Cold exposure has been shown to have many different effects on the body. The first is a physiological response in the body. The body must adjust to the cold environment to maintain the body’s temperature by regulating heat production and heat loss mechanisms (Espeland et al., 2022). The acute effects of cold water exposure is cutaneous vasoconstriction (blood transferred from the core to the surface of the skin), shivering thermogenesis (increased heat production), non- shivering thermogenesis (activation of brown adipose tissue), and cardiopulmonary responses (cold shock response & increased blood pressure). The question is what do these effects have on the body? A few of these effects positively impact the body. The response to changes of the body’s environmental temperature due to cold exposure causes norepinephrine to be released (Espeland et al., 2022). Norepinephrine plays an important role in the regulation of arousal, attention, cognitive function, and stress reactions. Norepinephrine allows you to stay more focused and alert. When the brown adipose tissue is activated from cold exposure this produces excess heat. This means more calories are being burned and allows more fat to be stripped. Of course there are other factors that need to be taken into account like lifestyle, diet, etc. as well for stripping fat when doing a cold plunge. Cold exposure is also shown to enhance one’s mood, decrease stress, and help repair the muscles. Only three minutes of cold exposure is needed to see the benefits. A couple of examples of cold exposure include a cold shower or a cold plunge. Try it out and let me know how it feels!
