The other day, I returned from a lunchtime run swimming in sweat. Nothing new there – it was a warm, muggy day and after 7k, every bit of my kit was saturated. All I wanted to do was to dive head-first into an ice-cold shower, but after reading recently about the fact that warm water might be better for cooling down than cold, I reluctantly turned the tap left for two minutes of heat before ending with a lovely burst of freezing water.

And you know what? I walked out of the shower feeling infinitely refreshed. Normally, after a post-workout wash, I spend the next 10 minutes sweating into my towel, but after two minutes of warmth and a 30-second blast of cold, I felt as fresh as a daisy. And crucially, after towelling off, I was bone dry.

If you’re a gym-goer or runner, I highly suggest giving it a go. We’re all becoming familiar with the benefits associated with cold water. It’s supposed to boost recovery, reduce DOMS and improve mental resilience. But we also know that cold water therapy might not be a great idea immediately after exercise as it delays or reduces inflammation – which is precisely the aim of exercise. We’re creating micro-tears and inflammation for our body to build back stronger.  

And if you’re short on time, you might not want to wait for 20 minutes before showering off (which is a fail-safe way to avoid sweating after a shower). 

Away from exercise, you might just be desperate to cool down from a hot Tube ride home or need to cool down after spending time in the sun. And in those cases, you still might be better off with having a warmer wash.

The reason we feel uncomfortable in hot temperatures is that the body is busy trying to achieve homeostasis – our normal state of being. To maintain a constant core temperature, the nervous systems kick in and we’re prompted to make behavioural adaptations to cool down. Discomfort is the body’s way of forcing us to engage in those behavioural adaptions.

Now, you might think one of those behaviours is finding a cold body of water to splash around in. But some experts believe that cold water can actually have a warming effect. According to experts from Swinburne University of Technology, having a cold shower tricks the body into thinking it’s no longer warm – stopping it from sweating. But sweating is our body’s natural way of cooling down, so cut that off, and your core temperature may start to rise.

Cold water also decreases the amount of blood flow to the skin, meaning that you retain heat. It might feel refreshing while you’re in it, but once you get out of the shower, you’ll be flooded with sweat again. 

Writing for The Conversation, the Swinburne University academics recommend bathing in warm (around 33⁰C) water as a more effective means of staying cool in the long term. Rather than sweating buckets after a wash, they claim that “a warm sensation on the skin will lead to increased blood flow to the skin, increasing heat loss from the body”.

In other words, you’re dumping that excess heat in an already wet environment… rather than on your newly laundered clothes. 

And having tried it myself, I can fully attest to the power of a midday, post-workout lukewarm shower. Want to optimise your shower game properly? Then I’d recommend starting the day with a two-minute cold shower that’ll wake you up in an instant, before having a warmer wash after your workout and then a hot shower before bed.

A 2019 study found that a warm bath 15 minutes before going to bed may lower blood pressure, while a study found that those who had a hot bath before bed fell asleep quicker than those who didn’t have one. 

Images: Getty