Hormonal
Short-term cold acclimation (10 days of intermittent exposure to 14-15°C) recruits brown adipose tissue (BAT) and enhances skeletal muscle glucose uptake in metabolically healthy obese men.
If you are obese, exposing yourself to mild cold (around 14-15°C or 57-59°F) for 10 days can help your body recruit brown fat and improve how your muscles handle glucose. Start with short exposures (2 hours) and gradually increase to 6 hours per day. You don't need to be freezing; just cool enough to trigger a response without shivering excessively. This adaptation may help counteract some metabolic risks associated with obesity.
A 10-day cold acclimation period resulted in increased cold-induced glucose uptake in BAT... Cold-induced skeletal muscle glucose uptake tended to increase upon cold acclimation, which was paralleled by increased basal GLUT4 localization in the sarcolemma.
Why this rating
Small sample size (n=10) and short duration (10 days), though the study design is rigorous with PET/CT and muscle biopsies.
Source
Short-term Cold Acclimation Recruits Brown Adipose Tissue in Obese Humans
Mark J. W. Hanssen et al. · Diabetes · 2015
DOI 10.2337/db15-1372
More from this paper
- Cold acclimation enhances basal GLUT4 translocation to the sarcolemma in skeletal muscle of obese men, facilitating increased glucose uptake.Moderate
- Short-term cold acclimation does not significantly increase non-shivering thermogenesis (NST) or energy expenditure in obese men, despite recruiting BAT.Moderate
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