Health Benefit from Cold Temperature
When the
weather dips into the single digits, most of us want to do absolutely nothing
but dive back under the covers. And it’s all
for a good reason: With extreme cold weather comes health hazards
like frostbite, seasonal affective disorder and even
an increased risk of heart attacks. Now that the thermostat is dropping
and sweater weather has arrived let’s try to look on the bright side. Cold
weather, believe it or not, has quite a number of positives in the form of
health benefits. Read on to learn how the cold can actually help you feel
better!
1.
Help Fat
Loss
Humans have
stores of active brown fat tissue (BAT). Unlike white fat, which stores energy
and comprises most body fat, brown fat is active in burning calories and using
energy.BAT can essentially turn calories from food into heat. It generates
heat by uncoupling proteins, particularly UCP1, within the mitochondrial
membrane.Indeed, studies show that cold exposure increases BAT activity
which leads to increased calorie expenditure. Researchers concluded that
frequent cold exposures might be an acceptable way to address the current
obesity epidemic.It is very helpful in fat loss.
2.
You fall
asleep more easily
Your body
temperature rises and falls during any 24-hour period. It’s usually highest in
the early afternoon and lowest at the crack of dawn. As your body prepares to
sleep, it loses heat as you get drowsy. Studies of sleep-onset insomniacs have
warmer core body temperatures than normal healthy adults. One way to bring on
sleep is to lower the room temperature. Similarly, a study of insomniacs
performed by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that people
who suffer from insomnia have more action going on in the frontal lobes of
their brains — the planning part — hence the common complaint about the
inability to turn off their brains. By literally cooling off their heads, the
study subjects fell asleep almost as fast as those without insomnia.
3.
It helps
you think more clearly
The glucose
in our bodies helps our mental agility and regulates our internal body
temperatures. So when we’re in hot or cold climates, the glucose in our bodies
adjusts accordingly to regulate things. Warm temperatures force our bodies to
use up tons of glucose to keep cool and thus can affect our decision-making
abilities.
4.
It reduces
muscle inflammation
As
published in The Atlantic, the National Institute of Sport, Expertise and
Performance examined seasoned runners with muscle damage for three weeks. Using
three forms of therapy — cryotherapy (exposure to temps as cold as -166°F), far
infrared (heat therapy) or good old-fashioned rest — they monitored the runners
healing processes. And, what did they find?Cryotherapy returned the athletes to
maximum muscle strength faster than the other therapies. Of course, those with
heart issues are best kept warm because blood vessels narrow in the cold.
5.
Cleaner
Air, Better Breathing
Winter
means goodbye to all the bad air quality and high ozone levels so common in the
spring and summer months. The crisp, clean quality of cold air makes
this time of year a great time to be out in nature, taking long walks and
deeper breaths of fresh air.
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