When Is It Better to Take a Cold Shower - at Night or Morning?

written by Adriana

posted on Nov 14, 2022

Whether you are a morning or evening person, you may be wondering when is the best time to take a cold shower. Although there is a lot of information about the health benefits of cold showers, the time of the day is still a question under investigation.

In this article, I will explain how morning versus evening cold shower affects your biological clock, also known as circadian rhythm, and what I found out from my own experiment.

Is it okay to take a cold shower at night?

It’s best to avoid taking a cold shower for a couple of hours before going to bed since a cold shower increases levels of adrenaline that can make you feel alert and agitated, thus prevent you from relaxing. However, if you need to concentrate on work or study at night, taking a cold shower will help you to stay awake and boost your concentration.

Although it is counterintuitive, a cold shower heats your body up. Studies show that after cold exposure, your body starts generating heat – to counterbalance the low temperature due to the cold exposure. As your body’s temperature raises, you become more awake.

One study showed that cold water immersion increased body temperature at first, but then led to lowered core body temperature 4-5 hours later. Although the results showed that temperature decrease did not affect sleep quality, more research needs to confirm that.

At the moment when your core body temperature and cortisol decrease, you tend to get into a sleep state and fall asleep earlier. As a fact, every night your core body temperature drops by 1-2 degrees, whereases when you wake up it increases. It is a natural temperature regulation process, which can be influenced by a cold shower.

So, what if I take a cold shower at night?

Once I tried taking a cold shower in the evening as I noticed I was losing concentration, while I was halfway through my coursework. Around 8 pm I decided to take a cold shower to get a boost of adrenaline and improve my focus, although I wasn’t aware of the effects it will bring.

Indeed, my productivity increased and I gained mental clarity as suddenly brain fog disappeared, but it added a negative side effect – I was unable to fall asleep for 3 hours!

My eyes were wide open, my heart pumping like the heart of a professional runner on a marathon, who is pushing to the extremes!

On top of that, my thoughts were running an additional race with me, giving me dozens of ideas for new projects, and the solutions to the problems I wasn’t intending to solve in the middle of the night.

So, if you work or study at night, I would recommend a quick cold shower to help you move through it, but try to avoid a cold shower or cold water immersion for a couple of hours before going to sleep.

Since a cold shower has a similar effect as a shot of caffeine, perceive it as an energy boost you can apply earlier in your day to get the most benefits.

Since cold showers have long-lasting benefits by activating your sympathetic nervous system (“fight or flight response”), it is more likely that you will feel alert and agitated, which will prevent you from relaxing your body and mind.

Increased levels of adrenaline may keep you awake and you will have difficulty calming down your thoughts.

In the evening you want to shift your nervous system into a parasympathetic state (“relax and digest”), so taking a warm shower or hot bath will be more beneficial due to the soothing effect, easing sore muscles and informing the body that it is time to rest.

So, what time of the day is best for cold showers?

The best time for cold showers is in the morning right after waking up, since it helps with sleep inertia (a state of brain fog after waking up), increases heat generation, heart rate and breath rate, thus you feel more alert and have the energy to take daily responsibilities.

Studies show that after a cold shower you will have increased levels of adrenaline and dopamine, neurotransmitters released throughout your body, that improve your concentration.

Since most people in society start work in the morning and sleep at night, it is recommended to have a cold shower in the early hours to be able to apply the benefits of the cold shower throughout the day.

So, if you start a shift in the morning or go to your class at 8 am, a cold shower before will stimulate you to stay more alert and productive.

I took cold showers at different times of the day and here's what happened:

Morning: I took a cold shower at 6 am every day for a week and found that it improved my reaction, speed of movement and time it took me to make decisions.

I was super alert during the next 2-3 hours and confident in my actions. I approached each task without worries and overthinking, and didn’t require coffee or a power nap at lunchtime.

As I completed the most demanding task by 12 pm, I could focus on the less important tasks afterwards.

Afternoon: I felt sleepy and tired during the morning, while my concentration abilities required constant control as I was shifting my attention between tasks. Even the manager noticed I needed short breaks to get fresh air and sun to complete my to-do list.

I took a cold shower around 3 pm after work to reduce fatigue and prepare for a programming assignment.

In a few minutes, my brain was processing information faster than I expected, which led me to finish the project in 2 hours. I felt full of energy the whole evening.

Evening: a cold shower at 8-9 pm was the worst decision, which cost me a couple of hours of good night’s sleep. Although I had no coffee and was tired in the evening, the state of ‘fight or flight’ prevented me from falling asleep. I stayed awake half of the night doing research.

Although it wasn’t in my plans, my schedule and ‘ body clock’ had to re-adjust.

Conclusion: This experiment showed that I can use cold showers as a strategy to shift my mind and body into action mode. Whenever I need higher levels of adrenaline and dopamine, I take a cold shower.

However, due to my morning chronotype and work-study scheduled in the early hours, I take cold showers at 6 am.

As a result, I get the peak of dopamine in the morning, gradually reducing it throughout the day. However, if you have a good understanding of the mechanisms behind why and how the cold shower works, you may take it in the afternoons or evenings.

Are cold showers better in the morning?

A cold shower in the morning may be great if you are a morning person. Whether you start a morning shift or have a meeting at work, a cold shower first thing in the morning will signal to your body and mind that it’s time to prepare for the day’s challenges. In these graphs you can see what happens in your body, when you take a cold shower (see sympathetic division):

If you want to have these effects in the early hours or change your “biological clock”, you may consider taking a shower after waking up.

According to studies and recommendations by Dr Huberman, a cold shower in the morning will reduce your cortisol and elevate your core body temperature, which has a direct effect on your sleep quality and alertness. You can read more about morning protocol to optimize your day in my recent article here.

However, if you are not sure what is the best time to take a cold shower for you and want to find out, I would suggest keeping notes in your journal and reflecting on how you feel after. Here you can read how you can journal to see the effects.

Final Word

Overall, a cold shower is a useful tool which can impact your productivity, energy levels, cognitive abilities and ‘body clock’. Getting a better understanding of the physiological changes may help you to plan your day strategically, adapting the “cold shower routine” according to your needs.

Although it may be okay to take a cold shower in the evening if you are not planning to go to bed, for the early birds a cold shower in the morning may be a critical step.

What time of the day you take a shower? Have you noticed any changes when you take a cold shower in the morning vs evening? Let us know in the comments section below.

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A&A

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