Cold Adaptation

An essential strategy for surviving and thriving in winter.

Cold adaptation is essential for a successful winter, as far as health and healing go.

We have managed, as a society, to manufacture a “summer all the time” indoor environment - 70’s year round, artificial light all the time, especially after sundown, etc. This artificial indoor existence has some severe drawbacks that didn't show up until later in life, but now we’re seeing them earlier and earlier in the form of chronic diseases in childhood (asthma, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, kids on anxiety meds, and so on).

As part of your Group Health Coaching membership here at Horaios Wellness, we’ve spent the last several months honing our Light Diet and zeroing in on the importance of proper, TRUE hydration for optimal health. Turns out, mastering a healthy light diet and true hydration to recharge our body battery are essential for a successful winter. Absolutely! They are at the foundation of our “Boost your Winter Vibes” timeline:

A key step in this journey of True Healing is explored in Day 6 - Embracing Your Inner Eskimo. So let's dive right into it...

How does our body generate heat?

We have 2 main ways of generating heat, SHIVERING and BAT. Said differently: shivering thermogenesis and non-shivering thermogenesis.

Everyone’s familiar with shivering. The cold hands and feet, the shaking when we’ve been in the cold for too long, the eventual blue lips, white digits, etc. Not fun. We all probably have some negative reactions to the thought of cold! Thus the layers of clothing, the cranked up thermostat and the indoor existence for almost half of the year in the northern hemisphere for many of us.

Not my idea of a good time. Shivering, that is.

The second way we generate heat is BAT (a.k.a. brown adipose tissue). BAT is one of the 2 types of fat on our body. The other is WAT (white adipose tissue). BAT is, as the name indicates, darker than WAT in color. What gives this BAT the darker pigment is mitochondria. BAT has a much larger concentration of mitochondria than WAT.

Why is this important? Well, because mitochondria are our batteries and our engines. With each little one of these we get a two-fer! Mito make our energy to power important protein processes (ATP) and they act as a battery of potential energy (they make and store 4th phase water), available when needed to power additional cell functions (detoxing, making assorted molecules for important brain and heart functions, reproduction, etc.). In fact, the organs with the most mitochondria (i.e. the most energy-intensive organs) are #1. ovaries; #2. Heart, and #3. Brain. We NEED mitochondria to make energy to power our fertility, our heart & brain function. Only after those 3 organs have gotten what they need, energy-wise, does the rest of the body get their “fair share”. Here’s an image of mitochondria inside a cell, to trigger your memories of high-school biology (fond? not fond?):

Have you ever noticed babies don’t usually shiver? This is because they have massive amounts of BAT! They can’t ask for a sweater. They can’t control ambient heat. They can, however, activate their BAT in response to cold.

Adults that are not cold adapted shiver. This is because the BAT they do have is inactive. It is not being put to good use in generating body heat. You read that right: We ALL HAVE BAT! It doesn’t go away as we grow. We must keep it activated in order to put it to good use in generating heat.

I’d like to point out that in the last image and article referenced, the BAT in the research subjects was activated pharmacologically. Just like with the GLP-1 agonist scam (a post for another day), this is not necessary! We can take advantage of all that Nature has to offer to heal and support wellness. No pill or injectable needed.

How do we activate BAT?

We activate our BAT by spending time in the cold. When we play around with colder temperatures we stimulate the BAT we already have. When we do this we become more efficient at generating our own body heat, like babies, because BAT will take the mitochondria in WAT to make heat! Instead of resorting to the very inefficient heat generating shivering thermogenesis, we begin to harness a more efficient form of heat called non-shivering thermogenesis (thermo = heat; genesis = creating). The more we activate our BAT the more we can be out in the cold for longer periods of time before beginning to shiver.

While babies have BAT all over. Adults have concentrated their BAT to the neck and shoulder area (see above). So just exposing our neck (front and back, tops of shoulders, collar bones and upper back to cold suffices to begin to activate BAT. Read on for specifics.

What are the benefits of activating our BAT?

I know what you’re wondering by now: If BAT needs the mitochondria from WAT, and I have a lot of WAT on my body, then Cold Adaptation is a good way to get rid of that excess WAT!?

Yup. You got it! Weight loss.

I also know what you’re wondering by now: I don’t have that much excess WAT to lose, but my hands and feet are always cold in winter. Heck! I’m always cold in winter! I’ve been told I have thyroid issues (insert label here…) So activating BAT will help me generate my own heat so I can stop the suffering!?!?

Yup. Thyroid Health!

And then there’s the SAD (seasonal affective disorder), the depression that dark, cold winters often trigger in folks. The solution? BAT Activated! More energy. More heat. Less misery.

Other benefits of having a nicely active BAT include:

• Ameliorates Rheumathoid Arthritis

• Insulin and glucose homeostasis

And I’m willing to bet this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. In the interest of time and space I’ll pause here on all the benefits. I have enough to believe it will help me and you at this time. Can’t hurt to get a little cold. Most definitely will help!

Now, the KEY OPERATING WORD/PHRASE UP THERE: “a little”.

A Little Cold ~ Baby Steps - Nuance Above All

Not “all out - hard core - no pain, no gain - all or nothing” cold, as in a plunge into a tub full of ice.

No.

Hard. Stop.

A little.

So let’s talk about how to go about this cold adaptation thing. Because it’s nuanced. It depends on so many factors: gender, age, health condition, stress levels, zip code, season, food diet currently on board, time of day, time of the month for the ladies…. The list goes on. So PLEASE don’t assume that just because so and so on social media, or even so and so in your personal in-real-life circle does it, you can and should, too.

How to go about activating your BAT

1. Cold Water Face Splash - A Beginner’s Variant on cold face plunges (see below) is simply splashing cold water on your face in the morning, as part of your facial cleansing routine. Get into the habit of splashing cold water on your face for about a week, then graduate up to face plunges in the bowl (see below).

2. Cold Air - As the temperatures drop outside, spend your sunrise and UVA time with the neck (front and back - so if you have long hair, put it up in a bun), top of shoulders, upper back and collar bones exposed to ambient cold air. Translation: don’t grab that scarf or turtleneck just yet. As we get into winter proper, have your hat, mittens and boots handy and do wear them. But keep that neck exposed as long as you can. How long is too long? When you begin to shiver you’ve done enough. But you don’t need to stay out until you shiver, if you can’t due to time constraints. Every little bit counts. A few minutes every day is better than 2 hours once a week. Build up to it!

3. Cold Face Plunges - take a round or oval-shaped bowl (a crock pot works great) and fill it with cold water. Have a hand towel handy. Pull your hair back and when you’re ready, take a breath in and hold it as you plunge your face into that cold water, up to your hair line. Remain with your face submerged until you can hold your breath no more. Don’t push it. Come out and dry your face. Breathe normally for a few cycles. Repeat the plunge up to 3 times. That’s it! Do this daily. Again CONSISTENCY IS KEY.

4. Cold Showers - Ending our hot showers with cold water is but a simple, first-step approach to beginning to reverse this “summer all the time” existence. At the end of your showers turn the water to cool and count to 15. Stop. Next shower count to 30 and stop. Next shower up it to 45…. so on and so forth. As you get comfortable doing this, allow the water to go from cool to cold. Take your time. It’s not a race.

Face plunges are a great way to ease into this cold adaptation stuff, especially if your relationship with cold is abysmal and just the mere thought of this triggers you or makes you anxious. Why? Because this act of consciously holding our breath is a phenomenal tool for calming the nervous system! Try simply inhaling and holding your breath for a few seconds and then exhaling. Repeat this several times and notice how you feel. Conscious breath hold is a technique widely used in the nervous system regulation world for helping people get out of a fight-or-flight Sympathetic state and get into a much needed rest-and-digest Parasympathetic state. Combine this with cold and you very easily bring your body into a restful state even when confronted with bad memories regarding cold, freezing, shivering and misery. A great way to reverse this cycle!

Some Caveats

• Women who are still cycling - Don’t “cold plunge” during your progesterone phase (i.e. the week to 10-days before your period). Honor and tend to your progesterone and rest. We will discuss Hormone TLC in another post.

• GO SLOW! If at any point you don’t like how you feel, back off. The key here is consistency, not quantity. It can take many, many months to build this practice up. So be patient with yourself and the process.

That’s it for now.

BAT Activated!

Over and Out,

Amanda