Take a chill pill

FITNESS

Cold-water bathing is a good way to stress your body.

The phrase "cold shower" is guaranteed to strike a chill into the hearts of geyser-loving Indians. No, they say, that's for the yogis. Indeed, the words don't have a positive vibe to offer even as metaphor. What is a cold shower, after all, but the shattering intrusion of a painful truth into soothing fantasy?

But bathing in cold water can do all sorts of good "" if done properly. Yoga master Ashutosh Thakur warns that the notion that cold baths are always good, even in winter, is an ignorant one.

"It doesn't mean that you bathe with 2-degree water from the overhead tank! It is supposed to be water drawn out of a well, which is not so cold. A few degrees below skin temperature is fine."

Pouring a mugful of freezing water directly onto your head the moment you step into the bath can cause you to black out briefly, and falling on the hard tiled surfaces of a bathroom can cause serious hurt. Older people should avoid cold baths unless they are used to them.

Physiologically, cold water on the skin is known to open up capillaries and bring blood to the surface, flushing out toxins. This outward rush reduces the blood pressure on the internal organs "" until the blood rushes back after the capillaries constrict to prevent heat loss.

This exiting and returning blood flushes toxins out of the internal organs as well. Muscles contract in cold water, also forcing out the accumulated by-products of muscular respiration there, and easing tiredness. A study of the Herzog-Julius Hospital and the Charite Medical School, both in Berlin, concluded that year-round cold swimmers got half as many chest infections as regular folk.

Dr Peter Clough, a researcher at the University of Hull in the UK, took his students up a hill, had them put their hands in a bucket of icy water, and then asked them questions. His study concluded that cold showers cut stress and create mental toughness.

Modern life shields us from heat and cold, and reduces to the bare minumum the physical stress humans face. But our bodies need to be tested a bit to stay healthy and disease-resistant, and taking a cold shower every day is an easy way to do it.