There is actually some clinical evidence that cold immersion can reduce Raynaulds Phenomenon, at least in some cases. Here are the conclusions of research reported by Dr. Frederick Wigley in his column in The New York Times:

Patients with Raynaud’s phenomenon will acclimate to cold temperatures. In fact, Raynaud’s is worse during shifting temperatures, such as changing seasons (particularly the fall) than in the middle of the winter. In one study, we tried to trigger an attack with cold exposure by putting the hand in an ice box. We found that during the first visit, it triggered an attack about 70 percent of the time; during the second visit, it triggered an attack about 50 percent of the time; and during the third visit, we could trigger an attack only 30 percent of the time. We think this reduction of success of our cold challenge was due to acclimation to the exposure.More interesting, a group tried to reduce Raynaud’s by putting the hands in warm water while chilling the body; after several sessions, the cold exposure no longer caused Raynaud’s. The investigators suggested they had trained the fingers to be warm despite being in the cold.

I would suggest a gradual approach, building upon the Wigley study. It may take multiple exposures over several weeks, but see how it goes and let us know!

I really enjoy your blog, and the writing on cold tolerance in particular. I have Raynaud’s, which though minor, still leaves my fingers and/or toes completely white without blood flow after SOME cold exposure. The triggers are unpredictable, as sometimes minimal cold sets it off, other times I do fine with fairly cold exposure.

Do you see any possibility that I could learn to moderate or eliminate this condition through cold showers, or cold immersion? My main concern is that the cold shower will trigger the Raynauds, then I don’t know if I should continue, or stop to restore blood flow.

Any thoughts? I would love to be more in control with any cold exposure.

I like hearing from fellow Stoics. I find Stoicism to be a congenial philosophy, but for some reason there has not been much interest in the Stoic philosophy by people posting comments here or on the forum. And yet it is a philosophy with enormous practical value.

As to staying clean while showering cold: It’s not that hard. The key is to choose soaps and shampoos that work well at low or moderate temperature. I personally use coconut oil based soaps and shampoos, which maintain a good degree of surfactancy and “slipperiness” even in cold water. My favorite brands are Kirk’s Original Coco Castile soap and Suave Natural Tropical Coconut shampoo and the related conditioner. You may need to spend an extra 30 seconds lathering and rinsing in cold water compared to warm water, but that’s no big deal. If you are still not satisfied, then take a warm or lukewarm shower once a week or if you happen to get particularly sweaty or dirty.

I’m not in favor of frequent hot or warm showers or “contrast baths” involving quick alternation between warm and cold baths. I may take a dip in the hot tub or take a warm shower once every 1-2 weeks. But if you get under warm water on a daily basis, this seems to impair your ability to adapt to the cold. Frequent exposure to warm water appears to undo or partially offset the advances made in cold water adaptation.

The above comments are not based on deep science — just my personal experience! So I would be happy to hear contrary opinions.

The question then becomes how to restore the normal balance and thereby recover a homeostatic ability to “predict” reward. This can be a very difficult hole to dig out of, for serious addicts. I think that sustained extinction is the only sure route, assisted by active cue exposure reconditioning and reinforcement of alternate pathways. Some of the empirical support for this approach, as explored in the study by Conklin and Tiffany, is discussed in my post on Overcoming Addictios.
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I thought the concept of “reward prediction error” interesting.

I worked another year or two at directing the heat at hands and feet, and eventually got to where I could snow ski in temperatures down to about 10f without gloves as long as my hands were dry. Once they got wet, the wind chill in that temperature while skiing was more than I could overcome. The hard part was being able to do it without continuous focus. I did want to enjoy the skiing, not just focus on generating heat. And it does require some focus.

There are times my wife has curled up next to me in bed and said “Do that hot thing” because she’s cold, meaning heat myself up. Makes me laugh, but within a few minutes she’s scooting away saying she’s too hot.

I don’t play with it much any more, but I can still break a sweat in room temperatures within about 5 minutes.

It’s amazing what our bodies are capable of.