There’s a new wellness exercise breakthrough for everyone. We can burn calories comparable to walking, jogging or other forms of exercise simply by raising our core body temperature without exercising or moving our muscles. It confirms what scientists have long theorized about our body chemistry: core heat-up helps stimulate and improve our biochemistry.
The recent 2017 study at Loughborough University1 compared the amount of calories burned during passive core-heating to exercise cycling and found that subjects heated passively burned an average of 140 calories per hour – the equivalent of taking a 30-minute hour walk!The heat-up resulted in an 80% increase in energy expenditure when compared to energy expended at room temperature. The results of the Loughborough University study were confirmed in another recent 2016 study2 comparing passive core heat-up and treadmill running, demonstrating similar results, as well as a greater reduction in average arterial blood pressure. Both studies suggest that the cardiovascular benefits of passive heat-up point to promising wellness benefits from passive heating. Activities such as taking thermo-saunas, especially when the head remains unheated and cooled, may provide significant health benefits for people who are unable to or don’t exercise regularly.(Hmmm … most everyone nowadays!)
From the dawn of civilization, numerous cultures have sworn by the wellness benefits of saunas, steam-rooms and purifying sweat lodges. But only recently has science begun to understand how passive core-heating (similar to sweating and getting hot from exercise) can improve health and wellness, increase metabolic rate and calorie burning. Firstly, the “thermal balance” of the human body is carefully regulated to maintain a stable core (body) temperature. Everyone has a “normal” core temperature range throughout the day – generally from about 96 to 99 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists know that both physical activity and heat exposure increase core temperature. Secondly, intense aerobic exercise by elite athletes can burn up to 20 calories per minute.
This rate is equivalent to raising core temperatures by 1.8°F for every 5 to 7 minutes of exercise. To keep the core temperature stable, the body’s thermoregulatory system automatically increases the cardiovascular and circulatory systems output to the body surface and extremities to cool itself down. As perspiration begins, the warm blood from the body’s core is cooled at the skin surface by evaporation before being returned to the core. This ‘sweating and cooling’ process raises the metabolic rate between 13% to 15% for each degree (Celsius) your core temperature rises, you burn increased calories during and after both the core heat-up or exercise exposure with the same results. You can sweat as much as two liters per hour. Each gram of sweat equals the expenditure of .568 calories, and a moderately heat-conditioned person can sweat off more than 500 grams during an average thermo-sauna session (resulting in 300++ calories burned).
Simple Wellness Tip: For health benefits similar to exercise, try a core heat-up session to promote cleansing sweat and improved fitness.
References:(1). Faulkner, S.H., Jackson, S., Fatania, G., Leicht, C.A., The effect of passive heating on heat shock protein 70 and interleukin-6: A possible treatment tool for metabolic diseases? Temperature, March 2017; Publisher: Taylor & Francis, DOI: goo.gl/AYuZqm
(2). Thomas, Kate N., Rij, Andre M. van, Samuel J E Lucas, and James D Cotter, Lower-limb hot-water immersion acutely induces beneficial hemodynamic and cardiovascular responses in peripheral arterial disease and healthy, elderly controls,.Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 2017 Mar 21;312(3):R281-R291. Epub 2016 Dec 21. School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Science has begun to understand how passive core-heating (similar to sweating and getting hot from exercise) can improve health and wellness.
