Can you take a cold shower after eating? This is one of the questions, lots of people love taking a shower after doing any physical activity.
After eating a delicious meal, you might feel slightly light-headed, or you’ll feel sleepy. At that time you may consider taking a bath to rejuvenate and get back the energy and get rid of that lightheadedness and sleepy feeling.
But at that time there is a big problem, you may have heard from your parents, your doctor, gym trainer or your friends that taking a bath or shower right after you eat is not healthy and is very dangerous for your body.
The reason behind this is because, after eating food, the digestive system of the body begins to process the food.
If at that time, you’ll take a shower or bath, you’ll be changing the environment of the body as the body also soaks water.
This may result in dangerous stomach cramps or indigestion. This will be a big problem for you as if it’s nighttime you just want to crawl into your sheets but without a perfect shower or bath, it is hard.
If you are in this situation, you might want to know how much time you have to wait after eating to take a shower, and you should take a hot shower or cold shower? Keep reading to find out…
How bad is it to take shower after eating?
After eating, the human body goes into a different phase known as hyperthermic action. During this process, there is a significant rise in the human body temperature (by 1 to 2 degrees). You must have seen this with your own body, there are some times when you sweat a lot while eating your food or you are familiar with the phrase “meat sweat”. The sweating indicates that your body is going into a hyperthermic action phase. There are multiple benefits to the human body during this phase. Some of the benefits are:
- Stimulate your immune system
- Good for the digestive system
- Relax your nervous system
- Stimulate your sweat glands to flush out toxins.
The gentle warmth you feel after your meal is due to the rise of the temperature in the body. It is also directly related to the increase in the blood flow in the body.
Every human feels the same way and this process goes according to the plan, but if you take a shower or bath, after eating you can disrupt the plan.
This is very dangerous for you and can lead to various health conditions. If you are taking a bath or shower after eating, you’ll start to show symptoms like stomach cramps, indigestion, digestive problems, etc.
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Reason to not take a hot shower after eating
Taking a cold shower is not as bad as taking a hot shower after eating. When you take a hot shower, your body temperature increases significantly. This rise in temperature cause hyperthermia action by water and the blood flow that was supposed to increase in the digestive tract and boost digestion has a counter effect. Instead, you’ll feel indigestion, sluggishness, and in some rare cases heartburn.
Although, if your diet is rich in protein, fiber, fats then you’ll have to bloat. This will further lead to stomach cramps, heartburn, indigestion, and many more stomach problems.
Can you take a cold shower after eating
We have ruled out taking a hot shower after eating, as the body temperature increases significantly with a hot shower. This creates the human body goes into hyperthermic action phase with water, which has to get through by eating.
The imbalance in hyperthermic action causes various health conditions which can lead to severe and chronic disease.
But taking a cold shower after eating is different. When you take a cold shower instead of a hot shower, your body temperature doesn’t rise. This also prevents you from diverting the blood flow from your digestive system. When the body temperature doesn’t rise with the water, the hyperthermic action phase does not complete by water.
In addition, a cold shower is good for the human body’s metabolism. This can be seen, when athletes dip their bodies into ice water after doing exercises. The cold water helps the body to increase its metabolism, and burn more calories raise the body temperature.
So, if you take a cold shower instead of a hot shower, you’ll be burning more calories without working out.
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How long should you wait to take a bath or shower after eating?
There is no accurate time when you should take a shower after eating. This can be different for everyone, some people have a strong digestive system, but for some people, it takes a little more time to fully digest the food.
To be safe, it is okay to take a shower after 30 minutes of eating. If you take very little time, in between eating and shower, it can lead to indigestion.
Although indigestion is the minimum problem you’ll have to suffer, many health conditions arise due to this, like stomach cramps, heartburn, high blood pressure, etc.
Avoid using swimming poll are tub after eating
You may have heard people saying, don’t go to the swimming pool after eating. If you think that it was a myth, you are wrong. There are facts to prove that people should avoid using a swimming pool or tub after eating. People can still take a shower but swimming pools or tubs are different areas.
In a swimming pool or tub, humans tend to slouch and lie down to relax their bodies. This is a great way to relax but you should avoid it when you have eaten your meal. If you begin lying down after eating, there is a very good chance of your food moving back up in your esophagus. This is one of the reasons people have acidity, heartburn, indigestion, gastric problems.
There is a greater threat to these health problems if you use a swimming pool or tub after eating. In a tub or swimming pool you’ll be slouching, and it poses a greater risk for your food to move back up to the esophagus. So it’s better to avoid using a swimming pool or tub after eating. It is only safe to use after 1 hour of eating.
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Bottom line
Taking a cold shower after eating is beneficial for the body, as it burns more calories and also increases the metabolism of the body. But you should always avoid taking a hot shower or bathe after eating, as with the rise of the temperature you can easily go to hyperthermic action. This can easily be avoided if you take some time around 30-45 minutes before going for a shower. This is the only way you can take a shower without risking your health.
