Take a chill pill to lose weight

Most of us are quite happy to live with the fact that insulating ourselves and our environments against extreme temperatures is bad for the planet. However, the latest revelation that letting ourselves feel cold during winter may also be the coolest weight loss plan ever, should at least merit a pause over the thermostat button.

While controlling room temperatures may be partly responsible for the obesity crisis in prosperous societies, the cold fact is that feeling chilly can raise metabolic rates or calorie-burn by 30%. So, shivering could be the ultimate winter workout, as it can actually lead to the loss of 400 calories an hour with bodies literally having to burn fat to maintain even normal body temperature. It would not be a good idea, however, to brave a blizzard, as crash diets are not the best way to lose weight.

If moderate chill-out sessions — call it temperature training — can have the same effect as warming up exercising and winding down but without the tedium of that extra effort, this chill pill certainly has the potential to knock many other weight loss plans out of contention. It can even be marketed to a cold-averse populace as nature’s power plate exerciser but without space and time constraints, and absolutely free of cost too. The bottomline: staying cool is the secret to staying thin, and not the other way around.