How to raise body temperature

What body temperature is considered low

Normal temperature is considered to be 36.6 °C. However, the range from 36.1 to 37.2 °C is also does not indicateBody temperature norms / Medline Plus to the onset of the disease.

If the temperature falls below 35°C, it is said hypothermiaHypothermia / Mayo Clinic - a condition in which the body spends more heat than it can produce.

As a rule, such happensHypothermia (Low Body Temperature) / Cleveland Clinic due to hypothermia and is accompanied by severe trembling, weak pulse, lack of coordination, confusion and slurred speech.

If you do not warm up in time, the condition can become worse - up to cardiac arrest and death.

How to raise body temperature

We list five ways to do this.

Sit in a hot room

The easiest and most obvious way is to change the ambient temperature. However, do not expect a large increase in degrees, since the body is excellent managesOh Shido, N. Sugimoto, M. Tanabe. Core temperature and sweating onset in humans acclimated to heat given at a fixed daily time / American Journal of Physiology

with thermoregulation even in very hot conditions.

For example, after resting for 30 minutes in a Finnish bath with an air temperature of +80 ° C and low humidity, you can addJ. Leppaluoto. Human thermoregulation in sauna / Annals of clinical research about 0.9 °C. And for the same time in a hammam with 35-45 ° C and humidity up to 100% - about 0.6 ° C.

If it is not possible to go to the sauna, you should lie down in a bath with hot water (39-42 ° C). 20 minutes of such water procedures raiseY. Kawahara, M. Nagata, Y. Niimi. Effects of bath water and bathroom temperatures on human thermoregulatory function and thermal perception during half‑body bathing in winter / Elsevier Ergonomics Book Series body temperature by 0.8 °C.

Do intense exercise

Muscle contractions during physical activity produce heat, warming up the body. To stabilize the temperature, the latter releases sweat. Evaporation of moisture cools the skin, but if the exercise is intense or long enough, the body will begin to heat up.

For example, 15 to 30 minutes of strenuous exercise on a stationary bike or treadmill can heat upG. P. Kenny, R. McGinn. Restoration of thermoregulation after exercise / Journal of applied physiology body by 1.5–2 °C and keep the elevated temperature for 45–60 minutes after stopping. Moreover, the more intensively you work, the more heat the body will accumulate and it will take longer to cool down.

If you want to warm up in a tight space and without access to machines, you can use bodyweight exercises.

Jumping "legs together - legs apart", squats with jumping, burpee, running in place - do each for 60 seconds, stopping only when necessary. Work like this for 15-20 minutes, and your body temperature will increase no less than after cardio on the simulators.

Eat something spicy

It is logical to assume that you can warm the body with hot food or drinks. However, this is not the most efficient method.

In one experimentN. b. Morris, D. Filingeri, M. Halaki. Evidence of viscerally-mediated cold-defence thermoeffector responses in man / The Journal of Physiology a glass of hot drink (52°C) immediately helped to get rid of trembling and made people feel better. But at the same time, it affected body temperature no more than cool and even cold water.

And here spicy food can really warm the body from the inside. Capsaicin is the substance that makes chili peppers hot. affectsY. A. Mahmoud. Capsaicin stimulates uncoupled ATP hydrolysis by the sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium pump / The Journal of biological chemistry on a certain type of muscle protein, increasing thermogenesis.

For example, in one researchM. Ludy, R. D. Mattes. The effects of hedonically acceptable red pepper doses on thermogenesis and appetite / Physiology and behavior 1 g of red pepper after about 3 hours raised the body temperature of the participants by 0.25 ° C. The increase is small, but together with other methods, it can increase the effect.

Taste tummo breath

This is a Tibetan meditation practice that involves special breathing and the visualization of a flame in the abdomen.

In one experimentM. Kozhevnikov, J. Elliot, J. Shepherd. Neurocognitive and somatic components of temperature increases during g‑tummo meditation: legend and reality / PLoS One scientists gathered Buddhist monks practicing tummo and asked them to perform it in a cold room (0 ° C). Western people familiar with yoga and breathing practices also participated in the study - they were taught the technique by an instructor.

To test what exactly helps to warm up, the participants in the experiment were asked to first breathe without meditation, and after a short rest - with it. During the experiment, their temperature and brain activity were measured using an electroencephalogram (EEG).

It turned out that the tummo technique with meditation works better than just breathing, and in 10 minutes it helps to warm up the body by 1-2 ° C. One participant in the experiment raised the temperature as much as 38.3 ° C - a state of fever.

Breathing instructor Tim van der Vliet wroteTummo Breathing & Meditation instructions on how to learn to do this meditation in 5 steps.

It may take practice to stop getting confused. Therefore, to begin with, do each one separately - complete 5 respiratory cycles and then move on to the next.

1. Focus on the lower abdomen

• Breathe in through your belly, in through your nose, out through your mouth.
• Take five deep breaths with your belly only.
• After the sixth breath, hold your breath for 5-10 seconds.
• Concentrate on the lower abdomen during the hold.

2. Chin up and down. Repeat step one, but while inhaling, raise your chin, and when you exhale, press it to your chest.

3. Lower castle. Repeat the second step. While holding your breath, slightly push the diaphragm down, and then tighten the muscles of the buttocks and pelvic floor and hold until the next breath.

4. Empty glass with fire. Repeat step 3, but while breathing, imagine that you are an empty shell, only skin. Then imagine a fire starting in the lower abdomen. Each time you exhale the flame grows stronger, as if you were actually blowing into a fire.

5. Channels. Imagine two channels that run down the back and end in the lower abdomen. As you exhale, you can think about how the flame is kindled below - as in the fourth step - or how the fire rises along the spine and exits the crown.

It is difficult to say whether this meditation will help you raise your body temperature, because in a scientific experiment, the monks already knew how to perform it, and ordinary people practiced with an instructor. But it's still worth a try.