The Biggest Mistake You're Making Showering In The Morning

Some people swear by a morning shower, others a nighttime shower, and some do both — a shower in the morning and another before bed. No matter when you take your shower, it's essential to maintain hygiene and healthy skin. When you take a shower is more of a personal preference, but there are pros and cons to each. This thread on Reddit has users sharing when they shower and why. Some shower in the morning to help wake themselves up, while others shower at night to help them relax before bed. Many people also shower in both the morning and at night. 

Morning showers have lots of benefits. Lifehack points out that a cold morning shower can help improve your circulation, which can be beneficial if you have cold hands and feet from poor circulation. Morning showers can also help relieve anxiety and stress by increasing blood flow to your brain. When you first wake up, you're experiencing sleep inertia — that groggy, sleepy feeling. You can make it go away quicker by taking a shower, and a cold shower, in particular, will help wake you up. If you have a stuffy nose, steam from a warm morning shower can help get rid of that mucus. 

Whether you take a warm or cold shower in the morning, there are many health advantages, but you are probably making one big mistake. 

The most significant disadvantage of a morning shower is that your skin builds up sweat beneath the products you use on your body throughout the day. If you're only showering in the morning, you're going to bed with all of that still on you. If you have to take your shower in the morning, try rinsing off before bed to get rid of the day's buildup. It should only take a few minutes, and you don't even need to use soap (via MindBodyGreen Lifestyle).

Taking a bath or shower before bed can help you sleep better. A 2019 review of 17 different studies on sleep found that a warm bath or shower 1-2 hours before bed helped shorten sleep onset latency, or how long it takes to fall asleep. Bedtime showers also improved sleep quality and sleep efficiency. The best part is you only need to shower or bathe for 10 minutes to reap this benefit. 

The effect is because you're warming up your body during your shower or bath, and your body starts to cool down right after you're done. That cooling effect is what helps you sleep better. If you're showering in the morning only, you're missing out on this incredible benefit. If you still need your morning shower to help wake you up, try a quick 10-minute warm shower or bath about 2 hours before sleep.