Tenafly students and staff have found it controversial to decide when it is the best time to shower. Showering in the morning could help with feeling fresh on the way to school, but showering in the night can make you feel clean when going to bed. Is there a health benefit to choosing one over the other?
Morning Showers:
Showering first thing in the morning sets the stage for a day filled with heightened alertness and overall cleanliness. The act serves more than a simple hygienic function; it signals the body to prepare for the day’s challenges, offering a way to jump-start the body from the tiring experience of sleep. It can provide a circadian marker that signals the body when it is time to wake up. Besides waking up the body, showering can be done just out of convenience. According to Health.com, half the Americans in one survey prefer to exercise in the morning. For these individuals, taking a shower helps clean the individual pores from both their rigorous exercise and the oils produced while sleeping. The task of getting the exercise finished while also getting a fresh start can be appealing to many people.
Night Showers:
While morning showers may offer a fresh start to the day, there are compelling advantages to showering in the evening. As students go through their day with germ-ridden classes, the advantage of showering in the night goes beyond just cleaning. “Environmental factors like irritants and pollution can worsen some skin diseases,” Dr. Cindy Wassef, an assistant professor at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, said. Especially during springtime, people can be found carrying allergy-inducing dust into their bed sheets. People who suffer from eczema can greatly benefit from nightly showers. Another benefit is that they can help people fall asleep more easily. According to the National Institute of Health, having a high body temperature before going to bed makes going to sleep easier. Having a feeling of cleanliness as a bonus, showering in the nighttime has its own merits.
Opinions at THS:
There are both pros and cons to each side of the argument. Tenafly students and staff seem to prefer night over the morning to shower. In an Echo poll, 55% of people voted for nighttime showers. People who voted for morning showers seem to like how it gives an extra boost to their day. “Showering in the morning helps wake me up,” Seihyun Lee (’25) said. “Showering in the afternoon is not necessary because I wash my hands and face well, so I don’t think any outside germs will harm me.”
On the other hand, some students find showering in the nighttime to be more practical and cleansing. “Throughout the whole day, you sweat and you go outside and it’s very unsanitary outside,” Bo Min Kim (’25) said. “In the morning, especially as students, we have to go to school early. There are a lot of things in the morning, and I think showering in the morning takes too much time. You have more time in the nighttime.” Having the time to clean oneself at nighttime can be a nice ritual to have before drifting off to sleep.
Overall, choosing the time to shower ultimately depends on your preference. As long as you take a shower to cleanse your body daily, it shouldn’t matter when you shower.
