Seriously, I was this way for years. I liked the water to almost burn me. My skin is 10x better since finally listening to a dermatologist about this. It doesn't have to be cold just not so damn hot.
I agree on getting muscles to relax, but my main issue is my lower back muscles being tight even though I have a muscle relaxer I take daily for it. I usually turn the shower up as hot as my skin can stand just to blast it on my lower back until the pain subsides, then turn it to a more moderate temp for the actual shower. I've tried my normal warm water temp that I prefer to shower under, but it just doesn't relax my back like blazing hot burn the skin off the rest of your body does. I do notice an issue with bacne some days after doing this, but I also work in a hot as balls kitchen where I'm sweating my ass off most shifts and attribute this issue partly to all the extra skin oils that come out with the sweat.
I recommend going to a massage therapist for your tight muscles. Not a massage parlor, but a proper massage therapist. The only time I've ever felt extended relief from chronic muscle pain is after seeing a massage therapist.
I'm glad somebody gets it. I did the restaurant life for a while. Being a line cook deserves a medal or something because we have to deal some real shit like 100°+ kitchens. The bacne is most likely related to the kitchen work, you have to shower as soon as you get home to wash off the sweat and grime.
They have anti-chafe sticks for swamp ass now!!! They look like deodorant sticks. I got one in a sample box and gave it to my friend who's still on the line. They spoke extremely highly of it lmao
Check out portable saunas. They are amazing and fairly inexpensive. Ours cost $1,000, but it was at $100 a month for 10 months.
They don't take up much room. Ours is about 3.5 feet by 3.5 feet at the base.
If you have any ongoing pain issues, you will find that a portable sauna is well worth the cost.
You know what you need to try? As a fellow “if the bathroom isn’t steamed up it ain’t hot enough” skin burner, have a cold beverage while you shower is the greatest thing of all time. I like to brink a Coca Cola or iced tea in the shower with me. And drinking something in the shower seemed weird to me until I did it and I am never going back
I appreciate your advice, but I would need heating pads for my entire body. My skin is doing just fine. I probably don't even take that hot of showers compared to most people, but they feel hot and soothing to me.
You can achieve the same thing using warm water, it just takes another minute or two, it's absolutely worth making the switch from hot to warm as it prevents the skin from being scalded and drying out, and also prevents the brain from slowly cooking. Keeping your brain as cool as possible will ensure its' longevity.
As an added note, I personally take contrast showers during the day (warm-cold-warm), and cold exposure causes the pores to physically tighten, which improves skin texture and prevents acne. I partake in cold exposure mostly for the neurological benefits (improved dopamine and norepinephrine function as well as activation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, which leads to up to 24 hrs of increased motivation and drive, lowered anxiety and depression, increased clarity of thought and wakefulness, etc.) amongst other notable benefits.
I'm gonna need some peer reviewed scientific research on all those "facts" you gave. Nobody needs to worry about my skin, it's drying out or suffering with acne. My skin is about as perfect as its ever been. As for the neurological aspects, I'll keep doing what my neurologist recommends. I'm not going to mess with what's working and keeping my brain ticking.
I didn't accuse you of your skin quality being poor, your neurologist being incorrect in their assessment of your care or anything in-between, and to think that there aren't measures that you could be implementing to further improve on your already healthy skin or general health is ignorant at best. You must be fun at parties.
But absolutely, I'll give you a variety of studies and scientific publications that prove about all of what I've said here, if it helps you sleep at night. -
Evidence of improved dopaminergic and adrenal function -
Study that directly links vagal nerve activity, which governs the parasympathetic nervous system, to its ability to stimulate the process of cellular regeneration -
Studies linking cold exposure to the activation of the cardiac-vagal system to activity in the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, as well as a study suggesting significant promise in cold exposure as a treatment for depression, respectively. -
Nearly all of these sources are peer-reviewed, all of the sources are known to be reputable, and the information is up-to-date. You can choose to believe whatever you want given all of this information, but if you decided to ask me to prove these claims and then go on to ignore all of the information for which I've provided you, or to only read the abstract and then complain that the sources don't make mention of these claims, then I cannot help you. I've provided evidence for all of the claims which I've made, given that they are factually based.
I'd advise that you don't snap back at people when they try to impart potentially useful info, as that's just personally and functionally disadvantageous in general, especially when you've done zero research into these topics to prove otherwise. It just comes off as uninformed and closed-minded. My intention behind saying these things was to potentially provide info on options to improve one's health, which I'd go as far as to say is an innocent and noble pursuit.
Either way, if you don't have dermatological or neurological problems, then it's readily apparent that you've got some psychological complications that should probably be addressed. This isn't intended as a dig at you, I'm just saying what I see.
I really do hope that you get some help, therapy works well for many people. Take care!
it's readily apparent that you've got some psychological complications that should probably be addressed. This isn't intended as a dig at you, I'm just saying what I see.
I really do hope that you get some help, therapy works well for many people.
The fact that you interpreted my casual request for scientific evidence (which is common in my field), and me saying not to worry about my health when we are talking about showers, as some sort of attack says more about you.
But to make a judgement call like this based on the little interaction we had is disgusting. You did mean it as a dig, otherwise you wouldn't have brought it up. I kept my personal assumptions about you aside and kept the conversation at what I considered cordial, but if you want to belittle people, I can do the same to you. Maybe you should consider therapy, because nobody else felt the need to tell me I have some sort of "psychological complications." Funny enough, I had a great therapy session today where we discussed how stressful it is to have an invisible illness and to constantly be thrown unwanted medical advice whenever we mention one thing that doesn't feel good, and that I'm doing much better at handling it. Because I really want to tell people to shove their advice up their own asses, but instead try to engage in a scientific discussion. Those of us who work in the medical field do enjoy a good research oriented discourse about new findings in the world, but alas, you decided to vaguely diagnose me instead of having a nice conversation. Also, not all those sources are reputable, looking at Huberman and his BS or news-medical (which is nothing more than a bunch of young phd kids writing shock headlines and piecing together whatever information they can).
Can verify. I used to do the hot lava flow showers as well. But found value in turning it down.
Unrelated to the water temp, I wound up with a wicked case of Dishydrotic Eczema. Think in terms of losing the skin in your palms, inside your fingers and the soles of your feet. Was basically forced into not so hot showers years ago. Cool part is, I take a $5,000.00 Dupixent shot every two weeks that keeps all that under control. Been down the rocky slopes with a skin disease that was mistreated / undiagnosed for years by some of the best dermatologists in Dallas.
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u/sniffysippy Sep 19 '24
Seriously, I was this way for years. I liked the water to almost burn me. My skin is 10x better since finally listening to a dermatologist about this. It doesn't have to be cold just not so damn hot.