Cold Showers vs Vitamin C for immunity
Short answer: For immunity, more users report improvement with Cold Showers — 100% of 7 reports, versus 88% of 25 for Vitamin C.
Vitamin C has 738 meta-analyses and 2,072 randomized trials on PubMed; the other has not been graded.
Based on 103 reports about Cold Showers and 715 about Vitamin C. Not medical advice.
| Cold Showers Lifestyle | Vitamin C Supplement | |
|---|---|---|
| User score | 40 | 44 |
| Verdict | Mostly positive | Mostly positive |
| Positive of reports that state an outcome | 83% | 68% |
| Reports | 103 | 715 |
| Research | Research pending | AResearch: Strong |
| Meta-analyses / RCTs | — | 738 / 2,072 |
| Mainly used for | ||
| Weight loss % reporting improvement | 100% (2) | 100% (3) |
| Focus % reporting improvement | 100% (6) | 67% (9) |
| Energy % reporting improvement | 100% (10) | 100% (27) |
| Sleep % reporting improvement | 100% (4) | 71% (14) |
| Anxiety % reporting improvement | 100% (6) | 92% (13) |
| Mood % reporting improvement | 100% (13) | 86% (21) |
| Memory % reporting improvement | — | 80% (5) |
| Performance % reporting improvement | — | 25% (4) |
| Recovery % reporting improvement | — | 100% (8) |
| Pain & inflammation % reporting improvement | — | 79% (14) |
| Digestion % reporting improvement | — | 75% (4) |
| Libido % reporting improvement | — | 100% (2) |
| Hormones % reporting improvement | — | 100% (4) |
| Heart & lipids % reporting improvement | 100% (2) | 75% (4) |
| Skin & hair % reporting improvement | 100% (4) | 96% (24) |
| Immunity % reporting improvement | 100% (7) | 88% (25) |
| Longevity % reporting improvement | — | 100% (3) |
| Common side effects | depression, discomfort | stomach issues, kidney stones, insomnia, bone pain |
| Typical dose reported | nightly and morning | 2000 mg / daily |
“I take a cold shower for as cold as I can get it every night before bed. I sleep like a baby.”
The failure of vitamin C supplementation to reduce the incidence of colds in the general population indicates that routine vitamin C supplementation is not justified, yet vitamin C may be useful for people exposed to brief periods of severe physical exercise. Regular supplementation trials have shown that vitamin C reduces the duration of colds, but this was not replicated in the few therapeutic trials that have been carried out. Nevertheless, given the consistent effect of vitamin C on the duration and severity of colds in the regular supplementation studies, and the low cost and safety, it m
Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2013 ↗“I know people say you get enough vitamin C from diet but I feel and look better when I supplement it.”
Related comparisons
Percentages come from first-hand user reports and are not clinical outcomes. Talk to a doctor before starting, stopping or combining anything. How we rate