Doctor explains the scientific reason why women prefer to take hotter showers than men

Have you ever wondered why men and women prefer different water temperatures when they shower? Well, it seems the debate surrounding the shower temperatures of husbands and wives has taken over social media lately. Men are making fun remarks about their female partners cooking themselves under boiling water each day while they prefer to take relatively colder showers. A podcast couple, Micah and Sarah—who goes by @micahandsarah on TikTok—shared a video on this topic. Micah complains about how the couple can not shower together for this particular reason.

He takes the viewers straight to their bathroom and shows the shower settings to get hot and cold water. "This is why my wife and I can't shower together. This is boiling hot, the hottest it can go," he mentioned in his video while cranking the shower handle that regulates the water temperature. "Thirty-degree burns and this is where she's comfortable. Her temperature, boiling a turkey." The video grabbed the attention of over 26 million viewers and a London-based medic, Dr. Sermed Mezher, was among them.

Mezher—who goes by @drsermedmezher on Instagram—made a separate video to answer the question of confused men who agreed with Micah on how their wives and girlfriends take extremely hot showers. "If you're a woman who likes to crank up the shower heating bill, then you're not alone and there's a reason for it," he spoke after watching Micah's video. "See, women naturally have a fractionally higher core body temperature compared to men, which helps to keep those inner organs toasty but can lead to cold sensitivity that can worsen throughout the cycle."

He further explained that a woman's body temperature sensitivity peaks when ovulating and toward the end of their menstrual cycle. It happens largely due to the rise of estrogen levels in a woman's body, which lowers body temperature and reduces the blood flow to the hands and feet. "Estrogen, a key hormone in the female reproductive system, can have significant effects on blood properties and circulation. One of these effects includes thickening the blood, which can complicate its flow, particularly to small capillaries in extremities like the hands and feet. Estrogen influences several physiological processes," he further explained in the caption of his video.

"We also know that women are five times more likely to suffer from Raynaud's phenomenon, which can cause spasms of the blood vessels in the hands and feet. But even without this, women are on average three degrees colder in the hands and feet due to estrogen thickening the blood, making it more difficult to get there," Mezher continues. As a result, men mostly feel warmer compared to women. They don't crave boiling showers. The comment section of Mezher's video filled up with people relating to Micah's complaints and the doctor's explanation.

@makatron jokes, "My girl literally showers with lava. It is some sort of superpower." @arcania.aesthetics commented, "Lukewarm water is best for me. I don't want to walk out of the shower feeling half-cooked." @white_panda7 quipped, "I tend to take a shower in boiling hot water more so than my wife, who likes hot showers but not as hot as mine. I look like a cooked shellfish when I get out." @the_real_scott_kennedy added, "My wife is just the opposite. She can't get in the hot tub with me because it's too hot. She doesn't like taking hot showers. The temperature that she likes is just so uncomfortable for me."

You can follow Dr. Sermed Mezher (@drsermedmezher) on Instagram for more health content.