Bathing every single day. Is it a good idea?
Quick question: What’s your favorite part of the day? Your workout? Dinner with the family? Your meditation practice? Bedtime?
Mine is my morning shower. A hot (or cold!) shower first think in the morning does for me what coffee does for other people. It makes me feel alert, alive, and ready to face the day. Without my shower, I just can’t do it. I feel blah, gross, lethargic and unprepared. The first thing I do every morning after my walk and sun exposure, is take a nice hot, or sometimes cold, shower. But am I overdoing it? Is there a downside to this?
Actually, showering every single day might not be the best thing to do. If you like your daily shower as much as I do, then I hate to tell you: We’re actually not supposed to bathe everyday. Daily showering can have negative health consequences. I understand that may be a hard concept to grasp in our hyper-clean, germ-phobic culture, but stay with me here.
By now you’ve heard of the microbiome (you know, those friendly bacteria that live in your gut). You have trillions of friendly bacteria that help you digest your food, make neurotransmitters, synthesize vitamins…and a whole lot more. You would not be alive with your bacteria. We know that taking probiotics are good and that we should eat yogurt and fermented foods. We want to support our bacteria to keep ourselves healthy right? We are also know that taking antibiotics when they’re not needed is a bad idea. You don’t want to kill all those good bugs!!
Well, did you know that you have a biome in all other areas of your body too? Those friendly bacteria don’t only reside in your intestines; they also live in your lungs, mouth, sinus’, vaginal canal, ears, eyes, and yes, on your skin. These bacteria play an important role for the entire ecosystem that is your body, specifically for the part of the body where they reside.
So it makes sense that we need to exercise caution when it comes to things like antibiotics. We know they wreck havoc on our gut, and cause a whole plethora of problems; not only gut issues, but skin conditions, mood problems, sleep issues, weight issues, blood sugar dysregulation, etc. The same is true for the bacteria on your skin. Your body is covered with bacteria from head to toe, and they’re there for a reason. They serve an important role protecting the body from foreign invaders, and creating a healthy, protective barrier.
So, it follows reason that it’s not in our best interest to wash them away every day. For most of human history daily bathing was not a thing (unless perhaps you lived in a tropical environment near a warm water source). For most of the world however, collecting and heating water was quite an undertaking, if even possible at all. Even a weekly bath was considered to be quite the luxury. In fact, in some places of the world bathing was thought to actually cause illness. After a few deadly plagues hit Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries, people began to think that water spread illness and was a contamination source. During this time period people never really bathed. Now let’s be clear here. I am in no way condoning the complete avoidance of bathing!
Thankfully, somewhere along the way, people learned this was a bad idea. As people began to learn about germs and bacteria, personal hygiene began to improve. A weekly bath was commonplace. Remember, you still had to haul the water, heat it, and pour it into a tub. Then you had to drain it. This was no small task. Add multiple family members and either you were sharing bath water, which goes cool quickly, or you were hauling and heating multiple times, which was not likely due to resources and time. So, for various reasons over the course of history, we just weren’t bathing that much.
In the modern era, we have an even greater understanding of the importance of personal hygiene. Add to this the invention of pressurized water (man’s greatest invention by far!) along with heating tanks and more frequent bathing became a highly desirable activity. Today, all we have to do is turn a nob and viola, hot water on demand. (If you don’t understand how unbelievably lucky you are to have this inside your home, try camping for months at a time without it, while doing physical labor every day. Yes, I’ve done it, and in reality, most of the world still lives likes this. So if you have the opportunity for a daily bath, consider yourself extremely fortunate.)
Chances are if you live in the Western world, you bathe daily, or at least a few times per week. This is considered the ‘norm’, and anything less might result in a bigger ‘personal bubble’ when out in public. But with this post, I’m here to challenge you to think twice before you jump into that shower or bath. Think about all those friendly bacteria loving your skin and offering your body some extra protection. Do you really want to wash all those friends away? Not only that, but if you don’t have a filter on your shower, you’re getting a huge does of chlorine, fluoride and other chemicals that kill your good bacteria topically, internally, and negatively effect your thyroid, lungs, and mucus membranes.
Additionally, if you’re concerned about the health of the planet, a daily shower is really quite glutinous due to the large water and energy consumption.
Ok, so what then are you supposed to do? I admit, I struggle with this question. Or rather, I struggle with the answer. Like I mentioned above, my morning shower is my favorite part of the day. But, knowing what I know, I strive to shower only a few times per week if I can. On the days I work from home, this is usually not a problem. I don’t have to meet anyone in person, and so what I look like isn’t an issue. On the days I’m working outside the home, I try to keep my shower to a minimum. I aim for less than 10 minutes. Five minutes is even better. Usually that’s quite achievable. I also use soap strategically. Most days, I’m not outside rolling around in the dirt, so I don’t really need to scrub my whole body with soap. I just use it in the places where it’s most needed, namely, the ‘pits and groins.’ Otherwise, water is enough for the rest of the body. I also use a shower filter and I notice a huge difference in how my skin feels. I’m helping my thyroid by avoiding the bromines (chlorine and fluoride) which displace iodine form the thyroid. I’m helping my lungs by avoiding the steam inhalation of chlorine gas, and I’m avoiding the damage to my microbiome that is inevitable with chlorine exposure. I’m a big fan of whole house filters for this reason, but they can be expensive and require a plumber to install. If it’s within your budget, I would definitely recommend it. If you need a more budget friendly option, Berkey makes some pretty decent shower filters. And on that note, their drinking water filters can’t be beat. (You can save 5% on their filters by using this link.)
In summary, I know this can be a difficult topic for some, especially if you’re like me and you love to be squeaky clean all the time. But, when you really think about it and realize the benefits of letting nature do it’s thing, its not hard to embrace a ‘less clean’ yet ‘healthier’ way of living. And don’t worry if you just can’t get past the fear of stinking up the place, there is always the fresh scent of patchouli 😉
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Cathy Cooke, BCHN, BBEC Holistic Nutritionist and Building Biologist is the founder of Whole Home and Body Health which provides EMF Assessments, Mold Testing, and Nutrition and Health Consulting located in Boise, Idaho. Cathy is available for consulting via skype and phone, and is also willing to travel as needed for home assessments. Schedule an appointment today!