Mar 17, 2006

Hot to cold

This is going to be one of those 'funda' posts.. do bear with my fundas.. :-)

FoP (Funda of the Post): Taking bath in cold water is better for our health than in hot water.
When it is cold, most of us take bath in hot water. The most important thing is the 'first contact' of water on our skin. On a cold day, it feels good when the water is warm. So, those of you who use shower: just slowly turn the knob for the hot water @ few mm per 10 sec.. and you will realize, that in about a minute or two, the temperature of the water would have dropped off almost to room temperature but you wouldnt have noticed the change, since it was gradual.
For those who use bucket, let the initial water be warm, but then let a thin trickle of cold water fall into the water, so each mug of water you pour onto you would be colder by few fractions of a degree and again the gradual change would ensure that you wont jump when it has become cold water.
Now, the extreme cases: for those who cant bathe without warm water - time for a change; for those who manage to take bath in cold water even in winter - kudos to you!!! Share your secret.

19 comments:

mitr_bayarea said...

edho shower and using water fundas ellam solreenga, reminded me of some of what my father used to say about bathing in cold water to bring surusurupu into daily life.

Anyways, the baby picture is very cute.

Blabber-blogger said...

Too much pa.. Cold water or hot water..kulicha podhum.. :))

tt_giant said...

I have to take hot bath everyday, irrespective of season, time and place!

However, in FL (aarambichutaanyaa!), I seemed to have no problem swimming in the gulf all year.

Anonymous said...

yeah, me too, im a hot water bath person. I usually like cold water after a minute and a half of warm water. i have heard too cold water has some good benefits for our health.

neighbour said...

When I was in india I never used to Hot water..

From the day I entered US its only hot water..

cold waterla kulicha janni vandrum pola irukupaa!!!

Me too said...

Like 'neighbour', I was also a 'cold water person' back in India. Infact, my brother and father used to get daily archanai from me for being hot water bathers(in Chennai!! Though my brother 'thirundhified'!)!
Heard about the Polar bear swim(sorry couldn't find any recent article) in Boston and other places? Guess, taking a dip in Ganges in Rishikesh/Haridwar is our kind of Polar bear swim!!

Ponnarasi Kothandaraman said...

Baby looks reaaaaaaaaaaaaly cute. BTW, ithellam daily kulikravanga pesanum :P Hehehe. kiddin.

Ponnarasi Kothandaraman said...

Hi, You are tagged. Pls check out my blog to know more.. Will be happy to see if u write ur tag.

The Talkative Man said...

this is something i could never master all my life. Used to wonder at my dad sticking to cold water all his life and almost always finishing his bath by 630, something i couldnt do even if it were noon :P Once found a place with no hot water and eventually mastered cold water for about 6 months but once I moved, the laziness returned.
We waste tons and tons of time and energy in hot water :(

Ram C said...

first on the picture... that's very cute.

I go for warm water most of the time.. in extreme situations, where we can't get warm water, I just get under the cold water tap and come out quickly....

Anu said...

very cute pic.. I used to take bath in cold water earlier. Blore kulurukku warm water pazhagittadhaala, cold water-a nenachaale bayama irukku..

Raju said...

Mitr, mm.. I think ur dad was spot-on about surusuruppu.. There must also be a reason for the westerners gulping so much of cold drinks/water. Cold water requires takes energy from body to warm up to body temperature and drinking lot of it would be an exercise in itself.. Similarly, cold water bath cools down the surface of our body, and warm blood has to run faster to warm it again. Warm blood translates to surusuruppu.. :-)
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Nyneishia, LOL.. something is better than nothing, huh? :-)
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Deepak, I am trying to switch to cold water slowly.. The fluctuating weather doesnt help either.. 'NW-le cold water? No chance'-nu solreengala?

LOL... Inime naama rendu perum will have quite a bit of conversations with 'when we were in FL'... I can see it coming... :-)

Raju said...

Nitin, mmm.. the change has to happen consciously, since we get hot water here without having to turn on the geiser and stuff..
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Neighbour, Only when I was in TN, I used to have cold water... In Bangalore, 90+ % of time, it was always warm water. Spoilt...
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Veda, agree with u.. Venneer-le kulichu lesa engeyavadhu ukkandha naanum thoongiduvenn..
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Aparna, interesting article that. Never heard of it before. Considering the populace that does it in here and in India, I think it would be apt to call the polar beer swim as the Americans' equivalent of taking a holy dip.. Enna solreenga?

I have had only one holy dip, apart from the regular ones in Rameswaram - that was in an august at the Tungabadra river, Mantralaya when I was in class 8.. oh.. that was verrry cold...

Raju said...

Ponnarasi, mmm.. ennai pathina secret ellam ungalukku eppadi therinjudhu? :-)

Thanks for the tagging.. ennada, romba naal achey tag vaangi-nnu parthenn.. Looks interesting. Will do it soon.
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Talkative man, having no-choice sometimes leads to some unthinkable changes, ille? The key in cold water bath is to bear the contrast for the first few seconds... clutching the teeth or whatever.. once those seconds are gone, it would be OK.. easier said than done.. *SIGH*
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Ram, point noted. As I said just above, after going through the initial torturous moments, the body gets used to cold water.. so I would think staying a little longer should be OK.. Too much funda-va? Appeettu...
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Anurama, mm.. same with me too. I think Bangalore spoils us in many ways.. :-)

I said...

Sacrificing ur comfort, when u can be comfortable, is morally wrong!

The Talkative Man said...

GP,
cold water is bearable, but not cold climate. Impossible to fight the desire to sleep :-) I hated Blore for that!

Anonymous said...

Good writeup,Sir :-)

Medically speaking, continual hot water showers are not good for health,and in men..chances are high that it affects his ..... (understood!) !

Hmm..Intha oorula cold waterla kulicha..janni thaan !

Anonymous said...

Hi Raju, saw Pattiyal yesterday, the songs were cheerful entertaining songs,so I was expecting a cheerful movie, but the movie is very sad. Totally opposite to Arindhum Ariyamalum.

Raju said...

AAT, welcome here.
Kolappureeengaley..... enna solla varreenga?
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Talkative man, yeah.. cold climate. Today was a bit cold and when I came out of the cold shower, my whole body was shaking.. felt like going back, getting a hot shower and then enter the home.
Bangalore is such a lovely city and I agree with you on its tendency to induce sleep.. It has got the 'romantic climate' much of the time, which is highly sleep-inducing..
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Prabhu, enna dhideernu 'sir' ellam..?

I have read about the medical concern u mentioned.

NE, NW-le cold water-le kulikkiravanga yaarumey illaiya?
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Nitin, thanks for the info on 'Pattiyal'.. surprised to hear about it.. I donno when I would be able to watch it..