How Does a Cold Shower Boost Concentration?

written by Adriana

posted on Oct 8, 2022

Have you ever been forced to step into a cold water or got a surprise in the shower because somebody forgot to change the temperature?

You are not alone.

In fact, it happened to me as well too many times. Then, I realised there is nothing bad to avoid – it actually helped me to focus when I had to prepare for an important test at uni.

In this blog post, I will share how a cold shower may help you to boost concentration and when to use it.

Does cold water help focus?

A cold shower can help to focus by increasing levels of alertness and activating the autonomic nervous system by switching the “fight or flight” response. Either a cold shower or cold water immersion can lead to an increase in the release of neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, adrenaline and endorphins.

The most significant is dopamine, which works as an “attention currency”.

A cold shower is a powerful way to increase dopamine levels by 250% as well as impact your decisions. The neurobiology behind cold shower and focus is based on the fact, that as blood pressure increases, cells receive more oxygen than they did before. Therefore, brain structures have enhanced oxygen transport.

With the spike of dopamine, you jump into action and are more likely to seek your goals, have energy and tackle challenges.

In the book “Dopamine Nation”, Dr Lembke introduces the role of dopamine in addiction, action novelty seeking and how drug users recovered by introducing cold showers into their morning routine.

After reading that book, you may get a better understanding of why your behaviour changes due to dopamine spikes and how to guide it according to your goals. Since a cold shower is a non-pharmacological and accessible tool, you can use it to increase your focus and gain mental clarity.

Similarly to Wim Hof’s method, which includes cold immersion and breathing techniques, a cold shower has been shown to lead to tremendous health benefits.

I started with the cold showers 4 years ago and found them incredibly useful. After a cold shower, I had increased creativity, concentration and energy.

For example, during the pandemic, when I had 8 hours of online lectures and zero ability to concentrate on the powerpoint slides on the screen, a cold shower before the lecture worked as a miracle tool!

Although I wasn’t taking cold showers every day, I noticed that I felt so different after a cold shower – I was engaged in the lecture, and actively participated in the discussion.

Moreover, I wasn’t aware of the time, as my concentration was entirely on the task I was completing. The time didn’t exist for me, because I was enjoying the moment without worrying about the future.

Cold shower as a trigger for action

Cold shower works as a primer for action since it activates the sympathetic nervous system – a “fight or flight” response (your body is ready to act). Your brain fog is challenged by the activation of your nervous system, which is now ready to start a day and “eat the frog”(start with the most difficult task).

That’s why I decided to continue with this experiment and keep the cold shower on my behavioural protocol list.

It has been shown that cold showers may help to reduce anxiety and depression, improve mood and increase mental clarity. A study by Dr. Wendy Suzuki showed consistent results, indicating that deliberate cold exposure improves learning.

Similar to a workout session, which leads to endorphin release and a dose of energy, the cold shower may help you to focus better due to increased oxygen levels.

Also, cold shower accelerates the production of endorphins, which are linked with a sense of well-being, and reduced pain via opioid receptors.

Higher levels of noradrenaline lead to the mobilization of the body and nervous system. What’s more, noradrenaline is one of the targets of antidepressant drugs.

Since drugs are aimed to elevate noradrenalin in the brain, you may experience the antidepressant effect of a cold shower. Thus, after a cold shower or swimming in cold water, you may feel energised.

During the cold shower, your cognitive abilities are reduced as you experience severe stress. Thus, the rational part of the brain is not able to function properly.

To develop the ability to think under the stress in a long run, you may use the cold showers as a tool to train yourself by expanding your ability to stay calm under stressful conditions.

Personally, I tried to do complex calculations or think about the benefits, mentally staying as long as I can under the cold shower.

Now I’m in the second month of doing it daily and without doubts, I can declare that this experience became less stressful and my reaction to daily triggers is more rational.

Still, a cold shower is a part of my morning routine.

Is it better to take a cold shower before or after learning?

Generally, taking a cold shower is better before learning, as it increases alertness and reduces fatigue, allowing you to go throughout the day with a sharp focus. However, if you aim to retain new information you are learning, an acute release of adrenaline after the study session will help you to remember information better.

In medieval times, communities threw young children in the river when they wanted them to remember important events. They believed that throwing a child in the water after witnessing historic proceedings would leave a lifelong memory for the events in the child.

(McGaugh, 2003)

These lines suggest that back in medieval times people were aware of the benefits of cold showers. However, more research was done to test the effect of cold showers on memory.

In one study, participants were asked to read a boring paragraph of text. Afterwards, they immersed their hand in cold water, which triggered adrenaline release in the brain and their bodies.

Results showed that the information they read previously was retained as well as an emotionally intense piece of information they have learned before.

Although the information they read was boring, the release of adrenaline due to cold exposure after, changed their breathing rate, increased vasoconstriction and triggered the brain (locus coeruleus – brain structure at the back) to “sprinkle” adrenaline throughout the body. This gave a sense of alertness.

That’s because of the exposure to stressors, leading to a change in the neurochemical state of your brain.

After the exercise or cognitive work you may feel tired, exhausted and lack mental energy for any task you wanted to proceed with. You may speed up your recovery by increasing blood circulation in a few minutes by taking a cold shower.

Not only your physical body will regenerate faster, but your processing speed as well as memory will improve.

A heightened emotional state is key to learning.

Dr A. Huberman Tweet

A cold shower will activate your sympathetic nervous system and send the signal to your adrenal glands and locus coeruleus in the brain to release cortisol and adrenaline respectively.

Since most of the adrenaline is converted to dopamine, you get a dopamine spike. This rapid acute change in the dopamine “delta” (difference) levels allows you to remember the cognitive information or physical movements you learned better.

Do you take a cold shower before studying?

Although taking a cold shower either before or after studying is beneficial for your learning, I found that it works best for me to take a cold shower after a few hours of studying session to regain my focus.

While working as a tutor, I suggested to my student to take cold showers after every lesson. I explained to him the benefits and the reason behind my suggestion. Soon, he noticed that this practice helped him to grasp the basics of a new language in two months.

Personally, after a couple of hours of the study sessions, I noticed I was no longer able to focus. I wanted a break and started looking for a reward – either social media, talking to a friend or distracting myself with the surrounding.

To keep my mind focused again and come back to study I used short bursts of a cold shower as a method to regain focus and be able to study again.

Should I take a cold shower before the exam?

If you have been implementing the practice of a cold shower into your day, you may take it before the exam. It will help you to process information faster and concentrate better.

However, if you are a novice to cold exposure and haven’t experienced the effects of cold showers such as adrenaline, cortisol and dopamine release paired with increased heart rate and breath rate, this particular occasion maybe not be right to experiment.

Since an exam is already a stress-inducing event, increased levels of cortisol and alertness may put you off track and prevent you from concentrating on the question, as you will be directed attention to your heightened heart rate and shivering.

Final word

This sudden exposure to cold is not harmful to health, what’s more – may be beneficial for your cognitive abilities. Whether you are looking for a strategy to retain better what you learned or want to improve concentration, a cold shower is an answer.

When you find yourself in the thermal shock, your heart rate increases, your eyes open wide and your blood pressure rises. By elevating adrenaline cold shower is a safe tool to boost concentration before learning, exam or deep-focus work.

What do you do when you want to improve concentration? Do you take a cold shower or drink coffee? Let us know in the comments section below.

Thank you for reading this blog post and we hope you found it useful!

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Better awareness, better results

A&A

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