Step-by-step method of activating brown fat
Dear Thermalists out there,
I want to take you to a special part of my conversation with Dr. Huberman from our podcast on cold and heat exposure. See below…
Dr. Huberman:
So, it sounds like any form of cold to the skin that people register as what you called a cold shock…
Or that uncomfortable, 'oh, oh, ahhhh' kind of jarring sensation, activates the brown fat.
Do we know what the pathway is from cold receptors on the skin to the brown fat?
I mean, how does the brown fat know that we're cold?
Dr. Soberg:
Yeah, good question.
Of course, in the future, we will know much more about these pathways.
But what we do know is:
The cold receptors send a signal to the brain's temperature-regulating center, the hypothalamus.
And we have so many cold receptors in the skin, so it's going to be very fast.
If you immerse the body into cold water....
This is going to be rapid!
Causing a rapid increase in neurotransmitters in the brain like noradrenaline, adrenaline, and cortisol.
So you have this increase in noradrenaline, which will then immediately activate the brown fat.
Because the most potent activator is cold and noradrenaline for brown fat activation.
But there is also a direct pathway from the cold receptors in the skin to the brown fat.
Brown fat seems to be activated when our skin gets warmer too.
There's a third pathway from the muscles to the brown fat. Brown fat activates even when the muscles start to shiver.
Dr. Huberman:
It's super interesting to point out the existence of three parallel pathways.
As you and I know:
When something is very important to our survival and our evolution...
The brain and body install multiple mechanisms for it.
And so it sounds like it's cold on the skin triggers a response:
In the hypothalamus, which then activates brown fat.
Cold receptors in the skin to the brown fat
And then shivering in the muscle to the brown fat.
I want to ask about shiver.
I've heard that shivering causes the release of succinate, which then activates the brown fat.
When should people shiver?
Dr. Soberg:
Yeah, well, shivering is good.
Because it increases your metabolism and that's going to burn some calories in your body.
You shouldn't be so afraid of shivering as long as you don't get too hypothermic.
And what you just said about shivering after you get up is because of the “after-drop”
See when your core temperature decreases...
This always happens when you get into the cold water. All your blood vessels constrict because you need to keep your blood in your core warm.
So as soon as you get up, those blood vessels open again.
And the warm blood flows out and gets colder and then flows back again into the core.
And that's going to decrease the temperature in your core, of course.
So that's the drop.
Dr. Huberman:
Got it. I'm so glad you explained that.
=====
Cold plunge is a therapy.
Post plunge euphoria.
Deeper sleep.
Anxiety reduction.
Glowing skin.
It’s like a dozen cups of coffee, without the diarrhea.
I’ve been doing this cold & heat therapy for the last 10 years now! (Wow - time flies)
Let me tell you, the crucial part of cold plunges is breathing.
Most people become hyper-breathers.
They do 30-40 breaths per minute.
While my students, whom I taught my Soberg Principle, do 6-8 breaths only.
They are deep-breathers.
See, deep breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system.
It calms you down.
It helps lower your heart rate and reduces stress.
With every deep breath, your body moves from fight-or-flight mode into rest-and-digest.
It also boosts oxygen intake and circulation.
This enhances recovery and reduces muscle soreness.
And the best thing?
It helps you activate brown fat so you burn calories faster.
One breath, one step, closer to the best version of you.
To learn how to activate your brown fat, check out my Thermalist Method at home course below…
Best regards,
Dr. Susanna Søberg
Learn Dr. Søbergs Thermalist Method in just 3,5 hours online…
