Cold showers and ice vests may be the future of weight loss, according to new research.
Here in San Diego, many of us don’t have air conditioning. We’re used to turning to cool showers to stay comfortable in the summer. Most of us don’t take cold showers. And we’re certainly not wearing ice vests. But new research has found that daily exposure to cold can activate brown fat and speed up the burning of calories.
Cold plunges have been growing in popularity. But there isn’t much data on their efficacy. A small study with 47 overweight or obese adults found that regular exposure to the cold led to fat loss. Half the participants wore vests and waist wraps filled with frozen gel packs for two hours every morning while they went about their day for six weeks. On average, they lost two pounds. The control group did nothing and gained 1.3 pounds on average.
“This is one of the first studies looking at the impact of cold exposure over a prolonged period of time, involving people with overweight and obesity,” said lead researcher Dr. Mariëtte Boon of Leiden Univ. Medical Center. “Vests like this can be worn at home and so cold exposure could be a simple and inexpensive addition to lifestyle strategies for weight loss such as healthy eating and physical activity.”
Being cold activates brown fat. The body uses that fat to produce heat. The researchers suggested that cold showers and cold swimming might have the same results.
The team is starting a new trial to learn if 90-second cold showers could have the same impact as the ice vests. These studies are the first real-world research investigating whether the cold affects weight loss in overweight people.
The new cold shower study has 34 women. Dr. Boon said, “We have asked them to have a cold shower for 90 seconds every morning. They build up to it — you can start with a warm shower, but at the end you put the shower as cold as possible and stand under it for 90 seconds, including your head. The cooling vest has a much longer period of exposure than the shower but on the other hand the cold shower is much colder. We will have to see if it has an impact on weight loss. We hope people can find a method of cold exposure that works for them and fits into their daily routine.”
Having multiple ways to effectively incorporate cold into the day could be beneficial for people looking to lose weight. For some folks, a cooler few hours would be better. For others, they might prefer to have it frigid but over and done with in under two minutes.
