I am used to, or let us say adapted to cold water baths even in winter. Long ago I decided I will not allow my sensitivity to come in the way of my health. Being healthy has always been among my top priorities in life. I read and heard in my childhood that cold baths are the way to go in all seasons. Although there was a big interruption and gap for several years when I lived in Chicago, post return, mostly I would take cold water baths only. Perhaps for over 50 years I would have had cold water baths. The question now for me is did that make me healthier than I would have been otherwise.
During my college days in Delhi many of my classmates used to wonder how I was able to stay in a thin polo shirt even during the super cold winters of Delhi when temperatures routinely drop to 5 or 7°C. They would be wearing multiple layers of clothing including sweaters and yet shiver when outside our classrooms. I used to feel cold as well, maybe not as worse as they did. I would bear the cold and try not to shiver. My friends used to ask me if being a rice eater helped me. I would say on the contrary, wheat was believed to help generate heat and that as a South Indian, I have never been exposed to such chilly weather as was in Delhi. I think my determination to not wear winter clothes, especially sweaters, allowed me to face the cold. I think mindset does 50% of the job, and only the rest has to be by the body.
This habit continued for several years until I went to the US. When I tried cold water in Chicago during winters when the outside temperature went below freezing point, the water was icy cold. It was impossible to bathe in cold water then. Or maybe so I felt. I could have mixed some running hot water to keep it just as cold as I needed. But I am a man of whites and blacks. I do not have a middle ground of gray in everything I do. Bathing was no exception. I bathed in hot water.
When we did the Char Dham Yatra in the Himalayas in early October, the fast and furious literally ice-cold Ganga (ice melts from the top of mountains and flows down) was too much to bathe in at Haridwar. I was tested to the core to have a proper bath, not limit myself to a short dip. At Kedarnath it was below zero. So water came-in, in buckets as hot only anyway.
The question I have for myself is, after all these years, has this habit helped me in any way or is it just a belief?
Yes, I am disease free, for now. But I did have for several years all of those lifestyle ones such as diabetes, hypertension, high triglycerides, cholesterol, a Coronary Angiogram advised situation, slip-disc-induced backache, and my lifetime companion, headache.
I got rid of all of them with manageable levels of backache and lived with just occasional headache for the past 6 years through a raw food diet and being physically a little active. I do not think cold water baths have helped me stay healthy otherwise.
My skin is fairly soft and smooth for my age. My wife always wonders at that and mentions it often. Is it because cold water baths help the skin retain moisture better, or is it just a matter of genes? I don't know. And did it help my mental (will) power? Hell, yes!
What do you think? Do you have any experience or thoughts on this?
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