by Josh
So a couple of weeks ago I posed the question asking when (or if) you showered. The response was absolutely stellar with over 130 responses. So huge thanks for that.
Here are the results:
54% of you shower in the morning
24% of you shower in both the morning and evening
22% of you shower only in the evening
Now for my answer.
I shower twice a day. I shower at night immediately before I go to bed and in the morning soon after I wake up. Why? It ultimately goes back to getting a good nights rest.
I didn’t start showering in the evening until I wrote the first post about this, but I’ve been doing it since then and can’t believe I hadn’t started sooner.
It perviously took me 30 minutes to an hour to go to sleep every single night for as long as I can remember. Since showering at night, I’m out of it within a matter of minutes.
Like others who shower at night, I find it helps totally relax me. I turn the water on as hot as I can bear it and just stand there for about 10 minutes. I’ll then do a fairly quick bathe and from there go directly to bed. It usually helps to get your hair as dry as you can with a towel, but a little dampness will help you feel refreshed when you lie down.
So my suggestion? Shower at night right before you go to bed and shower again when you wake up. Try if for atleast one week. If you don’t get to sleep faster and sleep better…you can kick me in the shins.
I’ll try it out today… But I think this works. Sometimes I take a bath at night – after going to bed you’ll sleep immediately and better than usual.
Cheers,
Julian
Actually, this is the first time in eons I’m going to shower before hopping into bed. Let’s hope it’ll give me the sleep needed for my exam tomorrow :)
If I would shower twice a day on a regular basis, my skin would dry up. It is not a pleasant feeling, so once a day is good compromise.
Of course, if I do some kind of physical activity I do shower afterwards regardless of previous showers.
I tried it a few times and it does work, however, I have to shower in the morning and I’m just too cheap to shower twice a day unless I need it. With 3 people in the house it adds up pretty quick. Not the water bill – the electric for heating up the water. I have no proof, mind you, but my gut tells me it costs several dollars a month in go juice to heat up that much water. I could lie and say I do it for the planet but I do it for my wallet – which is still a green cause.
Wow, this is terrible from a conservation standpoint. Find a different way to get relaxed in the evening or awake in the morning and stop wasting water.
I recommend herbal tea and night or coffee in the morning.
This John Y he talks about conservation but his site it is having lots of information about professional baseball in the latest post. Baseball is a waste of national resource I am thinking, as well. It is something that should be banished because it is a foolish waste of much time and money – we could all take showers 3 times per day for 10 years and we could not cost as much about water as the MLB salaries.
Water is, according to my knowledge, a renewable resource. Unless you live in very dry area of course. Here in Norway it is pretty much an unlimited resource and you can use as much water as you’d like. In most parts of the country you don’t have to pay per quantity either. As a sidenote I can tell you that it’s also very pure and clean so most people are drinking tap water.
The energy consumption required to heat the water is another matter though. Unless you’re on some renewable energy like solar or wind, you’re not being very friendly to the environment. As a matter of fact I think a bath in a hot tub would would require less heated water than a 10 minute long shower. Possibly more relaxing as well but it isn’t an option for me since we don’t own a hot tub.
I also shower twice a day and I can’t imagine how it would be to go to bed without getting a quick shower. I feel uncomfortable when I go to bed without getting a quick shower first. Why? Because I still smell my perfume, my hair is stiff from all the gel (you don’t want to sleep on a pillow which is polluted with gel would you?).
Elgar – How can you bring baseball into this? I’m sure there’s hundred’s of things that are a waste of time and money when you really think about it.
I think I’ll have to try this twice a day for a week. It probably won’t work in the summer months when I commute by bicycle and need a shower right after getting home. Three a day (at home) might be too much.
It sounds like a good idea, but it’s the worst idea for those of us with dry skin. Dry skin gets more severe in wintry climates because of heating.
As already mentioned by others I see three negative side-effects as well: dry skin, waste of water and waste of time.
If I can’t sleep I listen to an audiobook.
But actually I fall asleep very very quickly. :)
*knocking on wood*
Fresh water is a renewable resource, but that doesn’t make it unlimited. Through poor water management and wasteful water use, large areas — many of which are not especially arid — are running out of water. (Just this week, the Economist had an article on the U.S. plains states and water. See http://economist.com/World/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5501126 — subscription is required, but I think they do a day pass now). Even in some wetter areas, rivers are running lower and water tables are not as full as they should be: these are not without ramifications.
But, you say, how much of a difference does it make if I just get one measley extra shower a day? Well, the average shower uses 40 gallons of water. Take an extra one every day for a year and you’ll use 14,600 gallons of water just on the extra showers. That’s not insignificant.
Yes, there are a lot of ways that we can conserve resources. But doing small things on your own can help, and you know they’re happening because you’re doing them. Besides, it has to start somewhere.
The above link got mangled. Here is the link:
http://economist.com/World/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5501126
Keith, your “kick me in the shins” guarantee makes me smile, thanks.
Elgar: touche!
I recently found a huge helper in sleeping. We had bought a new king-size bed recently, but it showed too much deflection on my side after just a few weeks so Sleepys refunded the amount and we put it towards a Tempurpedic. This is one of those hi-tech foam mattresses that costs an arm and a leg, but it’s worth every penny. It supports you amazingly in any sleeping position. My only problem now is that I used to wake up automatically at 5:30, but now I sleep so heavily that I may have to go back to an alarm clock.
Maybe I’ll try the shower before bed thing as well.
Showering twice a day is wasteful, both in time, money and resources. I sympathize with your getting to sleep problem so why not just shower at night?
@Dale Hanks: Why not just shower at night? Because then I’ll still feel dirty all day and won’t really ever wake up. And it may waste your time, but I don’t consider it a waste of my time. I’m getting to sleep 30-45 minutes faster than before because of a 15 minute shower. If anything…this saves me time.
I must agree. Two showers is a heck of a lot of wasted water. How about just wetting your hair when you wash your face for the night?
But, to each his own I suppose.
Well, I don’t know where you all live, but I can say 100% of the time, this was the only way to get to sleep when I went to Taiwan. Can’t do it any other way. And you sweat while you sleep, so you have to wash when you get up.
I can see this helping, but I can’t sleep with wet hair at all and I don’t blowdry mine.
My grandmother, in attempting to be my career counselor when I was young, advised me that there were two kinds of jobs in the world: Those that one has to shower before going to and those that one has to shower after leaving.
This would just confuse her! :)
One thing all you conververs forgot… yes, water IS a renewable resource, but it takes energy to pump that water to your home, clean it when it goes back into the system, etc. Most likely that energy is not renewable (coal).
One thing all you conververs forgot… yes, water IS a renewable resource, but it takes energy to pump that water to your home, clean it when it goes back into the system, etc. Most likely that energy is not renewable (coal).
Whilst showering twice a day might be nice, it really is very environmentally unsound. Water is not an unlimited resource.
I live in a country with serious drought and ongoing water restrictions mean that responsible citizens have canned the second shower, along with councils banning washing cars and watering lawns.
I can appreciate that perspectives might be different in water-drenched countries, but if you take a global perspective 30 minutes of showering per day is pretty irresponsible.
Studies have been done in Japan where they bathe, not shower, before bedtime. People there sleep really well because the body temperature is raised about an hour before bedtime which “juices” the natural cycle. they also conserve water by washing with soap and water outside of the tub and then multiple people soak in the hot water. They have excellent heaters, filters, and re-use the final water for laundry purposes. Pumps are sold in all the stores and the more modern homes are plumed for this multipurpose use. If you live alone you would soak one night and then re-heat the water the next night or two and then use it for laundry. Like I said, bath and boy is it relaxing!!
As others said, 2 showers a day = dry dry skin!
When I feel very stressed and I know I’ll struggle to get to sleep, I have chamomille tea, and a bath with a Lush bathbomb (a terribly fragrant shop from the outside – usually scares men – but run in and ask the shop assistants for some good get-to-sleep bombs or melts). I’ve been known to fall asleep IN the bath in cases like these, which I’m sure isn’t ideal safety-wise.
Cut out coffee after 6pm, eat reasonably early if you can, eat lighter if you’re forced to eat late, and as a treat, have a glass of wine if you really struggle to get to sleep!
Oh and top tip: Keep a notebook and pen by the bedside, so you can jot down notes if things come to mind at odd times, rather than worry about remembering them for the morning!!
With kids, we’re lucky if we get to shower every 2nd day. Showering twice a day would be fantastic and showering once a day would be a luxury.
I don’t mind showering at night before bed, but it seems a little pointless if you have to shower the next morning anyways before you go out.
Showering is very tedious to me. I can’t just step in for a quick shower, I always have to do a full shower which takes 20-30 mins. I’m sure I could cut that down to 10 mins if I really wanted to…but I’m just so used to taking long showers =/
Water hogs! You could get the same effect from deep breating or stretching or going for a walk, without all that inconvenient screwing-up-the-planet stuff. You could also try giving up caffeine in coffee, tea and chocolate.
Alternatively, you could just stay up.
I found this website this morning after my husband and I had yet another fight last night about needing to take a shower at night. He claims you get filthy during the day and need to clean yourself before going to bed, whereas I think any “dirt” I collect from sitting behind my computer all day can wait to be cleaned off during my morning shower. This is a very contentious issue between us and I wish I could think of a way to compromise. I’m the type of person who hates to waste things (I keep all the lights off except for the one in the room I’m in at that time) so I guess that’s one reason I object to this extra shower.
In my point of view the first thing you should get done is to think about your neurotic behaviours. Showering twice a day is just so unbelievable anal…
Delete this comment.
There’s no argument: showering twice a day – especially for ten minutes – IS ecologically irresponsible.
Oh please….two showers a day ecologically irresponsible?? That’s only if you have THAT much area to wash :)
Actually I’ve been taking two showers daily for all my adult life. I have very oily skin and besides, it only takes me 5 mins to shower. It’s very healthy to be clean as I haven’t had a cold in 2 years. Even if evryone I know is sick with a cold.
And lets not forget your significant other during bed/romp time :) Be considerate, be clean!
how do i find you to kick you in the shins?????!
2 Showers a day? Letting the water run for about 5 minits? Where the hell do you live?
mineral oil is not the ony liquid getting more an more expensive… One shower is enough. If you feel like “smelling of sleeping” you should either stop to jack off in the night or change your linen sheet !!!
Shower twice a day seems time consuming and tedious specially after a hard day’s work when you are really tired and just want go to bed. But nevertheless seems to be worth giving a try before going to bed.
Would certainly give it a try sooner or later…cheers :)
I agree with being responsible concerning water. However ALL MY LIFE I’ve had trouble just getting in, doing my thing, and getting OUT of the shower. Why is it so hard to do! As I’m getting in, I think to myself, “I have so much to do/have to get to work, so I NEED to make this quick! Next think I know, I’ve been standing in the shower with my mind somewhere WAY off in the distance, for 20 minutes!!! It is like I get into a sort of trance once I get in there, and it just throws off my whole day! If I take one at night instead, then I’m embarressed to say how much LONGER I take! So I must take it in the morning. I just wish I could keep my thoughts the same DURING the shower as just before getting in, where I have some control of not slipping into a trance. Any suggestions for someone this messed up in the head???