Cold Air Helps Aid in Weight Loss: STUDY

Turning down the heat and enjoying the cold air is found to be an effective means of losing weight, a recent study claims.

Exercising regularly in mildly cold air may be effective in losing weight because they help burn more calories. Researchers involved in the study have found that exposure to cold air typically increases the amount of energy bodies have to expend to keep their core temperature up. In the same way, they have found that warm offices and homes may be a culprit to a person's increasing waistline.

"What would it mean if we let our bodies work again to control body temperature? We hypothesize that the thermal environment affects human health," said Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt of Maastricht University Medical Center. Researchers involved in the study describe ways that people respond to cold. First, shivering helps protect people from hypothermia.

"Maximal thermal comfort in the built environment may increase our susceptibility to obesity and related disorders, an in parallel require high energy use in buildings. Letting our body spend more energy to maintain thermal balance may positive affect health on a population scale. Since most of us are exposed to indoor conditions 90 percent of the time, it is worth exploring health aspects of ambient temperatures."

Long term effects of regular exposure to cold air are still unclear and require further investigation, but evidence suggests training the body to tolerate cooler air may help in burning calories and putting off weight, the researchers suggest.