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Does Sitting In A Sauna Raise You Basal Metabolic Rate?
- Thread starter JUICESEEKER
- Start date
slaughterhouse
New member
ok tell me why 
i really want to know, as i hate to think what i believe is wrong. i may not applying the knowledge correctly.
this is what i know:
the higher the body temp, the higher metabolic rate. But what were talking about here is the body maintaining homeostasis when overheating, not actually raising the bodys temp...or this might be were i fucked it up.
also what i know: (in reference to core body temp raising above normal)
my principles of anatomy book states, in these words,
"metabolic rate decreases". this is also what my teacher, an m.d. told us.
however, books can be wrong, and so can anatomy teachers...
please elaborate and tell me why im wrong!
i really want to know, as i hate to think what i believe is wrong. i may not applying the knowledge correctly.this is what i know:
the higher the body temp, the higher metabolic rate. But what were talking about here is the body maintaining homeostasis when overheating, not actually raising the bodys temp...or this might be were i fucked it up.
also what i know: (in reference to core body temp raising above normal)
my principles of anatomy book states, in these words,
"metabolic rate decreases". this is also what my teacher, an m.d. told us.
however, books can be wrong, and so can anatomy teachers...
please elaborate and tell me why im wrong!
JUICESEEKER
New member
slaughterhouse said:
Well, if that is true then i guess that cardio is a waste of time then... Since it raises your metabolic rate i guess if will try to acheive homeostatis so it is basically useless??
S
Stryker1992
Guest
slaughterhouse said:ok tell me why
this is what i know:
the higher the body temp, the higher metabolic rate. But what were talking about here is the body maintaining homeostasis when overheating, not actually raising the bodys temp...or this might be were i fucked it up.
also what i know: (in reference to core body temp raising above normal)
my principles of anatomy book states, in these words,
"metabolic rate decreases". this is also what my teacher, an m.d. told us.
however, books can be wrong, and so can anatomy teachers...
what do you mean metabolic rate decreases? During maintaining body temp? Look, you expend energy trying to keep your body at 98.6, this does not matter if you are trying to stay warm or cool. If you are warm perspiration increases and metaolism of electrolytes and glycogen also increase as blood flow to the surface increases to help keep core body temp down. This all result in increased energy substrate utilization and increased oxygen consumption therefore, an increase in metabolism.
please elaborate and tell me why im wrong!
slaughterhouse
New member
forget something?
Johnny Gringo
New member
JUICESEEKER said:
Cardio would not be a waste of time, because it raises the uptake of O2, increases the flow of blood and increases the activity of skeletal muscles. The body is forced to use other ways to maintain homeostasis, such as dilating the skins vessels.
I can certainly see the validity to both sides of this argument and this is simply my take on it. It seems to me though, while sitting in a sauna, the body's various negative feedback systems will be do a number of things to slow down the BMR. When trying to achieve homeostasis through heat loss, the body will reduce heat-producing skeletal muscle activity and the flow of blood through the body will be reduced additionally. Both of these reflexes obviously would suggest a negative effect on the BMR. However, it seems to me that while the body is trying to insulate itself through slowing the flow of blood, as well as slow itself down by reducing skeletal muscle activity in an attempt to maintain homeostasis, there is also the factor of the outside temperature, which raising the body’s temperature to offset the lowering of the BMR so that everything remains the same.
Bulldog_10
New member
JUICESEEKER said:
The difference between a sauna and cardio is that the heat gain is coming from two different sources. In cardio, the heat gain comes from the excess energy from breaking ATP that doesn't go towards movement...it's the breaking of the ATP bonds that burns calories, not the heat. In the sauna, the excess heat is simply tranferred from the environment to the body, it's just physics...so the body counters this not by increasing it's caloric expenditure...but by dilating the blood vessels near the skin, increasing skin blood flow so there can be more heat transfer out of the body. This is bad (especially post-workout) because you already have blood flow increased to the muscles, and now you're increasing blood flow to the skin, and pooling blood in your veins...all these things decrease the blood flow to the major organs which can have dire consequences. There have been instances where someone has gone in the sauna post-workout and passed out...some have probably died, although I don't know of any specific cases.
So, my theory, metabolic rate will probably stay near the same...may decrease a bit.
Last edited:
Bulldog_10
New member
Anyone else have opinions or facts? I hate when a good thread dies like this...it's just annoying.
slaughterhouse
New member
waiting for bkellyms...maybe hes out researching?
vasodilation promotes heat loss to environment.
nerve impulses in sypathetci nerves leading to adrenal medulla slow(or stop) the release of epi and norepi, wich DECREASES METABOLISM.
muscle tone decreases, and therefore heat production
(this is the opposite, or the lack of, shivering)
thyroid gland produces less thyroid homone, again LOWERING METABOLIC RATE.
vasodilation promotes heat loss to environment.
nerve impulses in sypathetci nerves leading to adrenal medulla slow(or stop) the release of epi and norepi, wich DECREASES METABOLISM.
muscle tone decreases, and therefore heat production
(this is the opposite, or the lack of, shivering)
thyroid gland produces less thyroid homone, again LOWERING METABOLIC RATE.
Johnny Gringo
New member
vasodilation promotes heat loss to environment.
Vasodilation does promote heat loss to environment except in the case when the heat outside the body is greater than inside. At which time, the process reverses itself and the heat travels down the concentration gradient into the body.
nerve impulses in sypathetci nerves leading to adrenal medulla slow(or stop) the release of epi and norepi, wich DECREASES METABOLISM.
Correct and I agree.
muscle tone decreases, and therefore heat production
(this is the opposite, or the lack of, shivering)
Again, I agree completely.
thyroid gland produces less thyroid homone, again LOWERING METABOLIC RATE.
I'm not sure this is an immediate affect. However, I do agree that whenever it does come into play that it certainly does as you say.
I believe all of this would prove the BMR to be lowered, except as I pointed out above, it would seem to me the outside (the body) heat would keep the body's BMR rate at about the same thus countering the negating effects from the body's feedback systmes.
Vasodilation does promote heat loss to environment except in the case when the heat outside the body is greater than inside. At which time, the process reverses itself and the heat travels down the concentration gradient into the body.
nerve impulses in sypathetci nerves leading to adrenal medulla slow(or stop) the release of epi and norepi, wich DECREASES METABOLISM.
Correct and I agree.
muscle tone decreases, and therefore heat production
(this is the opposite, or the lack of, shivering)
Again, I agree completely.
thyroid gland produces less thyroid homone, again LOWERING METABOLIC RATE.
I'm not sure this is an immediate affect. However, I do agree that whenever it does come into play that it certainly does as you say.
I believe all of this would prove the BMR to be lowered, except as I pointed out above, it would seem to me the outside (the body) heat would keep the body's BMR rate at about the same thus countering the negating effects from the body's feedback systmes.
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