One of the most important jobs for any leader is to take care of the individuals on his or her team, and that happens with the leader first taking care of him- or herself. Please do not misunderstand me - I am not talking about "taking care of oneself" in terms of making sure that you, as a leader, get proper credit or recognition for doing a good job or making sure that you get paid fairly. I am talking about "taking care of oneself" from a health standpoint - getting enough sleep at night, exercising regularly, and eating a balanced, nutritious diet. All of these things are critically important for all leaders, as well as the individuals on their teams.
The ancient Stoics used to practice self-denial or voluntary discomfort in order to "quiet their appetites for material goods" and help them better appreciate all of the things that they had in their life. They weren't masochists - they did not prescribe self-mutilation or self-torture at all. Rather, the ancient Stoics would run barefoot, take cold baths, or fast. All of these things made the Stoics, or so they believed, stronger and better prepared to handle anything that happened in their lives. Here we have the ancient version of "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." Although, to be fair, the things that the ancient Stoics did to practice self-denial or voluntary discomfort were fairly mild and would never increase the risk of death. Epictetus, in his "Discourses" wrote, "But neither a bull nor a noble-spirited man comes to be what he is all at once; he must undertake hard winter training, and prepare himself, and not propel himself rashly into what is not appropriate to him."
As it turns out, doing things like taking a cold shower actually makes some sense. Most modern Stoics suggest that taking a cold shower will improve self-awareness, self-control, and health. There is even some evidence, based on at least one randomized, controlled clinical trial, that taking a cold shower every day will improve overall health. Investigators from the Netherlands randomly assigned over 3,000 participants, all previously healthy, to one of three experimental groups or one control group. The individuals who were assigned to the experimental groups would add 30 seconds, 60 seconds, or 90 seconds, respectively, of a cold shower (the coldest setting on the shower faucet, which happened to be around 10-12 degrees Celsius) to their normal shower routine every day for a prescribed period of 30 days. At the end of the 30 days, these individuals were then free to do whatever they wanted to (from a showering standpoint) for the next 90 days (i.e., they could take a cold shower for as little or as long as they wanted to). Individuals assigned to the control group just took regular showers for the entire study. Compliance with the shower protocol was self-monitored and self-reported (the individuals were "on their own honor" so to speak), though nearly 80% of the individuals complied with the protocol for the full 30 days and 64% actually continued for the next 90 days of the study. At the end of the study, the investigators compared the number of days of lost work due to illness and found that taking a cold shower (regardless of duration) decreased the number of days of lost work due to illness by 29%! The most commonly reported benefit to taking a cold shower was an increase in perceived energy levels (many of the individuals compared taking a cold shower to drinking a hot cup of coffee). Unfortunately, the treatment effect did not last after the end of the 30 days. Interestingly, 13% of the study participants reported problems with a persistent cold sensation in the hands and feet.
So, after reading this study, I decided to start taking a cold shower for 30 seconds at the end of my normal morning shower. It's only been two days so far, but I can tell you that I absolutely feel great! It probably helps that the temperature outside the past few days have been well in the 90's (the Dutch study actually occurred during the middle of winter!). Regardless of the health benefits (or lack thereof), I can certainly appreciate why the Stoics, both ancient and modern, believed in the power of a cold shower. Try it!
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