Away from exercise, you might just be desperate to cool down from a hot Tube ride home or need to cool down after spending time in the sun. And in those cases, you still might be better off with having a warmer wash.

The reason we feel uncomfortable in hot temperatures is that the body is busy trying to achieve homeostasis – our normal state of being. To maintain a constant core temperature, the nervous systems kick in and we’re prompted to make behavioural adaptations to cool down. Discomfort is the body’s way of forcing us to engage in those behavioural adaptions.

Now, you might think one of those behaviours is finding a cold body of water to splash around in. But some experts believe that cold water can actually have a warming effect. According to experts from Swinburne University of Technology, having a cold shower tricks the body into thinking it’s no longer warm – stopping it from sweating. But sweating is our body’s natural way of cooling down, so cut that off, and your core temperature may start to rise.

Cold water also decreases the amount of blood flow to the skin, meaning that you retain heat. It might feel refreshing while you’re in it, but once you get out of the shower, you’ll be flooded with sweat again.

How to stop sweating quickly after a workout: why a warm shower may be better than a cold one