So you’ve made your first resolution: Start working out more. But with temperatures continuing to drop in the northern hemisphere, doing so is an easier said than done task, with snow, ice, and chilling temps making it harder to stay active.
A new study from the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Medicine reveals a simple way to up your motivation levels, however: work out in a warm environment.
Better yet, it also inhibits your appetite, say researchers.
“When you exercise in cooler conditions, you don’t have to pump blood to the surface to dissipate heat,” says Daniel Crabtree, lead researcher of the study and a research fellow from the University of Aberdeen. “The blood instead circulates normally, picking up and distributing biochemical signals from the stomach and elsewhere that apparently prompt the release of ghrelin, augmenting appetite and undercutting your best intentions to forgo that cupcake after exercise.”
In the study, researchers recruited a group of 16 overweight men and women described as being “sedentary”–a group researchers identifies as having the most difficulty losing weight just through exercise.
After testing certain health markers associated with fitness, such as their resting metabolic rate and hormone levels, researchers asked them to walk on a treadmill at a moderate pace for 45 minutes while enduring two temperature levels: A cool 46 degrees or a more balmy 68 degrees.
Not surprisingly, the participants found the cooler weather less enjoyable–and it affected their hormones as well. As they rested after the workout, researchers drew their blood to look at their ghrelin levels, a hormone that drives hunger, and found that it increased significantly. Those who had worked out in warmer conditions had very minimal spikes in this key hormone, however.
Those in the cold weather group also burned fewer calories, caused by their lack of motivation.
“The present study investigated the effect of brisk walking in a cold (8°C) and neutral (20°C) environment on postexercise EI and appetite hormone responses,” say researchers. “These findings show that in overweight individuals, exercise in the cold stimulates postexercise EI to a greater extent than exercise in a neutral environment.”
What This Means For You
While the shivering caused by the cold may increase a person’s metabolism, it doesn’t necessarily make them work harder–and chances are it could demotivate them too, according to these findings. In turn, the cold temperatures seem to spike a person’s appetite, thanks to an increase in a type of hunger hormone.
Your best bet? Forget exercising in the cold–instead, find a way to do your workouts in a warmer environment instead, such as a gym or workout studio.
Readers: Do you do your workouts inside or outside during the winter?
Sources:
Exercise to Lose Weight? Stay Warm Instead of Cold (Study) – NYTimes.com
Effects of Exercise in the Cold on Ghrelin, PYY, and Food Intake in Overweight Adults – NIH.gov
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