Many theologians say that “cleanliness is being next to Godliness.” Well, this is something to argue about. Have you ever thought of the meaning of the above statement? As part of personal hygiene, how often should you take a shower? Are there accompanying benefits of taking a shower often? What of the negative effects? Have you ever skipped a shower for quite some time? How was the feeling? Are you willing to skip it again? Well, many are the questions as well as the answers. In this article, we are going to advise you on how often you should take a shower, and how good or bad is it for you. Please read on to find out more.
What are the positive attributes of taking a shower?
Bathing has been an activity undertaken since time immemorial. Immersing yourself in water comes with so many merits. You can immerse yourself in water just for fun, leisure, hygiene or even for health reasons. Apart from that, there are positive attributes associated with taking a shower. They are as stated below.
- Bathing enables one to maintain the body temperature at the optimum level. Health experts said that the normal body temperature in a human being should range from about 37 degrees to 38 degrees. When the days are cold, hot water is used as a remedy. During hot days, taking a cold shower helps in regulating the temperature.
- The heart is responsive to shower. Taking a warm shower makes the heartbeat a little bit fast rate. The effect is that it makes the heart-healthy. You are not however advised to take a hot shower if you have a heart condition. It may cause the heart to strain and may lead to fatalities.
- Regular bathing is good for the skin, the eyes and the hair. Warm shower hydrates the skin and opens the pores. This enables the body to get rid of toxic substances in the process. Hair can keep a lot of dirt in it. To make it clean and good, a warm shower would do. Water washes off any dirt in the eyes too. To make it more effective, you can add some oils or salt to the bathing water.
- For good breathing, a shower is a good solution. When the water rises above your chest in the basin, lungs respond by increasing the amount of oxygen intake. Warm water can even make this response more intense. This may lead to clearing of any sinuses in the chest and along the windpipe.
- When you take a shower, hormones respond by redistribution and balancing. A cold shower can assist in restoring fertility, especially in men. To be happier, a warm shower is a catalyzing agent too. This is because the brain will produce serotonin chemical which is linked to happiness in human beings.
- Taking a warm to hot shower makes the blood veins to be hyperactive. It makes them pump the blood with a high amount of energy and speed. Blood circulation is therefore improved by taking a shower quite often. Since the blood is therefore pumped to all the parts of the body, general body health is therefore greatly boosted.
- Taking a shower is also good for the nervous system, muscles, joints, bones, blood, and general body immunity.
Does taking a shower have negative effects?
Did you ever know that taking a shower has negative effects too? Here are the effects:
- A hot shower may expose the skin causing it to be attacked by infections all the time.
- A hot shower can make you dizzy while still in a bathroom especially when it is a long shower.
- Long cold showers can make you contract flu and other diseases such as asthma as well as blocked nose all the time.
- If you are suffering from a condition known as skin redness, a long hot shower can worsen the same.
- Human skin has a natural barrier. Bathing for quite some time can cause it to be washed off, leaving the skin exposed in the process. The skin can, therefore, suffer attacks from infections at any time.
- Taking a shower regularly may cause the skin to itch, especially during cold seasons. This condition is commonly referred to as the “winter itch.”
Having looked at the above positive and negative attributes, one would, therefore, wonder whether it is beneficial or not to take a shower. Many opinions will tend to arise from this argument.
How often should you, therefore, take a shower? Is it good to take a shower quite often?
You have to consider the above attributes. Dermatologists do advise that taking a shower regularly, let us say twice a day is harmful to the skin. It is recommended that you should a shower at least once a day or twice or even thrice a week. Water removes essential oils from the skin and leaves it dry. This is quite harmful to the skin.
This advice, however, is not conclusive because the number of times to take a shower a day is determined by the physical activity. If you are involved for example in construction work, then you must take a shower once or twice a day.
You may not need to compromise on your hygiene by scaling down on the showering routine. There are other ways in which you can take care of your skin against the effect of taking a shower quite often. However, for the better conditions of your skin, whenever you can, avoid taking showers more than once on any given day.
Is it, therefore, good to take a shower quite often? It depends on how you take the above advice and how you are willing to take care of your skin. You should, nevertheless, try as much as possible to adhere to the expert opinion.
Conclusion.
There are many advantages as well as demerits of taking a shower. Showering quite often can prove to be more harmful than useful. Personal hygiene should be treated with the utmost importance, just the same way as body health. The two could be conflicting but a proper decision should be made by an individual. If possible, take the shower as advised by a dermatologists or your physician.