Kylmät suihkut tehokkaampia kuin paras masennuslääke - molekyylibiologi selittää, miksi

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How Cold Showers Can Change Your Brain And Boost Your Mental Health

Melissa Atkinson

Freelance writer Read full profile

How Cold Showers Can Change Your Brain And Boost Your Mental Health

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Have you ever taken a cold swim? How does it make you feel? After you get over the initial shock of the cold, it’s usually very stimulating. This is because when you enter a cold temperature quickly, your blood moves from the surface of your body to the core, and this helps bathe your brain and organs in fresh blood while also cleaning out your system.

What if I told you that a cold shower can also offer relief from depression and anxiety without the side effects, complications, and costs of prescription medications?

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The Science Behind

Molecular biologist Nikolai Sheychuk found evidence of this in his 2007 study. His results showed that cold showers used regularly, might even be more effective than prescription antidepressants.

It Activates Your Nervous System

Sheychuk’s study found that when exposed too cold, the sympathetic nervous system is activated, and the blood level of beta-endorphin and noradrenaline is increased. Norepinephrine, an organic chemical that functions in the brain and body as a hormone that can help people feel happier, naturally is released in the brain as well. The cold water can also increase production of beta endorphins, or ‘feel good’ molecules that will give you a sense of wellbeing. Additionally, due to the high density of cold receptors in the skin, a cold shower is expected to send an overwhelming amount of electrical impulses from peripheral nerve endings to the brain, which could result in an anti-depressive effect.

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“The mechanism that can probably explain the immediate mood-lifting effect of immersion in cold water or cold shower is probably the stimulation of the dopaminergic transmission in the mesocorticolimbic and nigrostriatal pathway. “These dopaminergic pathways are known to be involved in the regulation of emotions. There is a lot of research linking these brain areas to depression,” Sheychuk said.

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It Reduces Your Anxiety

Patients suffering from generalized anxiety disorders were studied, comparing the use of hydrotherapy to the use of the medication Paxil. During the study, 237 patients with generalized anxiety disorder were assigned randomly to balneotherapy (using water baths for healing) and 120 to the medication Paxil, a leading SSRI medication. The patients given the balneotherapy treatment, had weekly medical visits and daily bath treatments using mineral waters for 21 days. The anxiety scores showed an improvement in both groups, however the group given the water therapy had the higher result compared to those given the Paxil. Remission and sustained response rates were also significantly higher in the hydrotherapy group, as well as no reported side effects.

Vierailija kirjoitti:

ADVERTISING

LIFESTYLE

HEALTH

How Cold Showers Can Change Your Brain And Boost Your Mental Health

Melissa Atkinson

Freelance writer Read full profile

How Cold Showers Can Change Your Brain And Boost Your Mental Health

Share

Pin it

Tweet

Share

Email

Have you ever taken a cold swim? How does it make you feel? After you get over the initial shock of the cold, it’s usually very stimulating. This is because when you enter a cold temperature quickly, your blood moves from the surface of your body to the core, and this helps bathe your brain and organs in fresh blood while also cleaning out your system.

What if I told you that a cold shower can also offer relief from depression and anxiety without the side effects, complications, and costs of prescription medications?

ADVERTISING

The Science Behind

Molecular biologist Nikolai Sheychuk found evidence of this in his 2007 study. His results showed that cold showers used regularly, might even be more effective than prescription antidepressants.

It Activates Your Nervous System

Sheychuk’s study found that when exposed too cold, the sympathetic nervous system is activated, and the blood level of beta-endorphin and noradrenaline is increased. Norepinephrine, an organic chemical that functions in the brain and body as a hormone that can help people feel happier, naturally is released in the brain as well. The cold water can also increase production of beta endorphins, or ‘feel good’ molecules that will give you a sense of wellbeing. Additionally, due to the high density of cold receptors in the skin, a cold shower is expected to send an overwhelming amount of electrical impulses from peripheral nerve endings to the brain, which could result in an anti-depressive effect.

ADVERTISING

“The mechanism that can probably explain the immediate mood-lifting effect of immersion in cold water or cold shower is probably the stimulation of the dopaminergic transmission in the mesocorticolimbic and nigrostriatal pathway. “These dopaminergic pathways are known to be involved in the regulation of emotions. There is a lot of research linking these brain areas to depression,” Sheychuk said.

READ NEXT

15 Ways to Practice Positive Self-Talk for Success

How to Write a Personal Mission Statement to Ensure Peak Productivity

10 Hacks to Increase Your Brain IQ, Focus and Creativity

Scroll down to continue reading article

It Reduces Your Anxiety

Patients suffering from generalized anxiety disorders were studied, comparing the use of hydrotherapy to the use of the medication Paxil. During the study, 237 patients with generalized anxiety disorder were assigned randomly to balneotherapy (using water baths for healing) and 120 to the medication Paxil, a leading SSRI medication. The patients given the balneotherapy treatment, had weekly medical visits and daily bath treatments using mineral waters for 21 days. The anxiety scores showed an improvement in both groups, however the group given the water therapy had the higher result compared to those given the Paxil. Remission and sustained response rates were also significantly higher in the hydrotherapy group, as well as no reported side effects.

Tepsii ehkä johonkin alakuloon. Masennukseen ei. Samantasoinen neuvo, kuin että liikunta auttaa. Varmaan auttaakin jos kyse on taas siitä alakulosta. Syvä masennus on jotain aivan muuta. Miksi luulette, että upporikkaat julkkikset joilla omat personal trainerit ja huippulääkärit tekevät itsemurhia?

Jestas mua ärsyttää nämä höpöhöpö ohjeet jonkun monimutkaisen sairauden hoitoon.

Testattu on kylmää ja kuumaa vettä, alasti makoilua lumihangessa. Kun minulla on todella huono kausi menossa, enkä koe eläväni, yritän herättää itseäni em. tavoilla. Ei auta. Lääkkeitä en syö, koska masennus on traumaperäistä ja puhuminen auttaa.