SCI-ART LAB

Science, Art, Litt, Science based Art & Science Communication

Krishna: This is a basic question. I want to give a different answer but let me start with the normal one before going to a different one.

This is the advice you normally get :

You can fully cover yourself with woolen clothes. Two or three layers of clothing work fine depending on the temperature, but the more layers you wear, the warmer you’ll stay.

Wear a monkey cap or wrap a scarf around your mouth and neck. Use a large woollen coat or sweater when you go outside. Also use socks, boots and gloves.

You can consume hot food and drinks. Take a bath with hot water. Do simple workouts to keep yourself warm.

You can use woolen blankets if you want to keep yourself warm when you sleep.

Insulate your windows and doors. Then use room heaters.

But know what, I don’t do many of these things! Except exercising, I don’t follow any of these things even during the coldest days of winter. I want a cold atmosphere that would make me shiver a lot.

So now I want to take you through a different route ....

Exposing your body to cool and even cold temperatures may help recruit more brown fat cells. Research (1) has suggested that just two hours of exposure each day to temperatures around 66˚F (19˚C) may be enough to turn recruitable fat to brown.

Turning the thermostat down a few degrees in your home or going outside in cold weather are other ways to cool your body and possibly create more brown fat.

Calculations have suggested that maximal cold-induced brown fat thermogenesis would be between 25 and 400 kcal/day in lean healthy volunteers. Given the inducibility of beige fat, activating these cells could result in even more substantial effects. However, the greatest benefits may not relate to increased energy expenditure per se, but rather might result from enhanced glucose and lipid disposal.

A review on various studies has shown that brown fat burns calories and may help control blood sugar and improve insulin levels, decreasing the risk for type 2 diabetes. It may also help with removing fats from the blood, decreasing the risk for hyperlipidemia.

Brown fat increases your metabolism to a large extent. (2).

Metabolism involves the chemical reactions that break down the food we eat into sugars, fats, and amino acids. We use these compounds for energy to power our bodies. They may also be used to build new cell structures and machinery. Metabolism can be impacted by many factors, such as diet, genes, the environment, and daily activity.

Brown fat breaks down blood sugar (glucose) and fat molecules to create heat and help maintain body temperature. Cold temperatures activate brown fat, which leads to various metabolic changes in the body. Most of our fat, however, is white fat, which stores extra energy. Too much white fat builds up in obesity. Researchers have been working to harness brown fat’s activity in order to treat obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic disorders.

It was found that brown fat produces a protein called SLC25A44 upon cold exposure. SLC25A44 brings BCAAs into mitochondria, the cell’s energy compartment, where they are used to produce energy and generate heat. Blocking this process leads to higher BCAA levels, obesity, and signs of diabetes.

That is how I ( and some doctors and scientists too ) keep myself naturally thin and free from unwanted health conditions.

Do you still want to keep yourself warm? :)

Footnotes:

  1. https://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/diabetes/64/7/2346.fu...
  2. How brown fat improves metabolism

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