It’s Christmas time again, and with it come all the desserts, cookies, and other sweets that are consumed during this season. If you’re worried about those extra pounds that will show up on the bathroom scale, we have a new perspective for you: to burn off all that fat you’re accumulating, you can join a gym… Or start shivering. Literally shiver, as new research suggests that chills can potentially help you lose weight. Before you leave the house without a coat, we recommend that you don’t take this too literally.
There’s no point in shivering a little if you’re going to die of hypothermia before you lose those extra pounds. But let’s stop joking around and get down to business. Is it possible to exercise just by shivering because we’re cold?
Skip the gym, skip your coat
It seems that Norwegians and other Nordic people who go to the sauna and then jump into an icy lake to bathe were onto something. According to a new study, 15 minutes in the cold can be the metabolic equivalent of an hour of exercise. This is because both activities affect two main types of adipose tissue—commonly known as fat and cellulite. The bulky fat that is in our hips and muscles stores energy. Meanwhile, brown fat (found mainly in babies) generates heat and burns calories when properly stimulated.
But what exactly did the study involve? To conduct this study, scientists at the US National Institutes of Health monitored 10 healthy men and women as they exercised in a laboratory at 65°F. These same subjects then lay down on a bed while the temperature dropped to 53°F. Needless to say, they were very cold and shivering the whole time.
In both tests, the subjects’ muscles contracted, producing a hormone called irisin that increases body heat and creates brown fat cells from white cells. This is a significant discovery, given that just a few years ago it was believed that humans lost brown fat after early childhood. However, studies such as this one suggest that many adults retain varying amounts of brown fat.
Further investigation into the matter also revealed that thinner people tend to have more brown fat than heavier people. It is not yet known whether this is due to a genetic factor or some other reason. There appears to be a relationship between a person’s high brown fat level and their glucose spikes, so studying this could lead to improvements in the quality of life for obese and diabetic people.
Our weapons against the cold
Humans evolved to withstand adverse weather conditions. In fact, our species has three mechanisms for dealing with the cold. The first is called vasoconstriction, when blood flow to the skin decreases, increasing the body’s ability to maintain its core temperature. We have all noticed that when we are in the snow or somewhere very cold, our extremities lose temperature. This is because our blood has gone to our torso to protect our vital organs.
Then there is thermogenesis. Although this is probably related to brown fat, it refers to all the chemical reactions that occur in our body when we are in a cold place, but do not result in muscle contraction.
Then we get chills, which is our last resort. It is a rather unpleasant and ineffective mechanism. However, it contracts muscle fibers and can produce enough heat to maintain body temperature when we are in a place that is too cold. For now, scientists are still investigating whether the relationship between brown fat and metabolism could solve modern human problems such as diabetes, obesity, and fatty liver disease.
In the meantime, if you feel like your metabolism is slow, we recommend going for a walk even if it’s cold… It will surely be very invigorating.