Table of contents:
- Body burns fat when cold
- Fat people are more resistant to cold, is it true?
- Other mechanisms can make obese people cooler
When you are in cold weather or cold places, you will definitely feel cold. So, you will also use thicker clothes to try to warm your body. In this condition, your body is actually trying to stay warm so that you don't feel any colder. But, why do people have different resistance to cold? Is it true that people who are a lot of fat or fat are more resistant to cold?
Body burns fat when cold
The body has its own mechanism to keep the temperature warm. That way, all organs, tissues and cells in the body can work according to their function. Without proper body temperature control, of course the body cannot work.
The body maintains its core temperature by burning the fat present in the body. Fat has a very important role in controlling body temperature. When you are cold, your body uses the energy from fat to generate heat. This heat is then used by the body to maintain body temperature.
Fat people are more resistant to cold, is it true?
Simply put, because fat is a source of energy used by the body to warm the body, people who have lots of fat will be more resistant to cold. This relationship has also been proven in several studies.
One of them is a study on swimmers conducted in 2006. This study proved that swimmers with a large body mass index or have a greater body weight have a lower risk of developing hypothermia.
But actually, humans have two types of fat in their bodies, namely:
- White fat. Is a reserve of fat in the body which can provide additional energy for the body. High levels of white fat are usually found in obese people. This type of fat can also increase the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and other diseases.
- Brown fat. It is fat that is stored in the body to be burned into energy to produce body heat, so that it can help in controlling body temperature. This type of fat plays a role in warming the body when you feel cold. However, the amount of brown fat will decrease as you get older.
You also need to know that obese people actually have less amount of brown fat than people of normal weight. So, fat people are not necessarily more resistant to cold. But sometimes, white fat can also act like brown fat in response to cold temperatures.
Other mechanisms can make obese people cooler
Although a lot of fat allows obese people to be more resistant to cold, obese people can also feel colder than people of normal weight. This can occur under certain conditions when the brain combines the two signals to warm the inner body and the surface of the skin. This signal will instruct the body to constrict the blood vessels and trigger the body to feel shivers. Both of these mechanisms aim to keep the body warm.
In this condition, fat is still trying to warm the inner body. However, the surface of the skin turns cold. This in turn makes obese people feel colder.
In addition, other factors can also determine a person's resistance to cold, such as muscle mass. People who have more muscle mass can better protect their bodies from being cold. This is because muscle tissue can also generate heat by contracting and triggering a short-term shivering response.
This could be the reason why people who are normal weight, but have more muscle mass can be more cold resistant than obese people who have less muscle mass.
