Does Cold Weather Exercising Burn More Calories?

National Jewish Health Cardiologist, Andrew Freeman, MD, explains why exercising in cold weather does burn more calories, and offers a few suggestions.

Transcript

So there’s some data out there that supports that cold weather exercising and particularly cold weather swimming exercising may burn more calories.

When it’s cold out, your body has to burn more calories to keep its basal temperature up.

So exercising when it’s cold may be a good thing, but it also can precipitate asthma, it can precipitate something called Raynaud’s, where peoples circulation in their fingers is not good and it also can increase the risk of vasospasm, which is when the arteries can spasm when it’s really cold which can create chest pain for some people.

So make sure you are bundled up and you are warm, you check with your doctor first, and then get out there, because remember your body doesn’t care if it’s a hundred degrees or zero degrees, fitness is important every single day in your life, so don’t let the weather stand in your way.

Visit njhealth.org/cardiology for more information.