Wait.... Can sleeping naked actually help you burn fat?

Last week, I shared a post on the specific exercise technique that can target belly fat unlike any other.  A comment was left on the post that made me do a double take.  Now, I get some interesting comments every now and then.  Some are spammy and offer no value so I delete quickly.  But this one shared some info that sparked my curiosity.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this amazing article. I'm already doing that( resistance training, HIIT and eat healthy). I just want to add that sleeping naked helps too. When you sleep naked, it activates your brown fat and brown fat is known to be able to burn calories whereas white fat stores them.
Thank you again.
Mwali.

Immediately, my research began.  "What the heck is 'brown fat' and how do I activate it? Why didn't I know about this before?"  

Here's the scoop.  Apparently brown fat is a good fat we have in our bodies.  Part of the reason it's considered a good fat is due to the high amount of mitochondria content.  The mitochondria in brown fat helps the body to generate heat by burning calories. Brown fat is highest in babies, young women and slender individuals.   White fat/yellow fat, on the other hand stores energy. Some stored energy is good, but too much of it and we become unhealthy.

And guess what?  You can actually convert some of that extra white fat into brown fat? How? Via exercise and being exposed to colder temps for an extended period of time.  Converting white into brown fat is beneficial because brown fat has the ability to continue burning additional calories even after you workout.  A study found that as little as 2 ounces of brown fat in the body could burn as much as 20% of your daily caloric intake. That's right... brown fat is more efficient at burning fat in the body than muscle (pound for pound). 

What does all of this have to do with sleeping naked?  When we're exposed to cooler temps for an extended amount of time, our brown fat activates to start burning calories as a means to keep us warm.  When we sleep without all of the clothing layers, our body has to compensate by activating the type of fat equipped to do the job.  By the way, our internal body temperature naturally drops when we sleep.  Most of us wrap up in cozy blankets to keep warm at night.  I know I do.  Although that helps us feel more comfortable, we may be missing an opportunity to generate more brown-fat-calorie-burning-action.

I'm not sure I'm ready to sleep naked with no covers just yet.  Maybe if the weather warms up, I may give it a go for science.

There are other ways to rev up brown fat activity.  Remember when I used to talk about taking cold showers?  Not only did my skin and hair benefit from the cold water, but, little did I know, I was stimulating brown fat as well.  I recall the experience of sheer torture as the icy cold water hit my skin. But, if I was able to withstand the instant shock, I soon realized that my body temp quickly adjusted to keep me warm under the cool water.  Part of that was due to the rush of the increased blood flow, but it also had to do with the brown fat working over time to do its part.

For those of you who are like "sorry Nadege, there's no way I'm doing either of these things,"  no worries.  You can also activate brown fat through exercise.  Working out causes your body to release an enzyme called irisin that prompts your white fat to convert to brown fat.

Just recently, I listed several ways to boost metabolism.  All those tips I shared in the other post are excellent strategies, but let's add "building brown fat" to the list.  Whether you opt for cold showers, sleeping naked,  or working out, it's up to you.

Shout out to that commenter that helped us to learn something new, you're awesome.