hair becomes stronger.

3. It Strengthens Your Immune System

Scientists have found that people who routinely subject themselves to cold showers have more white blood cells than those who take hot showers.

This is because cold showers stimulate your immune system by speeding up your metabolism, therefore creating more white blood cells.

White blood cells are important because they’re responsible for combating disease and illness.

Take a look at this study by Geert A. Buize and his colleagues. 3,000 volunteers from the Netherlands had a morning shower with a 30, 60, and 90-second blast of cold water. They asked the control group to shower as they regularly did for 30 consecutive days.

The results?

On average, the groups that doused themselves with freezing water were absent from work for 29% fewer days than people in the control group.

4. Increased Blood Circulation

Cold water decreases your core temperature.

This triggers your body to increase blood flow to bring your temperature back up.

Why is this important?

For starters, it reduces the recovery time your muscles need after exercise. Your circulatory system becomes more efficient at moving blood around your body.

Moreover, wounds heal faster, your organs function optimally, and it keeps your mind sharp.

Better blood flow is also attributed to a healthy heart and a radiant complexion.

As we all know, improved blood flow leads to stronger and longer erections.

Keep in mind this won’t be a fix for porn-induced erectile dysfunction since the primary reason for your ED is porn. Kick porn to the curb to heal your ED. If you still have ED after being clean for a long time, your ED may be a combination of porn and external factors. Cold showers are a supplement to your healing — not an overarching solution.

5. Weight Loss

It’s a well-known phenomenon that cold exposure helps weight loss.

But does the same apply to cold showers? It’s technically still cold exposure, albeit a different kind.

The human body contains two kinds of fat tissue, white fat, and brown fat.

White fat is stored when we consume more calories than our body needs to function, and we don’t burn those calories for energy.

Some fat cells, such as brown fat, can cause heat by burning fat. They do this when your body is presented cold conditions such as a cold shower.

Gerrit Keferstein, MD, says these cells are mostly located around the neck and shoulder area.

A study in Cell Metabolism showed that shivering triggered hormonal changes which caused brown fat to be produced. This isn’t to say shivering will make you fatter. As discussed, brown fat is helpful for weight loss since it burns calories to produce heat.

Cold exposure also boosts metabolism. A higher metabolism generally means you burn more calories. This can knock off a few more calories. But it shouldn’t been seen as a strategy for weight loss.

Take a look at this study from the British Journal of Sports Medicine. It showed that less than five minutes of immersion in cold water boosted metabolism.

NoFap helps weight loss in many ways. Read this to learn more.

Cold showers could help you take this further by giving you more mental fortitude to resist cravings.

6. It Makes Nofap Easier

Mastering the art of cold showers will train you to stay in discomfort.

The brain pathways involved in sitting with an urge are similar.

Think of it like a muscle. The more your train it, the stronger it gets. And this makes you better at avoiding relapses.

Urges will come no matter what day you’re on. So why not put yourself in the best position to handle them?

Generally, when a guy relapses — he’s escaping a negative emotion. He uses a high-dopamine activity to mask his pain. “Pain” in this case could be boredom, a headache, or trauma to list a few. This “pain” aspect is recreated by a cold shower. By sticking with it, you’re teaching your brain to be steadfast — and even enjoy the pain eventually.

A higher pain threshold is also linked to higher levels of testosterone in men. Pretty cool right?

7. Greater Self-Control

You’ll likely get used to the pain of cold showers after weeks.

Until that happens, you’re training yourself to find peace in discomfort. And this newfound self-control facilitates recovery from porn addiction. Here’s how.

More self control makes for less relapses. And less relapses mean a quicker recovery.

Aside from this, self control has a ripple effect on other areas of your life.

Take weight loss for instance. A huge part of weight loss is maintaining a caloric deficit. The odd snack or unhealthy dessert is tempting. Greater self-control helps you say no to binge eating that undoes your progress. It helps you say no to late nights out with your friends and other toxic habits.

This in turn creates an upward spiral of healthy habits — which you guessed it, further promotes recovery from porn.

A huge component of recovery is to be able to sit with unpleasant emotions. Addiction involves soothing these feelings using a drug of choice such as pornography.

8. A Boost to NoFap’s Benefits

Cold showers are known to release chemicals that elevate your mood and treat anxiety and depression.

These benefits are similar to ones from NoFap. The reduced social anxiety one feels when on NoFap is an example.

The feeling of calmness will naturally aid someone that wants to overcome their fear of socialization.

A study from 2008 showed that cold showers could be a potential treatment for depression.

The mental benefits of cold showers such as greater self-control are also another example.

These kinds of benefits overlap, and overtime strengthen one another. Combining cold showers with NoFap is a great way to take advantage of stronger benefits. 

Are Cold Showers Right for Me?

Before you jump headfirst into a cold shower, let’s go over some precautions.

Cold showers may not be for everyone. If you have these conditions, avoid cold showers:

• If you have an existing heart condition.
• If you get overheated from exercise.
• If you’re feverish from an illness.
• If your immune system is compromised.
• If you’re exhausted or stressed.

These are a few situations where cold showers should be avoided. However, it’s only intended to give you an idea of why to avoid cold showers.

For tailored advice, talk to your doctor. This article is intended for informational purposes only and shouldn’t replace professional medical advice.

How to Get Started With Cold Showers

Switching from warm to cold water sounds simple in theory.

But there’s an adjustment period before you become accustomed to this habit.

Also, how cold should the shower be? And should you gradually make it colder or go full blast?

It’s advised to keep the water under 60 degrees. In most home showers, it’s safe to make the water as cold as possible.

Start the shower with a comfortable temperature and slowly make it colder. Some people recommend turning the knob all the way cold when you’re ready to transition. This will give you the greatest physiological reaction to cold water, and it lasts about 30 seconds.

As far as duration goes, start small and work your way up. Start with 30 seconds at a time and over the days and weeks go up to one minute, three minutes, and so on.

It’s advised to experiment with water pressure as well. Generally, you want to start with low pressure and increase it slowly every week.

Another method is to alternate between hot and cold water. Some athletic trainers advise using hot water for three minutes and switching to a cold shower for one minute. Be sure to repeat this at least three times and end with cold water.

There’s no hard evidence that shows how often someone should take a cold shower. Taking a cold shower everyday hasn’t been shown to have negative effects.

A Final Word From the Man Himself

Alright NoFappers, there you have it, cold showers with NoFap (in a nutshell).

Let’s recap.

Combining cold showers and NoFap can boost your existing benefits, and even give you new ones.

They’re unpleasant in the moment, but you’ll feel amazing afterwards.

Cold showers pair well with NoFap because in essence, you’re training your brain to delay gratification.

If you’ve been struggling with NoFap — cold showers are a handy tool to add to your arsenal.

And remember it doesn’t matter how many tricks you have up your sleeve.

What matters is how consistent you are with your habits. Even if they’re small.

If you’ve been in a rut for a while, consider adding cold showers to your daily routine.

You’ll be glad you did.

-Mr. Mind Blowing