The Science of Cold Thermogenesis for Fat Loss
Cold thermogenesis has become increasingly popular in recent times as an effective form of remedy for fat loss. The actual form is immersing oneself in cold conditions, such as immersing oneself in cold water or cold immersion baths or under cold showerheads or ice baths.
Studies have proven that such a practice enhances the mood and improves energy levels most likely owing to the enhanced release of mood-regulating neurotransmitters through meditation.
Increased Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT) BAT stimulation leads to a raised amount of brown fat capable of burning energy and boosting metabolism within the body to utilize fat stores better as fuel, thereby aiding muscle recovery by reducing inflammation and by curtailing the accumulation of by-products of internal exercises such as lactic acid.
Brown fat tissue (BAT) is highly vascularized and innervated with multilocular lipid droplets and numerous mitochondria. BAT has characteristics that differ from its counterpart White fat tissue (WAT); the latter stores energy as triglycerides in large, unilocular lipid droplets with few mitochondria. The main function of BAT is thermoregulation, producing heat through oxidation of free fatty acids without shivering, and is increasingly important for adaptation of humans to cold exposure as well as resistance training-induced metabolic adaptations.
Usually, activation of BAT in the laboratory is made by exposing animals to low temperatures, which in turn generate activity in the sympathetic nervous system, which then releases norepinephrine that binds to beta adrenergic receptors on BAT surfaces, resulting in elevated cAMP levels for further activations such as protein kinase A (PKA)/cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB) signaling that lead transcription to UCP1 gene and hence thermogenesis due to increased mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation.
Human studies have found that both insulin and cold stimuli increased glucose uptake into brown adipose tissue (BAT) and transcriptional induction of UCP1, but the responses from cold stimulation were generally stronger. In addition, the cold-induced insulin sensitivity (measured by increased uptake of glucose in muscle and brown adipose tissue) was also determined to be increased after being subjected to cold challenge.
Increased Calories Burned
Cold thermogenesis is rapidly gaining popularity within the wellness community as one of the most effective aspects of weight loss and other recovering benefits.
As the temperature drops, your body works harder to maintain its mean core temperature -- by way of various physiological responses, including shunting blood vessels to minimize heat loss and producing heat via shivering. Both these processes consume energy at a much higher rate than normal, hence burning more calories.
Cold exposure also releases hormones that play a role in metabolism-such as dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine-that stimulate the breakdown of fatty acids and also increase metabolic rates.
Not just promotes weight loss, cold thermogenesis also provides aid to the muscle recovery post-exercise. Cryotherapy helps close damaged blood vessels and reduces blood flow into the groups of muscles involved in injury thus speeding up recovery time and reducing muscle pain from working out.
Some of these modalities are daily cold showers or tubbing, or weekly ice baths as part of the wellness regimen; initially, using warm water then reducing temperature until it reaches a very cold-but-tolerable-feel-and yet it completes a whole routine.
Increased Energy Levels
Cold thermogenesis makes your brown fat cells work harder to burn calories. It turns out that small, round, fat structures that store energy are easier to burn off than white body fat (insulating organs). Hormones such as norepinephrine are released from active BAT because it sends signals through the bloodstream to skeletal muscle cells to create even more heat through the use of oxygen for energy consumption; as a result, more calories are burned, contributing to healthy weight loss.
Clearly, alone, physical activity has the potential to raise daily energy expenditure (TDEE), but such increases are often offset by reductions in non-exercise TDEE and other physiological functions. This is why it is important to sustain a high energy flux state following large weight loss to retain keeping weight healthy in the long term.
In turn, this finding can be explained as lower levels of ghrelin while increasing levels of anorexigenic GLP-1 hormone levels were present among these participants. Increased frequency and duration of exposure to cold is one mechanism by which one could stimulate the activity of BAT. To start this process, try lukewarm water and then slowly decrease intensity until it feels quite cold but still safe; most find taking a shower filled with cold water in a tub more convenient than immersing in freezing waters for direct exposure.
