Over the last 6 months, we’ve spent a lot of time on macronutrients and food. I believe (and can prove) the common protein-carbohydrate-fat speak paradigm is broken. These macromolecules are all well understood scientifically, and yet conceptually, real food doesn’t come in simple little packages; macronutrient density/percentage varies from food to food. Even when we attempt to cluster foods together with the these labels, it doesn’t capture the dynamic and interchange of the overriding metabolic rules and microbiome influence.
Generally speaking, the more refined one or more macronutrients in a “foodstuff,” the more unhealthy ingestion becomes. Take natural “sugar” for example: remove all of the fiber and other less digestible material to create highly concentrated forms of energy and one ends up with a whole host of metabolic interruptions. The same goes for fat – be it olive oil or lard. I will come back to this in much more detail in the future. Protein, the seemingly magic cure all for everything, is no different. The same is true for alcohol – the forth energy source, although most people have a reasonably good handle on at least this one macronutrient or know when it’s being taken in excess.
If we could somehow magically apply the obvious “truths” and perceptions about the macronutrient, alcohol, to the other three, we’d all be a lot closer to the how the body works. Children are now getting non alcoholic fatty liver disease in record numbers – a disease of mostly alcoholics for decades. For now, stop defining food in terms of “protein carbs and fat;” despite the wide spread use, this will only serve to complicate your choices and you’ll inevitably make a wrong decision. Reductionist thinking about macronutrients is THE problem we face today having mastered acute medical care and the battle ahead is clearly with chronic over-nutrition.
Orbital Mechanics of Sleep
It’s now Fall in the northern hemisphere and so let’s turn back to cold stress and look at how the seasons play into our biology. Certainly everyone should feel confident in the idea that day/light matters. When you skip a few time zones over, it’s impossible to just will oneself to immediately adapt. At NASA, we’d sleep shift a week or two before to avoid the 4 am crash when we worked night shifts for SpaceLab missions. Light and dark signals the body to do different things. While our body is certainly tied to the Earth’s rotation, it’s also tied to the seasons.
Because the Earth spins tilted on it’s axis, there is a difference in light reaching the Earth’s surface at different points of the orbital year. This of course results in the opposite seasons for Northern and Southern hemisphere. The Days get longer and shorter in summer and winter, respectively, and all biology responds in some degree to this seasonal variability.
Humans are not immune.
Seasonal variation matters to all biology on Earth. Anyone willing to take the bet that Humans have been so smart, we engineered seasonal variability out of our life in say, 100 years? We often are lead to believe we rule the Earth, but a tornado, hurricane or volcano can squash that delusion in an instant. Our biology is connected – I’m not one for mystical energies, but I also can’t explain sleep or details of monarch butterfly migration. Something is going on that’s doesn’t seem to care about what iCal/Outlook has in store.
Aww, Nuts. Not Peanuts AGAIN?
Give me the nuts or the iPad is Toast.
I have a squirrel in my backyard (along with lots of other wildlife) and over the last few years, I’ve spent a lot of time just observing habits. Certainly my willingness to feed him “pollutes” the data, but still there are interesting things to learn. In the spring, Gorilla,was eager to eat (my kids named him that after his chest beating poster when he/she wants food). Sometimes, he comes into my house, jumps up on the couch and looks at me. Hey, where are the nuts? In the spring or summer, he would eat maybe 2-3 peanuts and then, he’d stop. The rest, he just buried. This happened all summer. He eats a few, gets full and stops.
He’s not fat.
Fast forward to Fall and now Gorilla will not eat a single peanut. No matter what I do, every single peanut is immediately buried. He still comes to get them out of my hand. He still checks them out, but then it’s bounce, bounce, bounce off to bury the peanut. He knows that there are going to be a lot of days ahead with no food, so it’s time to store. This is, like all biology in the northern hemisphere, a time to conserve and prepare. Our friends down south, on the other hand, are actively making babies and having litters so that they can take the maximum amount of sun-time to grow and develop, while the long days give way to life-promoting light.
Our biology is inextricably intertwined with nature and I don’t think it requires supernatural or mystical to explain it. In time we are chipping away at the pieces, but for now there is a lot we don’t yet understand. What I’ve had the EXTREME privilege to do over the last 4 years is to live, experiment, and explore. It required many boring hours and resulted in minutes of unbridled excitement as ideas turned into confirming numbers on a computer screen. Countless hours of reflection, debate, and bewilderment, but now things are working in a very predictable way – natures way – we just take the time to stop and observe.
Gorilla doesn’t care about protein, carbs or fat and he likely won’t die of heart attack or stroke. Ok, right, I live in Alabama and for the record hunting isn’t allowed in the “city.”
Sleeping Your Ass Off
In the 4 Hour Body, Tim wrote about some of the various activities I did to “thermal load,” i.e. give my body a more difficult thermal environment to cope with and respond. I just wanted to reproduce that hypothesis about Michael Phelps’ enormous caloric intake. It worked and what began as social party small talk, launched into a new career and direction. Now Thousands have written and benefited from putting a little more “chill” in their life. I still get the ice-diet jabs, but they just glance off as many of us now know this is more than a fad diet.
Sleeping is a great time to boost RMR. In this eight day trial, waking RMR was boosted by an 22.5% by nothing more than sleeping more exposed by allowing room temperature to ride/lag with outdoor ambient. – unpublished Cronise.
In the spring, I conducted a few experiments on Sleep, RMR, and mild cold stress that mimic the environment in which our ancestors evolved. Unlike many, I don’t believe thermal load has to be severe or miserably cold. Although it’s taken some time to tease out results, I believe that bringing this evolutionary environment back into your life is not only easy, but enjoyable. Contrary to our overly warm-adapted, snuggie tendency, we sleep much better when cool.
In this case I merely recorded my waking RMR – using the Microlife BodyGem – to get an indication of what my waking RMR responded. The BodyGem only measures VO2 and it’s not calibrated before every test, but it does compare reasonably well to my new indirect calorimeter. What one learns on measuring metabolism frequently, is that its ALWAYS changing. The idea that we have a fixed “metabolism” or even a “slow one,” really a stretch. It barely stays still long enough to measure it – and THAT is the advantage you can leverage into additional “calorie out” victories.
But don’t take my word for it, give it a try. As the Fall comes on, I let the overall temperature in the house fall with the environment. It’s a way to plug back into nature’s cues much like you do with day/night and light. I now sleep with open windows well down into the 40sF/5C range. The house doesn’t drop quite that much, but it loosely tracks the outside. The process for adaption takes two steps:
1) Lose the necessity of the “weight” of the blanket
2) Adapt to lower temperatures
Step 1 is actually the most difficult part. Remember that the reason for lots of down-feathered duvets goes back to a time when bedrooms weren’t heated. In many homes just 100 years ago, only the central area was heated and bedroom heat was a luxury (with the exception of fat kings in castles). We used body heat – many times sleeping 2-4 in a bed – to keep warm on cold winter nights. Do you sleep with too many covers? Here’s a test: Do you put your feet out of the cover and/or can’t possibly sleep with socks?
How did he KNOW that?
If the answer is yes, here’s what is going on at night. You are overheating, but have such a psychological dependency on that heavy blanket that your body is trying to “fool itself” into believing you are “cool.” It’s dumping heat through your foot and at the same time fooling the brain with a strong sensor feedback that says it’s okay, I’m not REALLY overheating. Yes, you are. Meanwhile you are conserving heat. How much? More than you think and there is a significant effect on metabolism.
To complete step 1, simply slowly reign back to the sheet. First, blanket half way (you’ll wake up fully covered), then over your feet with sheet fully covered, and progress forward. You will find your “comfort” warm spot between you and the bed when you wake up. If a shoulder is cool, flip over to the “warm spot.” Once you master sleeping with a sheet, do the same thing with the sheet until you are sleeping largely uncovered. Room temps around 68-72 are fine, because after all, we don’t really walk around in blankets. Here’s where it takes a – don’t laugh until you try it – twist. Once you get down to removing sheets – put on gloves and socks. I still like the weight on my feet, so a cover at the end of the bed works well for me.
Don’t laugh. Just like going out for a chilly walk, covering the SYMPTOMS without shielding the torso, is a great way to help your body adapt – gloves before sweater make you look better. I promise that as stupid as it may feel, During News Years resolutions – you’ll be feasting not fasting. Start NOW. Yes, I really don’t sleep with covers.
Step 2 is the easy part in that once you master step 1, it’s all a matter of letting your body get used to outside temperatures. It begins in the morning and it just requires the attitude to expose more and more time to cool. No ice baths or miserable plunges are involved. No one’s died in a modern home or apartment due to lack of blankets. It’s a simple modification that adds up over the year. The gloves and socks will most likely be critical and you can even try a ski mask if it’s really cold. At this point I have lost some of you, but have I told you how much I DON’T want to run marathons – isn’t it much better to sleep off that urge?
If you’re camping, pack an additional higher temperature rated bag and start there. You will wake up well rested and feeling REALLY great.
Why So Quiet?
Shivering for science…
Looking forward to hearing some of your feedback and observations. I will have more data on this soon.
I want to thank everyone for staying active on the comments, checking in on me, and keeping dialog going over the last two and a half months. Honestly, I couldn’t be MORE excited about what’s been going on with science/self experiments. There are a whole series of posts that will come out and expect that I will not only get back on schedule from here on, but you’ll see post frequency increase as some of these results are made public. Occasionally it’s prudent to stop filling space with eloquent assertions and wrapping bows around other people’s work and just roll up your sleeves and create new.
I guess with our dismal results a good argument could be made that we need much more sleeve rolling and my assertion is that its absence is precisely what’s lead to the ubiquitous protein-carb-fat myth. That being said, there is a TON of great peer reviewed literature that doesn’t fit current world views that is plainly ignored. Thermal Environment is a small example.
…measuring metabolism during workouts
I’ve had Astronauts, Scientists, writers and rock stars spend time with me over the last couple of months and they all seem to be understanding it despite coming from different backgrounds/educations. Our biology is elegantly simple, but intensely difficult to describe. I’m taking a “top down” approach – beginning with basic observation, while throwing out the rulebook and trying to not accept anything without some verification. As I inch closer, a new picture is emerging and it’s been directly applied with many people helped.
I have an AMAZING team of experts assembled and have reestablished connections with academia to leverage my N of 1 work into repeatable, measured, and objective publishable results. It so easy to cast off lack of data on assertions of industry conspiracy/coverup, big business and “it can’t be measured.” A lot of claims are made and, I think, promised claims and trust broken by what has become a food-nutrtion-diet-supplement industry quagmire.
It has NEVER been easier to do research. Access to technology is incredible – I can only imagine where we would be if we had the diligence of late 19th/early 20th century scientists. As I have been reviewing early literature I am in complete awe of the sheer VOLUME of work/observation that they made with such little equipment. Perhaps excel makes it too easy to graph and draw correlations and we’ve become a little complacent and lazy with hard observation. Certainly the internet has not helped in the unsubstantiated claims department, but it’s also created a unprecedented opportunity for quality work at the individual level. This crowd-sourced research WILL make huge advancements over the next few decades – I am certain.
Mid life crisis indirect calorimeter. I don’t need a fancy car.
I’ve had a lot of offers to just “cash in,” but decided to dig a little deeper. It’s way too easy to slide into justifying your current story when clearly the data says it’s broken. We all know the story is broken with the obesity/chronic disease pandemic and it’s not a macronutrient ratios, nor is it lack of exercise, or even genetic destiny. It’s NOT a low metabolism caused by skipping a meal (boy, will I EVER live down propagating that myth?). I think it can be measured and fixed and I have a growing number of real world examples that seem to prove the point, but time will tell.
In the Next blog – Muscling Your Metabolism – we’ll look at some of the incredible advancements
Thanks for your support as always!
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Hi Ray,
Could you comment on the following study as it relates to what you have learned?
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/125/10_MeetingAbstracts/AMP016?sid=4ba9e0fb-6594-4bec-83a0-d293c1b4d52d
Thanks, Joel
Great stuff
there are a lot of examples where efficient cooling are beneficial. There are studies that go both ways with trained athletes – not all of them are able to establish that cool = better performance. Most of the early work was on recovery and I think that recovery we have a LOT of possibility.
The work at Stanford on palmar cooling is fantastic. Here is more on the cooling glove that’s been under development there. One the collaborators on my work, Scott Parazynski, got his undergrad/Medical degree there and knows some of the researchers.
I think we are RIPE in cold therapy research. It has seen a great resurgence and I know it will be key to a lot of work in unlocking and reversing metabolic syndrome.
Thanks for posting!
Ray
I would think that water aerobics would be a technologically simpler solution that also incorporates decreased lower body impact and weight bearing. But yes, pretty cool.
Can we retrofit exercise bikes with cold handles? 🙂
Yes. You’ll see more of this soon. Turns out not the obvious solution doesn’t work well, but there are solutions that slip the body into excessive fat burn.
It’s that glycogen-fat switch that’s the trick. What I’m learning is many exercises that claim fat-attack do little more than dump glycogen.
Ray
I completely agree, my wife and I have slept in cold bedrooms for many years and the sleep is always better with cold (fresh) air in the room, also more snuggling and lower energy bills. The health benefits are just a bonus!
Ray,
I have been waiting with baited breath for another post. Thank you.
I have so many people that have asked me how I have lost weight and when I tell them, eating potatoes and cold stress, they look at me like I’m crazy. My wife even thinks I’m a little off kilter.
I have never minded going against the grain. Your blog gives me somewhere to refer people who are interested in thinking outside the box when it comes to ideas of nutrition, and metabolism. My explanations seem to confuse them. I am not a scientist. I leave the heavy lifting to you and those like you who refuse to accept the status quo.
As I advance in years I am beginning to understand the absolute need to think critically about assumtions. This is true in regards, but not limited, to the issues of diet and health.
Thank you for your willingness to explore these issues thoroughly before cashing in on them. Your attitude is refreshing in this day of propogating half truths, rushing information to market without thorough experimintation, all in the name of the allmighty dollar. Thanks again.
Simon
Thanks for another great post Ray!
I’m a little slow, so need some clarification: is it not good to sweat while you sleep?
Is it really important to get 8 straight hours of sleep for best operation of the human body – or it is ok to go for a couple of shorter sleeping sessions each day?
Thank you!
I think the jury is out for sleeping straight through vs polyphasic sleep. Tim begins to address this and it’s all well beyond my scope.
That being said, the act of falling asleep involves dumping heat through the extremities and we have active heating systems, but only reactive, passive cooling systems such as evaporative cooling of perspiration.
I think sweating when you sleep is a lousy idea, but so many tie sweating (passive cooling) into a whole host of trumped up “detoxification” beliefs that its forgotten what the major function of sweat is – cool the body. Unlike urination it’s not to cleanse the blood/body of unwanted toxic stew.
Sweating is largely under the control of the hypothalamus and it controls the endocrine sweat glands located all over the body to regulate cooling/heat. There are a second set of sweat glands, the Apocrine glands, that are only in places like your armpits and navel, nipples, etc and they react to stimulation and stress.
We can analyze sweat and it’s not difficult to do. The truth is that “cleansing” happens through properly functioning kidneys and liver – both incidentally impacted by chronic over nutrition and I mentioned at least one issue in this post.
Sweating is associated with “effort” and laborious work and so it’s often mid accounted with tons of energy expense and/or getting bad things “out of your system.” It simply isn’t how the bod excretes wastes and build up of often fat soluble toxic material is probably more impacted by excess fat depositions that lack of sweat.
So I say skip the hot yoga and move directly into tummo if you want to burn calories. What’s often funny is that there’s LOTS of people that “fake” all kinds of energy/blood flow/balance kinds of treatment and exercise. We know meditation absolutely impacts the body’s ability to generate heat on demand.
It’s funny how many of these “masters” can’t hum their way out of withstanding cold exposure. You actually have to be able to control your body to do it. The yogis in Tibet absolutely can do it and when we measure them, we see directly the results.
Ray
This thread made me think of a technique I use to reduce headache pain. The idea is to concentrate on making your hands feel warm. That’s it. I like to visualize all the arteries from my heart, down my arms, into my hands, opening wide & letting blood rush into my hands. I imagine my hands feeling warmer. This is supposed to reduce blood pressure in your head, reducing headache pain.
http://www.headachemag.org/Articles/Lifestyle/Using-Biofeedback-to-Control-Migraine-and-Headache-Pain
I have never measured my skin temperature while doing this but I do feel like my hands get warm & my headache definitely lessens.
This is exactly what happens when one gets accustom to mild cold stress (and why extreme isn’t so helpful). The body vasodilates and vasoconstricts. This is repeated. WHat is happening is that you are actually dilating your arms and the blood is flowing out to the extremities again. When they constrict, blood pressure rises.
I have measured this along with what is happening with metabolism. It’s actually quite interesting that I can now routinely change mine just with thought. Wim Hof does the same thing and he is able to impact the autoimmune system. They are now in the midst of clinical trials where a group of people will be tested and measured.
The fact is that we have put enormous stress on our body by keeping the temperature constant and never experiencing the extreme. We are warm-tolerant, and that isn’t good.
So not only should this work, but if you would just eat for about 6-8 weeks as prescribed in Eat to Live (Joel Fuhrman), your migraines will disappear at the source as well. We have grown accustom to “managing disease” not preventing or reversing it. There isn’t as much money in it (but I don’t believe in conspiracy) and so we grow lazy. I have seen dozens like you that migraines are completely eliminated with diet. I would say it is the exception that it DOESN’T work.
I only get a headache every couple of years and it is rarely that bad. I cannot IMAGINE living with it and that people wouldn’t consider a serious change in diet to avoid it. It isn’t just MSG, and other sorts of ghosts – I think it’s chronic over nutrition.
Thanks for pointing that out!
Ray
Ha,ha!
Now i wonder if this seasonal thing is present in my little girls such as nature vs nurture? For some reason clothes are a hindrance to life so they run around and play naked where possible.
Now i have heard that as long as hands and feet are covered cold doesn’t get regulated ‘ properly’ by the body and that is why on a warm summers day to cool down you dip your hands and/or feet in cool water.
I got married in Finnish lapland in Dec 2004 with the lowest temp. @ -18°C. We were wrapped up in thermal polar gear and the locals were in t-shirt jumpers and jeans with hats and gloves. All were slim!!??!!
Do we look for evidence to support the theory or was it there all along??
Thanks Ray
Ps. My wife has lost 3lbs in 3 days on rice/potato – a pattern?
Lol! Probably diet was a big factor too. If you look up above you’ll see the Stanford link to the gloves. I’ve got some data on partial cold immersions that back up the elevated metabolism and fat.
I think they get it right and the we say: sit down, be quiet, and finish your plate – translation: don’t move. Don’t be curious. Eat when you’re full.
Right?
Ray.
Ray
Thanks again for another great article. I was travelling for one week about 3 weeks ago and went to another cooler climate since California is not cool!! I slept with windows and doors open and never even changed my diet or activity level. Amazingly I came back 4 lbs lighter with that being the only change. I could not explain it at all and wondered how it happend. Well mou may have just given me answer. Not only was i more comfortable, but I slept much better.
Now its getting cooler I am actually opening the windows and sleeping with no sheet or blanket! I will let you know how it goes
Again, another great and insightful post
Neal
Fantastic!
I didn’t mention here (may go back and add), but a contrast shower (10s-20s-10x warm/cold end on cold before bed also quickens sleep and deepens. I’ll post some data on that soon.
I believe it now that I see how profoundly cold immersions can impact you – and increase fat burn. It’s easy to see breath-by-breath in the lab.
I REALLY need a thermal imager. They are about $7k. Somebody on here once was offering something, but I’ve lost that contact. Time to dig.
Ray
I’d like to pick you up on this, Ray. It’s not uncommon for people to die in unheated homes when winter hits, so I’m not sure if your ‘modern home’ is meant to imply that the thermostat limits the temperature drop in the building or not. You talk of nights where it goes down to 5C, so would this represent the ambient temperature in your room, or just outside?
As for it being ‘better’ to have to wear socks and gloves in bed to put up with lack of blankets, I’m not convinced! Many of us like having a partner share the bed with us, and that’d fast become a non-option if we’re dressed like a skiing flasher, while the room drops to refrigerator temperatures 🙂
I may be missing what you’re saying in this post, because you say there’s no need for ice baths and ‘miserable plunges’, but having spent a fair few cold nights camping with little insulation, there’s a definite point at which ‘pleasantly cooling’ becomes ‘miserable’.
I guess I’m concerned that you’re overstepping the boundary between ‘easy, effective and realistic (for the average person)’ and ‘effective, but exclusive (to the dedicated)’. That is, while most people could be convinced to try alternating-temperature showers, getting them to both get rid of their sheets and sleep in temperatures requiring ski masks is a less viable option.
As much of what you’ve said displays a concern for finding solutions that work, and aren’t in the realm of the ‘nutty’, I just found what you’re saying in this post a little jarring and it left me wondering if you’re diving a bit too deep into your research (which, don’t get me wrong is showing some really interesting stuff!) to realise you’ve left ‘reality’ behind. Or, perhaps you’ve become so accustomed to cool temperatures that you forget what a ‘leap’ this suggestion would be for most, who need an insulated jacket to walk to the cornershop at 15C…
I hope that doesn’t sound overly critical, and I do hope I’m misinterpreted what you’re saying!
Thanks
Certainly reality matters and yes, I’m a nut. Here’s what the flip side is for many: they’ve failed at losing the weight and from psychological impacts, to death, to relationship difficulties – even being alone – we have not only “normalized” this behavior, we tell them (they told me) its all a lack of effort. It’s inactivity. Are children children due to a surge of Xbox and YouTube – that’s an absolute fraud, because more activity won’t solve the problem.
Normal (and comfort) is a deluge of sugar, refined grain, and oil (healthy fat) saturating everything. For these people giving up any of these “modem day luxuries” is ridiculed, got to die of something, right?
it’s hard to believe anyone that’s read what’s written on this blog to suggest anything needs to be dangerous or extreme. In fact most of the people that bed down tonight won’t have blankets – they are a pretty modern luxury. Of course gloves, socks and Face masks are silly, but one only needs the extreme measures until, as you’ve correctly pointed out, you’re adapted. Your camping trips will be much more fun as well if you adapt to generating that inner heat.
I’m not suggesting that hypothermia is not real and warn against it all the time. I’m talking about fall – opening the windows. Cool not cold, but redefining cool as something below 72F/22C. That said, 60F/15C is not cold. 50F/10C is not cold. So begin there.
This is not new – an obsession with excessive warmth is:
http://m.jap.physiology.org/content/13/2/211
Remember, I’m not uncomfortable (nor are my children) at temperatures you might find miserable. Superhuman? No naturally adapted to cooler environments using mitochondrial shunted heat away from excess ATP production. What’s more is the body uses fat, for the most part, to supply energy to these mitochondrion via beta oxidation.
It seems trivial to you, but I think on closer inspection, you’re propping up the modern, social habits we’ve developed and missing out on the beautiful adaptive evolutionary systems that are within in to deal with seasonal variation.
Fear of cold and starvation are imprinted, primal, lizard brain, amygdala-centric emotional reactions. I certainly don’t want anyone hurt and have blogged here and elsewhere warning against cold work that’s plain dangerous.
Don’t misinterpret my geek-humor as ideology.
Try it, but don’t lose your partner over this or creme brûlée. Perhaps you’ll end up sleeping a LOT more closely and that’s now always bad 😉
Thanks! Good observations. Hope I cleared things up.
Ray
Thanks for the reply.
I think the issue may be me failing to take geographical differences into account – Today was ‘very warm and sunny’ at 11-14C… we’re already at 5C lows at night in my part of the UK, so we are very much on the way to ‘cold’, even if not quite there 🙂
I wonder if there’s a cultural difference in perspective, too. The few times I’ve been to the US/Canada, I’ve noticed how high the heating gets cranked up in the winter. It’s not like we’re living in unheated sheds over here, but a house at 22-23C would usually be considered ‘a bit too warm’.
I think I missed some of the subtlety of your post too, like the fact that your RMR stays at a near constant high in the ‘open-air’ days, even though the temperatures varied quite a bit. The subtle part of that seems to be an implication, that you may have hinted at, that might not even be totally an issue of temperature, but of keeping our bodies in a state of viable connection with outdoor atmospheric changes – a kind of ‘fresh air’ requirement similar to our needs to sync our sleep with light patterns.
If this is the case (and apologies if I’m taking your thoughts waaay off in the wrong direction!) there could be a midway point between the ‘kids aren’t getting enough activity’ argument and yours – is it that the kids just aren’t getting outdoors so much these days? ‘Outdoors types’ always seem to have a leaner disposition, even if in warm climates and not involved in heavy activities.
Could explain why those who work away in air conditioned gyms always seem to find losing weight so hard?
Is that what you’re getting at? That the body has a kind of thermoregulatory system that requires input from environmental sources to function properly, and runs haywire when this input is not readily available? In the same way as our sleep patterns have been effected by artificial light, etc?
To get on to blankets and things – that link re aboriginal Australians is really interesting, and I’ve heard similar things about other peoples, as well as (oddly) feral children who’ve been raised without cultural ideals of warm/cold.
But at the same time, the blanket isn’t necessarily a ‘modern’ thing (can’t tell if you mean ‘modern’ in an evolutionary or a historical sense) – we’ve been raising beds off the floor and using skins and wools and fabrics to cover our bodies for millennia and the practice is by no means a purely western one. So, while there are definitely people(s) who have retained this ability to self-regulate and sleep uncovered, I’d argue our conditioning to using layers to retain warmth plays a significant part in human history, in a general sense. (But yes, this is a different thing to ‘excessive warmth’).
In terms of safe practice, at what point would you consider it wise to keep the window closed, use a thicker duvet, or even turn the heating on? Assuming ‘normal’ adaptation (ie comfort at cool temps, but no ice baths), what would be a ‘safe’ temperature range in which to practice cool sleeping?
As an aside, I’ve always found it hard to sleep without a window open, and hate a warm bedroom, so I’m definitely sympathetic to your research here. And, as for camping – we’re talking -2C and under, so I think a little misery is allowed 🙂
Hi Is,
Im in the UK too.
I have noticed the rapidly changing temp of mild to cool over the last few weeks as well as the reduction in light due to the season.
What i posted about previously with my children is that they are happier to run around naked when perhaps my wife and I would need to wear a jumper. Now this interests me because I wonder if they are not conditioned to understand the temp change or that their bodies are regulating internal heat naturally where perhaps my abilities have been subdued.
I have purposely not worn the extra layer over the last few weeks and at times been more vigorous in my activities to remain warm if i have felt too cool. Now i cant say that my physiology has really changed that much because of my cold exposure but i am certainly getting used to being without that extra layer and my comfort in this cooler climate has stabalised.
Now should we see another -10 winter and snow i tend to be more active becasue i wont use my car and can generally walk to work and the local shop ect. It will be interesting to see if i can manage walking to work in shorts, t-shirt, hat, gloves and experience all the strange looks!
all good points. These are the little nudges that help add to the long term deficit.
Ray
Ahhhh… Lots of questions – Thanks Togi
Yes, your observations are dead-on. I am not suggesting anyone be miserable and cold. That’s silly. What I am suggesting is that everyone has the ability to redefine cold – to a degree (pun intended). Generally speaking, we are okay experimenting temps down to 60F/15C in water and 32F/0C in air. Experimenting. In both of those situations, hypothermia is possible, just not immediate – you’ll likely get board or be miserable if you weren’t ready. On the other hand, drop into a 40F/5C lake and you could hit your limit in 15-30 mins – well into what someone inexperienced might “will themselves” to do.
Hypothermia Guidelines
What I have found using the indirect calorimeter is that all of the metabolism boosting/fat burning acceleration happens in water beginning about 75F/24C – if you don’t want to take too much time.
On the RMR side – those were projected 24 hour levels based on an instantaneous reading: an indication of what likely happened during the night. The trend of the number is more important than the actual value. The fact that cooler nights resulted in cooler (not identical) temperatures in the house and an increase in waking RMR suggests my body is working a “little harder” with no change in activity level. I just wanted everyone to see that through easing into a small change in lifestyle, this can have a dramatic impact on energy balance over a year or even a decade – the time that the weight typically creeps up.
These changes in lifestyle did happen and our “tolerance for heat” has steadily risen.
As for children and activity, what I am suggesting is that with the huge load of sugar sweetened beverages and other frequent sources of empty calories, it is ridiculous to say that the problem with child obesity to be levels of activity. You can’t out exercise your mouth and any person eating the type of calorie dense diet that has become norm either has to 1) practice extreme portion control or 2) will become fat. This is independent of exercise, which does confer health benefits, but weight control is not part of them. What I find interesting is children NATURALLY gravitate to less protection in cold/cool environments, choosing the uninhibited ability to move over staying “toasty.” They naturally finish eating when full to which we respond: clean your plate – don’t you know there are starving children in __________.
As for cold gyms (or hospitals) don’t confuse correlation with cause and effect. People that work out drive hunger and likely overeat. Since the activity of ANYONE for one hour is relatively limited towards what they can eat in the hour following, it’s the hour following that’s the most important. That being said, a cooler environment does make it more tolerable and it was one of the things I did regularly when experimenting. I haven’t see a huge difference in air on fat burn – most likely due to heat capacity and conductivity. Air simply can’t remove heat fast enough unless you are wet (sweat or misted).
Blankets are necessary and modern and they did allow us to move out of the equatorial zones into more hostile and variable environments. That being said, we have mastered the calorie and so this is one way to be effective. One needs to use judgment.
The goal of this was not to have everyone jump into aboriginal 0C sleeping naked without covers. What it was is a call to action to begin the transformation from overly warm to an overall cooler environment. The body is naturally called to do that this time of year, so take advantage of it. There is a point where hypothermia is a real risk and that’s not a line I think should be crossed, hence, the extreme caution of icy water.
Thanks for the great comments and fantastic questions!
Ray
That’s great. Thanks for the responses.
I’ve been doing the contrast showers you suggested. They’ve left me a lot warmer than when I’ve tried simple longer cold showers, which is pleasant. Also sleeping a lot better!
One (more) question: I’ve been avoiding putting my face under the cold water as I’m aware this will trigger the dive reflex, which would be counter to the goals of the practice. In some posts here, you also recommend keeping the hands out of the cold – do cold hands trigger the dive reflex too, or is there another reason for keeping them warm? Or is it fine to expose them too?
Thanks!
Fantastic! I think most are surprised at how effective the contrast shower is on sleep/metabolism.
Don’t worry about the dive reflex – part of it is good – the vasoconstriction. Remember the hot/cold contrast drives blood to/from extremities. You definitely should feel this happening.
As for face/hands my goal was to help people adapt and I’ve pointed out that when starting, there’s no need to be extreme. This doesn’t need to be “miserable” so leaving those out and finding the places the cold water is easily tolerated helps prepare the mind. In the end it’s just a mental game and a little adaptation.
My problem area is the stomach/waistline region and chest – that drives me crazy, so when I go from one region to another and water temp has changed, I start back to the shower head. After 2-3 cycles I can spin around . After a day or two, I can walk into the cold shower from the beginning (but still use contrast).
Thanks for hanging in there and keep us posted! Btw, do you want to be called togi?
Ray
I think I’ve replied too much here for the site to let me reply to your most recent comment, so I’ll reply here.
Understand about the hands etc. I always find putting my hands in the water to be the hardest part when I go swimming in lakes/the sea. I can pretty much submerge everything else without issue, but the hands – Argh! That said, getting them cold right away seems to make the rest of the immersion pretty effortless.
Am I right in my thinking that the contrast technique may be more effective than simple longer immersions in cold, as it makes your body get the blood back to the extremities when the water’s warm, creating a greater load when cold? Or is it more of an adaptation technique for building up to longer cold immersions?
After a while, if doing contrast, do you extend the time periods? I’m already finding 10-20 x 10 to be pretty comfortable. But then, who said comfort was necessarily a bad thing 🙂
Yes, togi is good. Thanks!
Lol – no worries. I’m the worlds WORST about all the replies! Mine are generally long-winded to boot; I try to anticipate the other questions.
Yes. Hands are a huge factor for many. If you dig around here you’ll find the Stanford research on palmar cooling. Feet are also similar – very low fat and tons of nerve density to feel the world. Interestingly they respond better in the shower than in a lake (sitting on side putting only feet in can become intense after a short period).
In each case, we sense the difference and then adapt to the new environment as normal. See: Cha-Cha-changes.
Contrast is better and you don’t have to lengthen periods. You might hang around at the end for a while longer (last cold interval), but you quickly get what you need.
Ray
Thanks for all the tips!
Last question (for now!) – do you have any kind of estimate for what sort of caloric load a 10-20 secs x 10 contrast shower might cause?
Yes…but not sure it works exactly that way. I’m focusing a lot of research effort on water exposure and weight loss now.
You’ll hear it here first. And ALWAYS ask questions. They say there’s no stupid questions, but the are many inquisitive idiots. Most complain about registration to read the blog (I suspect) and don’t hang out here. Lol. (Just kidding)
Ray
Ray,
At first I was dismayed that the next installment blog was about sleep. I’m wrapping up my second two week run of the potato diet and was hoping to be enlightened for the ‘next’ phase and where to go. Of course there is no ‘where’ and I quickly realized that I’d been reading several articles lately championing healthy sleep… We get a lot of that here in San Diego where there is a predominant sleep research center at the U.
Even as a kid in a house where my father insisted we sleep with fresh Colorado air every night, today anything but leaves me irritable. Today I also insist on sleeping with the window wide open and with minimal covering. The past few years I refused to turn on the furnace until late into our cold weather (sure you may snicker thinking this is all Mediterranean fare, but in fact we regularly experience nights into the 20s F.) As a kid playing out in the snow we knew that a pair of gloves and ear muffs would keep us warm for hours unless we got into show fighting.
So I’ll continue to read your blog and sleep with windows open wide listening to the coyotes howling. I didn’t lose the last bit of fat I was shooting for but know with more cool days ahead and cold packs between my shoulders it will flush away.
Your dad was wise. It’s interesting that this small change has a profound impact.
I promise to get back to food.
Ray
I’m fascinated by the idea that sugar, booze, lard, olive oil are ‘refined’ and therefore ‘bad’ for digestion. Now that you’ve mentioned it, it makes perfect sense, it’s just that I’d never thought of it like that before! I can’t wait to read more of what you have to say on the subject and how we can eat foods that are more whole and complete, and therefore better for us.
Thanks.
Yes. It’s pretty simple and it’s not “digestion” per se, but that it simple adds to the stress of chronic over nutrition.
How much damage can that be? Take a look at Jeanne’s comment here to see how well she responded. We’ve worked together almost every day for 60 days, but it had a huge impact.
Our construct of food is simply wrong. I know it rocks a lot of people’s world views, but that is the issue we face. In her case – blood sugar/cholesterol issues – were a SYMPTOM, not the disease. When we treat the underlying issue, the symptoms go away.
Ray
Was the underlying issue a microflora imbalance, or chronic over-nutrition? Or the first caused by the later?
Hi Ray,
I have been experimenting with cold since about March 2012. (I have been following the work of Timothy Ferriss, Wim Hof, Dr John Kruse, and yourself.) I did two months of cold baths with ice. I would do a cold bath twice a day for 15 minutes each time at a temperature between 60-64F. My goal was to “fix” my endocrine problem which unfortunately hasn’t been fixed. (I have a low average body temperature; likely a problem with my hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.) I didn’t find cold baths really fit into my life very well. I did very much enjoy some lake dips with my girls this summer, which in the past, I would have never considered doing.
The type of cold thermogenesis that I have been able to integrate into my life has been sleeping with the window open with a cotton sheet and one or two wool blankets depending on how cold I get. I use the cotton sheet during the hot summer months and add the blankets as my temperature drops during the night. Sometimes one is enough sometimes I need two and I am still very cold. I also shut off all the breakers in my house except for the fridge breaker. I am sleeping much deeper and sounder.
My morning body temperature really has not improved much over the last seven months. (I chart it everyday.) I am disappointed with that but experimenting with cold sleeping and no EMR has really worked for a better night’s sleep. Last night it snowed. I woke in the morning very cold with two wool blankets on.
I am wondering if men have a better reaction to cold thermogenesis or if it just takes a very long time to react positively to the cold for some people. Do you have any thoughts?
By the way, I like listening to the coyotes too. The smell of the night makes me wonder how much of the sensuous world sensations we have given up for the “comfort” and “safety” of houses. I am developing a very strong urge just sleep outside. I don’t know how long I will be able to not succumb to this growing urge!
That’s a lot of variables. Often we try to overcomplicate our problems with a little of this and that. In reality, our environment was much easier. You may be doing that now, but too much to go into here
If you’re not getting the results you want, perhaps you need a different approach.
Ray
From your experience, do men respond better than women to cold thermogenesis by quickly up-regulation their metabolism? Have you any information about the effects of CT on men and women of different ages?
Hi Ray,
I look forward to trying this as an alternative to the ice baths which I did but found too time consuming to be consistent with over the long term.
I believe this would work for me, but I have one question. What do you believe is the maximum temperature of the room with no sheets on that would generate noticeable/measurable results.
I’m a male / 185lb / 30yr on Long Island (to give you an estimate of available climate thermal load).
P.S. Please send me details of thermal imager you are looking for and I can see what I can do.
Regards,
– Christopher
Thanks Christopher!
I think my track record suggest everyone will benefit!
As for air temperatures, think of it a bit different. If you walk around your house comfortable during the day at ANY temperature and then crawl into a down-cofortable bed to sleep, will your body be more/less insulated? At ANY temperature, the body loses less heat. At the point you feel sweat under the covers, you are past the natural point of heat heat loss rate to keep up with basic metabolic functions and the body is trying to increase removal of heat. Up to that point, the body can ramp up and down slightly to regulate temperature.
Even at 72F/22C there is a measurable difference (I will put that up at some point) in covered/uncovered.
What everyone should shoot for is sleeping with nothing more than a sheet. ALl the way down to 50F/10C it’s quite easy for the body to trap heat in a non-drafty room under a simple sheet. The psychological battle is the weight of the cover.
In fact astronauts often have the same issue (scott or other – you might jump in here). They often use elastic bands to simulate the weight of pressing against the bed at first, because just floating in a bag is unnerving. Almost all of them eventually love to float tether-free and there are some HYSTERICAL stories about the first thing you see when you wake up – the ultimate game of “where am I?”
Hope that helps.
Ray
Hi Ray,
We get a lot of insight into sleep and health here in the San Diego area. I have been curious as to how sleep impacts the functioning of the body and listened to this recent NPR story, which I thought I would share:
Researchers have found that fat cells become less responsive to insulin when sleep is lost. Over the long-term, fat accumulation can set the stage for Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease and weight gain. http://n.pr/TIHLZy
Hope there is some value for everyone.
Im surprised to hear that contrast showers are better than cold showers.
I walk (sometimes jog) up and down my stairs on a empty stomach in the mornings for 20-30 minutes and then sit up to my belly button in a 55F pool for 20-30 minutes.
Would a contrast shower be more effective after the stairs than the pool?
While that feels good, it’s probably not the most effective at fat burn. This is the area of development that’s so difficult and why the calorimeter has been great insight.
Most exercise results in heavy recruitment of glycogen (endogenous carbohydrate) with peaks above RQ=1 (pure carbohydrate burn). At those levels (RQ>1) the body is producing more CO2 than it can take in O2. It’s not sustainable and combined with lactate build up, fatigue sets in.
If, on the other hand you only ease into the 55F water – even up to your shoulders – then the only carbohydrate burn will be a little associated with involuntary shivering. Other than that you’ll ease into fat burn and stay there after you exit.
The contrast showers are something separate. Morning/night they provide serotonin/melatonin surges that help with well being and rest along with muting your “fight or flight” reaction to cold. It just becomes more tolerable because you deaden the shock factor. Now a breeze in the office is no reason to crank up the space heater under the desk.
Remember that exercise is a modern day mimic of shivering. “Caveman” didn’t exercise he conserved, because he lived in a world of extreme caloric scarcity.
Ray
I’m sorry Ray I’m not sure I understand. Are you saying the walking is not effective for fat burn?
Also, what do you mean by ease into the pool? I just get straight in because I’m used to it now. I watched a whole football game in here on occasion.
Im in it now and the water is 60F and goes up to just below my chest. I didn’t go further in only because I kept my arms out to type this on the ole tablet. Multitasking makes this easier for me.
Also I can’t swim and I don’t want my obituary to read here lies a man who drowned naked in a kiddie pool. That’s -100 cool points.
Lol. I’m dying – 100% not cool! The image and the irony…
What I’m saying is that “calories burned” are largely the reason for invoking exercise for weight loss (health effects are a separate issue). That being said exercise is not a zero-sum game. There are hormonal and metabolic consequences of anabolic vs catabolic processes.
While certainly there are many anabolic processes going on inside the body other than muscle tissue repair (one almost gets the idea that anabolic process is only for tissue repair/buildup), extreme exercise, i.e. biological stress, aimed at putting on muscle mass is a very different hormonal environment than catabolic conservation.
There is a notion that ramping up the metabolism with all this activity is nothing but good – in fact the body must recover from that process and it does so by invoking many of the processes that caused it the excess calorie in the first place. It’s not a simple metabolic upregulation.
That being said, cold stress is perfectly aligned from and adaptive evolutionary biology perspective, because cold stress and caloric scarcity were aligned in nature. These are both things that heightened the use of endogenous fat and the protection of muscle tissue.
Probably don’t need that length of exposure. You can get out more frequently (first going down to shoulders),dry off a little and “evaporate” this has huge impact and post immersion fat burning is definitely preferred to glycogen when shivering isn’t too severe.
Walks are fine, but if you’re trying to post big losses in fat over long times – exercise will exacerbate muscle loss.
Might be counter intuitive, but so was protein carb and fat speak until we “digested” it all.
Ray
Ray, which would work better for fat loss
1. A 15 min sit in a 60F pool up to the shoulders.
2. Three 5 minute 60F showers every hour on the hour.
Side note: I used to use the blue cold pacs that Tim Ferriss recommended. I would sleep with a shirt on and lay face down with the pac between my belly and the bed. It was completely comfortable and my belly would feel like an ice cube in the morning. Since long sits in the pool are not beneficial for weight loss, would the same principal apply to this?
Hmmm. They do different things. Im not a huge fan of ice packs, because it has a very good chance of nerve damage. So generally speaking, I stay away from extended ice exposure.
Contrast showers do more than “burn calories” and have impact on the HPT-axis and overall management of sleep, appetite and metabolic regulation. Think of it more as a pacemaker for your endocrine system (loose analogy).
The 15 minute cold stress will very specifically burn fat for sometime after your exposure – provided you’re not shivering excessively. The best way to describe the “zone” of muscle tone is you have an overall body intensity. You feel it in your hands, chest and just occasional quick shivers in your legs or other large muscles. Sort of a quick brrrrr feeling that subsides.
When I feel that I’m almost always at RQ ~ .7 or fat burning. If I’m shivering uncontrollably or working out, I’m typically at RQ ~ 1.1x or slightly anaerobic or burning just glycogen.
I’m trying to quantify now, but maybe that helps.
Ray
Hi I joined after reading the “home” page. I’m not sure where to start here. Is there a place for beginners?
Eeek…just this morning I was thinking about two tasks I needed to get off my plate – updating the guide and creating a “getting started” page.
I would say if you are most interested in taking a different look at “food” start at Pyramid Schemes (can’t hyperlink now, but you’ll find it in the blog roll).
The material from the beginning to that point is mostly concerning cold stress.
While it will take a while, please note that the discussion in the comments is often better than the article – we have some bright people that hang out here and they are always making me think and dig one level deeper.
Welcome. Let me know if you find any mistakes.
Ray
Using gloves and socks at night is helping me feel warmer. Surprising so. Thanks for the tip. It has only been a week, but I can sometimes just use a cotton sheet and one wool blanket. I find I need the second wool blanket when my room temperature drops to 10-12C just before dawn. The rest of the night I am fine and sleep very deeply.
Perfect! You’ll find that eventually just having it over your feet will be enough and eventually the sheet works fine. Of you wake up chilled, try rolling your cool side toward the bed.
There’s a strange psychological flip when the comfort/warmth is between you and the bed. Attention tempurpedic owners – you’ll sleep much better.
Thanks for the input!!!
Ray
I’ll put in a vote for the ‘getting started’ and a new guide! I’ve been greatly enjoying the information and have made it through your last 2 pages of blogs in the last week or so. And as a routinely cold person, I think the contrast showers might be helping already 🙂 I’ve been reading some of Dr. McDougall’s info and it seems to resonate well. Do you recommend his work? (I am just beginning a potatoes/rice self-experiment..)
Welcome!!!
I’m working on it. I have a number of things that will all come in the next 45-60 days. Lets just say we should be 100% by jan 1, 2013.
I’m headed out on a long trip to several universities/colleagues/clients this week (Dartmouth and back in 10 days) and part if this all relates to these upcoming programs – I’d rather err on the side of academic rigor.
Yes. Dr John McDougall has been a great leader and a good friend. I’m working on perhaps alternate explanations of the similar observations, so it may not fit perfectly, but the differences aren’t that important.
Ill have a program here in the next few weeks and I post how people can get involved. It’s not going to be fully “open” at first, but there will be a clear application process.
There will also likely be some opportunities for clinical trials, but people will have to spend two weeks in a test facility if they want to participate.
The guide – I hear your nomination am I allowed to second it? All in favor?
Yes. Ill keep the old one out there just as an act of humility and show people that the process of learning requires being wrong. I honestly would have never come to these conclusions without the great questions and challenges.
On the potato/rice experiment – lean on potatoes first. Use rice as a fallback. Both will work, but there are some great advantages to potatoes that I can make clear later.
Thanks again and keep us posted. Don’t forget to fill out data on the progress tab above.
Ray
Fantastic – thanks! (A debt of gratitude to Ms. Garceau for turning me on to your work 😉
Looking forward to reading more about your upcoming program. A guide would be great.
Thankyou for your blog, I’ve really enjoyed reading them
-Terrie
In the last 15 years the lightest I have been and closest to a “goal” weight was after 2 months in Indonesia surfing, each day was at least 6 hours (2-3 hours at a time) in the water and even through the water temp was plus 30 degrees some days I would come out feeling cold. Combined with a diet of local food mainly chicken, fish and rice and fresh fruits, limited dairy and red meat but lots of beer I dropped 10-12kgs over that 2 month period. So that’s it I have to surf more…. now how to tell the wife and the boss that its good for my health and get away with it.
As mentioned in another post i currently swim 2-3 times a week in a masters squad and spend plenty of time in or on the water surfing, kitesurfing, Standup paddle boarding or just swimming at the beach. Ocean temp is 20 deg here at the moment so perfect for “Cool Therapy” I tend to drop more weight over summer as I am in the water more, I thought it was due to been a bit more active but maybe more to do with the CT? In winter I surf but wetsuits are pretty good these days, dont tend to get cold and they let in minimal water, back in the late 80s with not so good wetsuits that let in more water I was also a lot less fat..
Really enjoying your blogs Ray, feel I have learnt a lot over the past week reading back on your posts.
I appreciate the time you guys spend and I’m going to continue! Not putting out the volume of some and don’t really want it to drift off into ideology.
I do think the time in water has a major impact on the thermal load of your body. The PERFECT water temp seems to be 18C-23C. This is the right balance of great after swim “buzz” and easy acclimation. Here is something for you to try as water temps drop – lay off of the intensity on some days. I want you do easy, contemplative swims. Just feel like a machine and work hard NOT to get your heart racing too much. We want to dip into body fat without moving over into glycogen burn. Just enough effort not to shiver (glycogen) and easy enough to feel slightly “chilled,” but not uncomfortable. You’ll get used to it.
I’m very excited by the potential of swimming…it’s really a great sport. We just need to clean up the water a bit!!!
Ray
Ray,
What a great observation on your squirrel!!
You said you love questions. So here’s an interesting one for you: it seems to me that your squirrel is either fasting or IF’ing during the cold months… What is your take on fasting?! Wouldn’t regular fasting and cold exposure keep us all slim and fit? And if so, what is the ideal length of each fast? And periodicity?
PS I’ve read most research papers available in PubMed on the topic. Very LITTLE research on humans is available….
I think the science on fasting is irrefutable. There seems to be no doubt (at least in my mind and reading) that we suffer from chronic over nutrition. All of the CR studies are fairly consistent. I will do a blog shortly on CR, but there just seems to be so many examples in every day life, that one would be silly to discount.
The peer reviewed work on intermittent fasting is also pretty strong. About the worse criticism it receives is that “no one can adhere to it” and yet I don’t see a problem doing it. Over the summer I did a lot of work with fasting and the calorimeter and I would say that it’s another card in the great nutriton house that is going to fall.
I’m almost one year into this eating and no exercise. It seems to be working. I think most of the work has been sidelined, because it’s perceived as “un sellable” or unachievable for the average person. They said that on cold stress too and yet we have thousands out there doing it every day.
More later…promise.
Ray
Your thinking is brilliant, Ray. We are back to “counting calories” again. There’s no long term magic in low GI, Atkins, and the likes. For a while we started thinking: oh, I can eat as much protein and fat as I want, no more calorie counting, so liberating – and I won’t be hungry… and meat is fine! But then, having tried that myself, even though it worked for few of weeks, here I am again: 13 kg above my ideal body weight… argh!
You’ll probably like this BBC documentary on CR and IF, with Luigi Fontana and crowd. Here’s the playlist (4 videos,each about 15 mins long):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSh6Ot8d7bU&list=PLE3AD9ABF6B6A60C4&feature=plpp_play_all
Luigi Fontana said: People on CR are different species.
I look forward to reading more about your (summer) findings on fasting!!
PS Best blog ever!!
Thanks!
I did see this…but glad to know there is now a public link.
We are at a very interesting time. There is a lot to learn, but as I am finding out, we’ve forgotten much from great scientist past to. Sometimes ideas come early, before the social order is ready to hear or be open to change. I think nutrition is one of those subjects that was pushed slightly off course by digging deep and ended up someplace far away over the centuries long journey.
Great news is that science and repeatability are not forever subjected to popular vote. The world has become sicker in a time of unprecedented knowledge about how the body work.
There is always something to learn in apparent contradiction.
Ray
So true, Ray!
We know more, yet we are getting fatter/sicker…
In my case it’s probably paralysis by analysis.
One hundred years ago Albert Einstein said: “Vision without execution is hallucination”. I think I am pretty much stuck in the hallucination face!
My curiosity gene is pretty active, whereas my skinny gene is have a long nap!
so start with the temp on the shower very warm and then go as cold as it will go? (i am sorry I am very dense lol)
Btw I am losing about a lb a day with potatoes, and a little oil (I use 1tsp of CO per potatoes) should I only be eating oil at all or is this ok?
Back ground I am a 50 yr old female postmenopausal ,5Ft tall about 222lbs , still have a lot to lose, I have been on the potato program for four days, with very few issues, I love your logic ,this makes sense to me
Hey Sheryl
Thanks for commenting and you have a lot of people here rooting for your success.
You don’t have to go all the way cold at first, but definitely past comfort. You’ll get used to it pretty quickly. Don’t go full hot either – just warm. You are trying to invoke your body’s flight or fight response and eventually this is response is muted allowing you more control.
Ok, if you haven’t been here long, go back to around. “In the swim of things” and start working your way forward.
For potatoes, it’s important to not use fat of any kind (including olive oil). This makes a difference in how it’s processed in your body and the distribution of gut bacteria. Equally as important, this is an opportunity to change your palate and taste perceptions.
Drink plenty of water – 3 l a day. Staying well hydrated (but not over) is important.
You’re going to be changing your relationship with food. You’ll feel extremely satiated. After the first two weeks, you’ll expand the food you’re eating.
If you want to email me I have an upcoming program that will help you with success.
Stick with it. If you change your relationship with food, the rest will be a bit boring, but simple and effective.
Glad you’re here
Ray
Thanks for the response I will email you.
I was afraid this would effect my candida overgrowth so far I am fine.
Great post.
I was wondering, i live in the North so now in the authum/wintertime the air is pretty cold during nighttime. It can go down to 0-5 degrees celcius. Is it possible to sleep without covers and just with socks and covers for your hand or ?
Also i was wondering about the fasting and intermittent fasting. Do you prefer 24 hour fasts or intermittent fasting like 16 hours everyday fasting and 8 hours eating?
Also does protein requirement goes up as your meal frequency goes down? im a vegan and i eat 80 10 10 like you 🙂
Don’t push extremes…cool not cold. The floor for all cold exposure (my opinion based on hypothermic tables) is 32F/0C air and 60F/15.5C water. Below those numbers there is a very big risk of over exposure. At those numbers, it still needs to be limited.
As I write, my house is 58F/14.4C and I am in a short sleeve shirt, with long pants. I keep my feet covered all the time.
If we survey the results of 100-150 years ago, protein requirements ranged from 5-13% of diets. The lowest number based on work done during complete starvation – one wouldn’t believe the body would over use protein when food was completely absent.
That’s not to say we should go that low, but what we find examining the protein wars at the turn of the 20th century, is that the debate on higher level of proteins (mostly by the German metabolic scientists) was all centered on the concept of luxus consumption of protein and Max Rubner declared “a large protein allowance is the right of civilized man.” Not unlike today, there was the standing argument about our right to eat meat. Back then it was all surrounding the economy of the meal. It seems ideology plagued some of the earliest scientists on the subject.
At least ALL of them took into account the thermal environment.
Much of the early work in protein requirement came from dog experiments, which we know are not the best analogs for Humans and differ significantly in diet from primates.
That being said, if you are limiting the calories of fat, simple sugar and refined grains, then they have to be made up somewhere and that minimal protein you eat will be converted to fuel – not the best strategy. If you are working out and expect gains, not only will you need a lot of energy, but you’ll need a protein source – animal or plant doesn’t matter. There are plenty of sites dedicated to body building and I am focused more on the idea of living long, dying fast or better, living forever 🙂
If you are experimenting with ADF, then those studies all have ad libitum eating during the ON day and then water on the fast day. I am trying to measure a lot of these various scenarios with glucose meter implants and calorimetry. I will know more about it in the coming months.
my goal of stopping all the nonsense of “protein carbohydrate and fat” speak is that it rarely helps one make a sound choice and discussing food is a better option. You could easily get sufficient protein from plant sources and add oil calories for fuel. You’ll need to eat a much bigger volume then your shake-guzzling, boiled chicken eating gym-rat cousins (no offense intended). The energy has to come from somewhere. I have targeted my work on the MANY out there and now growing majority of people that have TOO MUCH energy. In those people, exercise is not the right option and worrying about “protein carb and fat” ratios is futile.
Hope that helps!
Ray
Thanx alot 🙂
Do you find it different in terms of weight loss/fat loss if you use say fruit instead of potatoes/rice?
I know some say fruit will spike triglyserides etc
So say 2000 calories from fruit vs 2000 calories from potatoes. Any difference?
Hi Ray! Now that the “fasting” subject has been opened, I have some interesting data to share with you.
For the past 3 years, once or twice a year, I would fast from Mon to Fri evening – i.e. 4 and 1/2 days. Not a pure water fast, as I have a hectic job in investment banking and a pure water fast would make me feel lethargic. So I would ingest the following:
– multivitamin complex upon raising + Vit D (2,200 iu),
– a cup of organic coffee (no sugar) in the morning,
– nettle and sweet fennel teas throughout the day,
– 2 lts of cold water,
– a Yerba Mate teabag to charge before going to the gym in the evening after work,
– a cup of boullion (around 10 cals) at night to replenish electrolytes,
– 250 mg of Magnesium to aid relaxation/sleep.
Gender: female – no children
Age: 30 – 33 years old.
Height: 1.67 mts (5 feet 6 inches).
My start weight on that Monday would typically be 65 kg (143 lbs).
I have tested 2 different methods:
Method A): HIIT and resistance training for 1 hour, on Mon, Tue and Thur.
Method B): zero exercise.
-Method A): Weight loss usually 5 kg. Muscle mass maintained (I would have my body fat measured with a caliper with someone that has done it over 1000 times). Feel more energised. Sleep well, usually 7 hs. Upon re-feeding, I would regain 1 kg.
-Method B): Weight loss usually 3.5 kg. Loss of muscle mass. Feel more lethargic. Sleep less, probably 4-6 hs, wake up a lot in between. Upon re-feeding, I would regain 2 kg.
Next time around, I will incorporate the cold (or cool) exposure and factor that in.
Let me know if you be interested in me incorporating a certain protocol or if you want me to participate in some of your current tests?? I am more than happy to help you with your “female population” stats!
Best,
Alexandra
Ray,
I have practiced keeping my body cool since first following you several years ago. So, you might say I’m used to the cold.
A few weeks ago,I came down with shingles. Although I’m fortunate that the scabs don’t bother me in the way so many others claim, my agony comes from flu-like side affects. In particular, I shiver quite a bit and have become sensitive to cold. I don’t chill down anymore.
I was thinking earlier (looking for a bright spot out of this!), are my chills akin to my lowering my body temperature? Am I getting any value from this malady?
My flatmates are out during the holidays so I finally had the opportunity to put the thermostat in the house down to 14.5C. It’s totally doable with short sleeves and long pants. Before that I’ve managed to stay in short gear at 16-18C. Gloves work well when doing passive things like watching movies. Subjectively, it feels like sleeping is better although I haven’t got rid of the blanket yet.
Fantastic!
Sorry for the delay responding. By now sure you’ve found out how quickly you’ve adapted. It’s surprising just how fast we get used to cool temperature.
Keep us posted!
Ray
A small study in Britain seems to suggest that along with environmental factors, one’s DNA can determine just how fat a person can become.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hbsk2
(http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/why-are-thin-people-not-fat/)
While this “documentary” was certainly interesting and entertaining, I found it lacking significant details and a utter lack of controls. There was no control person/group. The group targeted a narrow age group. The number of participants was rather small. There was no control on the type of food nor a true count of caloric intake. The amount of exercise could not be proven to be constant among the group. Participants had to be trusted on their word that they had, in fact, consumed the required amounts. It seems this was a study conducted on the “cheap” end of the spectrum. It was essentially a weekly survey of all participants eating habits and the results.
I also found it annoying how they failed to cite the studies they comment on in the “science drama.” I spent some time to dig a couple of them via Google.
Further reading of interest: 382 day fast that was MEDICALLY SUPERVISED.
http://pmj.bmj.com/content/49/569/203.full.pdf+html
Eating habits of kids:
http://her.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/3/261.full
I’m curious about the comment above that was asking about the difference between equal calories of fruit vs. starch. Any thoughts? (P.S. It’d be great to be able to buddy up or have some other form of support system!)
Hi Ray,
Congratulations on a great site. I just found it. I have been on the 4-Hour-Body Slow Carb for 60 Days with good results – down 20lbs. I read the chapter on ice-baths and while not quite up for that, I have taken long walks in summer gym clothes during these winter temps (I live in Madison, AL BTW). I am ready to kick it up a notch and use more of your suggested techniques. So here is a question – have you studied putting ice packs on your HANDS? I recall a TV show where a University had developed a technique for treating hypothermia by putting a soldier’s hands in a device that warmed them. The warm blood cycled to the heart quickly. In other words, the hands could be a location for a quick on-ramp for cooling the body quickly.
GREAT JOB…stick to it.
well I KNOW you can make this work in Madison, because I did. The answer on the hands is yes, but it may not be what you think. You can look at the Stanford project to see what they are doing, I go for long term mild exposure and hands are a big “cold” trigger.
When I get the next few posts up on metabolism, you’ll see why this may not be the best option for everyday use. THere’s more data, but I can’t share it yet, but REALLY soon.
Now…most of my people lose about .6-.8 lbs a day would look more like 36, but 20 is good for the diet/exercise route!
keep at it!
Ray
hi. i am in the second week with my home in the 65º f and my bedroom in the 60º. i am quite comfortable with that and i am just going along with the season, therefore the colder outside, the colder indoor, to a reasonable point that feels right and acceptable to me.
i have noticed two main happenings:
1) in the morning when is colder i feel warmer. in the evening i am more uncomfortable. could it be due to high am low pm levels of cortisol?
2) i sleep with the same blanket i use in the summer when it is around 80°+ and i feel i generate a lot of warmth without sweating. i sleep very soundly.
keeping level of excercise as usual will post if weigh/body composition will change.
thinking about, it make sense that we have only one year long warm season and eat all year what we want and not what is provided by nature. if really our genes are the same to roughly over 10,000 years and beyond, not respecting the cycles of nature does us harm
Hi,
Thanks for the post. I always wondered about cold and metabolism after reading about how many calories people in arctic areas consume. I have also unknowingly conducted research into this. My wife is on medication and a side effect of the medicine is that she is almost constantly hot. So over the last year or so we have turned our thermostat down so that she was comfortable. I just layered up. I have found though that this winter I rarely wore a jumper and spent most of the time wearing a t-shirt. Our house averages between 15 – 17 degrees C with no heating during the winter, as we both prefer to sleep in a cold bedroom.
I also get very hot when I’m asleep, so much so my wife and cat treat my unconscious form as a night storage heater. I’m going to try to loose the duvet tonight and try just a sheet.
What makes me think your research is good is that I have started a healthy eating plan. It is the same plan I used 14 years ago to shed 140lbs. During the first week of the plan in 2000 lost 13.5 lbs. This week on the same eating plan, but living in a significantly cooler house, lost 18.5 lbs. Although I don’t have my food logs from 2000, The eating plan is the same, so my calorie intake will be comparable within a few hundred calories. There would not be a 17500 deficit that the additional 5lbs would require, should the loss be attributed to just calorific restriction.
I am also less active at the moment due to a damaged nerve in my spine, so exercise cannot provide the difference.
I don’t have the tools to measure my RMR, but I’m going to see what ways I can increase my exposure to cool / cold situations an see how it goes.
Maxx
Max,
Congratulations on losing 18.5 lbs in a week! That’s incredible. What is this eating plan you’re following? It sounds amazing!
Cholin
[…] discussed in Beauty Sleep the wonderful advantages of cool sleep and some scientists at National Institutes of Health (NIH) […]
Ray,
I love your research and blog.
What do you make of this study showing that acute bout of heavy resistance training (HRT) increases resting energy expenditure (REE) even a full 24 hours after the acute bout of heavy resistance training? That would appear to challenge the notion that exercise lacks significant effect on REE 24 hours after exercise.
The study focused not on the effect of exercise per se on REE, but on showing that protein supplementation before an acute bout of heavy resistance training (HRT) was associated with significantly greater postexercise resting energy expenditure even a full 24 hours after the acute bout of heavy resistance training, compared with carb supplementation (P < 0.05). Nonprotein respiratory exchange ratio decreased significantly in both CHO and PRO at 24 h after HRT compared with baseline (P 0.05).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19997003?dopt=Abstractplus
Thank you!
Daniel
Is there a way to benefit from cool stress in the summer without blasting my air conditioners?
[…] Ideal temperatures are 75F (24C) water and 55F (13C) air. These are the most comfortable and are likely plenty to get the beneficial impacts. Remember the “reverse ski layering” strategy – take them along and wear as needed instead of leaving the house bundled and losing layers throughout the day. A quick walk from the office parking lot to the front door won’t likely result in hypothermia. It’s fall in the northern hemisphere and we are naturally adapting to the cooler temperatures. The photoperiod is also getting shorter. These are all biological cues that signal winter is coming (wow has that phrase changed meaning in 5 years). As we explain in the Metabolic Winter Hypothesis, the combination of sleep, dietary restriction and mild cold stress may have a synergistic effect with activation of the sirtuin genes – those that we have shown in animal models to increase healthspan/lifespan. Contrast showers can aid in this adaptation process and it’s helpful in sleep. […]