I listen to many podcasts, and the surprising commonality that many of them have is that they take cold baths or showers in the morning.

I knew that simply taking a cold shower wouldn’t lead me to success, but I wanted to try it out and see why cold showers have attracted the attention of all these business gurus. So, for the past 30 days, I’ve been taking ice-cold showers in the morning, and here’s what happened.

BETTER HAIR

I usually had to wash my hair once per day because, during the summer months, my fine, thin hair would be plastered to my scalp by the second day from the excess oil. During the winter, my scalp would be so dry that it felt like my skin was producing extra oil to protect my hair. Either way, it meant I had to wash my hair frequently.

This was probably the most dramatic change I saw when I started taking cold showers. I started taking cold showers at the beginning of October, so the weather was already turning quite dry and cold. Usually, I would feel my scalp drying out and flaking by the middle of the day. With the cold showers, I could wash my hair every two days instead, and I didn’t even have to use dry shampoo in between! It seems that washing my hair with cold water didn’t aggravate my scalp like hot water, so my scalp wasn’t dry and flaky.

HEALTHIER SKIN

Winters in Canada are super dry, and my skin would be dry and itchy throughout the day when I took hot showers. Sure, hot showers were very soothing and comfortable, but they dried out my skin so badly! Cold showers also improved my dry skin during the winter months.

WEIGHT LOSS

While I also changed my diet as I was adopting my new cold shower routine, I noticed that I was losing weight throughout the month. I’m not the type that would drive myself nuts by stepping on a scale everyday, but how I noticed the weight loss was through how my pants just felt much looser a few weeks into my new routine. I would credit this to a combination of my new diet (I was eating fewer carbs and eating a big breakfast instead of a big lunch, which could have helped increase my focus by skipping out on a carb coma).

MORE FOCUSED THROUGHOUT THE DAY

Nothing like a cold shower to wake you up! I dreaded stepping under the icy cold stream of water during the early days, but after the first two weeks, it was comforting to feel the cold water on my skin. It’s interesting how my body has adapted to this new habit.

Taking icy showers before work has helped sharpen my focus during the workday. In fact, my staff have asked me what I did to improve my focus and attention and supercharged my productivity. They say that cold showers are also supposed to lower stress levels; I guess I am getting more done because I’m also stressing out less about the small things, but this may be just 20/20 hindsight.

WHAT I DIDN’T SEE…

Other things online websites claim cold showers are supposed to do for you, such as reducing muscle soreness and improving circulation, but I didn’t experience these benefits. I have chronic pain in my neck and shoulders from long hours sitting at my work desk and working on my phone, and cold showers didn’t do much for these pain points after a month. I did feel that the surface of my skin was quite tight after the cold showers, so this may be what they mean by cold water constricting your blood vessels near the skin’s surface.

Will I continue taking cold showers? With the skin, weight maintenance, and productivity benefits I've seen, I will continue to take cold showers in the morning. If you’re looking to add cold showers to your daily routine, know that you’ll likely want to stick to it for a few weeks to see results. As with all types of health routines, results will vary and make sure to consult a physician if you’re unsure of whether cold showers are right for you.