Faculty research offers students a chilly path to better test scores
Do cold showers make students smarter? Dr. Edsen Donato, assistant professor of biokinesiology and a 1985 graduate, recruited students to help him find out. His findings were published in the December 2024 edition of the North American Journal of Psychology.
Donato divided 26 members of his Concepts of Wellness class into two groups, an “experimental” and a “control” group. The experimental group was instructed to take cold showers of varying length (two, four and six minutes) before sitting down to study for and complete an exam, while the control group skipped the shower. After repeating the exercise with the groups swapped, the results concluded that students who took a cold shower scored, on average, slightly higher on the test compared to those who did not shower. Cold showers by themselves aren’t going to turn a student into the next Isaac Newton, but Donato believes they’re worth further investigation.
“While cold showers did not significantly improve test scores, the slight improvement in the cold shower group’s mean test scores suggests potential cognitive benefits,” he wrote in the publication. “Further research is necessary to confirm these findings and explore the practical applications of cold-water exposure in academic settings.”
Donato partnered with Genesis Health Clubs to conduct the study because the cold water in their showers was a consistent 64 degrees. The water in the Union Adventist University dorms was warmer. “Sixty-eight degrees isn’t that cold,” said Donato with the casual air of someone who didn’t have to take a cold shower himself.
Donato demonstrates a great curiosity that drives him to learn, discover, and pass on his experience to his students. This curiosity goes beyond just the information uncovered in his study, but is about teaching students to apply the valuable foundations of research to whatever field they are studying. For students, it is more than a class experiment, it is gaining hands-on experience that will serve them later on.
“I hope that it encourages them to search for themselves things that are commonly done, but not proven,” said Donato. “For example, ‘this diet is good for you,’ or ‘this exercise is good for you,’ things like that. Hopefully, students will be able to do the research and be motivated to seek out for themselves whether these things are true.”
by Seth Coe, a sophomore writing studies major from Colorado