Posted on 09/22/2022 8:26:23 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Research finds that shivering during repeated exposure to cold improves glucose tolerance, decreases fasting blood sugar and blood fat levels, and markedly reduces blood pressure in overweight and obese adults.
The preliminary study highlights the potential for repeated cold exposure that activates shivering as an alternative strategy to treat and prevent type 2 diabetes (T2D).
"When we are cold, we can activate our brown fat because it burns energy and releases heat to protect us. In addition, muscle can contract mechanically, or shivers, thereby generating heat. As there is considerably more muscle than brown fat in a human, shivering can burn more calories and produce more heat," explains Sellers.
To find out more, researchers exposed volunteers—11 men and 4 postmenopausal women with overweight or obesity (aged 40-75 years, BMI 27-35 kg/m²)—to 10 consecutive days of cold to activate shivering, using a water-perfused suit to control and lower body temperature. Participants were exposed to cold, from 32°C to 10°C, until they shivered for one hour per day.
The findings showed that repeated cold-induced shivering significantly reduced average fasting plasma glucose concentrations from 5.84 to 5.67 mmol/L, and improved glucose tolerance by 6%.
Plasma insulin concentrations before and during the OGTT were unaffected after the shivering intervention. This suggests the improved fasting glucose and glucose tolerance after repeated shivering were not because of increased insulin in the blood.
Interestingly, fasting plasma triglyceride and free-fatty acid concentrations were markedly reduced by 32% and 11%, respectively. These are the major fat fuels in the body, and are thought to raise the risk of cardiovascular disease and contribute to insulin resistance.
In addition, repeated cold exposure also markedly reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure by around 10 mmHg and 7 mmHg, respectively, and tended to reduce resting heart rate when measured under thermoneutral conditions.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
LOL! Go without heat for the upcoming winter. It’s for your health. It will lower your glucose levels. (Bonus: you will reduce your carbon footprint).
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Shiver me timbers!
Well type 2 diabetes will be cured in Europe this winter since they are obligated to windmills for heat.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adam-Sellers
Mengele did lots of medical research on the effects of hypothermia and thermal regulation of human metabolism. The university funding this “new” research is a scary institution. Check them out.
As a type 1 diabetic (as opposed to a lifestyle diabetic), I have noticed that sitting in a deer blind during cold weather results in lower (normal) blood sugars with minimal or no insulin.
Living in a consistent perfect 4 degree environment is not healthy. Our natural systems are designed to acclimate and need to acclimate for temp changes between summer and winter. “Outdoor” people who are exposed most of the time are much healthier.
Note to Deep State: Yeah, try selling this to seniors.
SNORT.
Good news for diabetic Europeans this Winter ;-)
This summer my husband and I watched a BBC program that highlighted the benefits of cold swimming. People with various aliments, including diabetes, had started swimming in cold water as part of a therapy. Every person they interviewed spoke of improvements in their conditions. The reporter did say it had not been proven whether or not exposure to the cold was the cause, he just wanted to make people aware of what others had experienced.
Some years ago, we had a multi-day power outage due to a late-winter ice storm.
I lost a few pounds during the outage.
I thought there was a possibility of launching a “Shiver and Starve in the Dark” weight loss club.
A lot of research has been done on cold adaptation to inform arctic military operations, mining, oil exploration, etc.
Human whole body cold adaptation
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4861193/
Reviews on whole body human cold adaptation generally do not distinguish between population studies and dedicated acclimation studies, leading to confusing results. Population studies show that indigenous black Africans have reduced shivering thermogenesis in the cold and poor cold induced vasodilation in fingers and toes compared to Caucasians and Inuit. About 40,000 y after humans left Africa, natives in cold terrestrial areas seems to have developed not only behavioral adaptations, but also physiological adaptations to cold. Dedicated studies show that repeated whole body exposure of individual volunteers, mainly Caucasians, to severe cold results in reduced cold sensation but no major physiological changes. Repeated cold water immersion seems to slightly reduce metabolic heat production, while repeated exposure to milder cold conditions shows some increase in metabolic heat production, in particular non-shivering thermogenesis. In conclusion, human cold adaptation in the form of increased metabolism and insulation seems to have occurred during recent evolution in populations, but cannot be developed during a lifetime in cold conditions as encountered in temperate and arctic regions. Therefore, we mainly depend on our behavioral skills to live in and survive the cold.
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