One of the most common topics and areas of frustration related to weight loss is the trial-and-error of finding the best practices and approaches. This includes questions about what to eat, how to best optimize workouts and everything in between. However, for those trying out new methods or anyone simply looking to change or add to their weight loss approach, neuroscientist and host of the Huberman Lab podcast, Andrew Huberman, offers two unique non-exercise methods to help accelerate fat burning.
After all, what better way to help speed up the process after a tough workout or a long day than by doing something that won’t add more exhaustion or leave you taking a deeper dive into ways to eat healthier? Interestingly, Huberman explained two specific movements to help with the weight loss process—fidgeting and shivering.
Andrew Huberman Highlights Movements That Matter Beyond Exercise
While neither shivering nor fidgeting is exactly an “easy” thing to do on command, Huberman took a deep dive into specific ways to optimize these movements, which trigger adrenaline to help boost fat metabolism. To start, the popular neuroscientist pinpointed what these movements do and how they can “activate the nervous system” in specific fashions to promote “liberation, movement, mobilization of fat and more oxidation of fat.”
“One of the most powerful ways to stimulate epinephrine, also called adrenaline, from these neurons is through movement,” Huberman said. “…Shivering is a strong stimulus for the release of adrenaline, epinephrine, into fat and the increase in fat oxidation and mobilization. There are other subtle forms of movement that can greatly increase fat metabolism and fat loss.”
Huberman went on to cite several studies, including ones from 2015 and 2017, that explored subtle movements using metabolic tracking. The takeaways were that being “a fidgeter,” such as doing actions like bouncing your knee or pacing back-and-forth several times, led to significant fat loss.
What Types of Fidgeting Movements Help Aid in Weight Loss?
Huberman cited fidgeting as a good starting approach for those who aren’t big into exercise or don’t exercise often.
There is no shortage of different variations of fidgeting, and Huberman mentioned a few of the best options on this episode of his podcast.
Staccato movements (taking steps with sharp movements)
Standing up, walking around
Pacing
Other “nervous activities”
Bouncing your knee (previously mentioned)
He also admitted that while it’s unlikely that this will compensate for chronic overeating, it can play a role in helping to offset a meal with a large number of calories, for example. In short, the impacts of “fidgeting” at various times throughout the day can be beneficial in a broad sense, but can also have a positive impact if you go a bit overboard after a big meal.
The detailed breakdown of how fidgeting can help aid in burning calories led to Huberman’s second movement—shivering. He labeled shivering as “one of the strongest stimuli” you can incorporate to stimulate fat loss.
Huberman’s Specific and Detailed Approach to Shivering That Impacts Fat Burning
Surprisingly, Huberman’s thorough evaluation of the impact shivering has on fat burning reveals that the commonly used/recommended approach is incorrect. Instead, he points to a specific method that includes getting in and out of cold water several times, which he details below in the clip from the Huberman Lab podcast.
“There are two ways that shivering can increase fat loss. And there are several ways that you can use shivering, you can leverage shivering, and you can leverage cold to accelerate fat loss, but you have to do it correctly,” Huberman said.
“Most of the people that are using cold, and frankly suggesting cold, as a means to increase metabolism fat loss are suggesting the exact wrong protocol. Most people out there are using cold exposure typically by taking cold showers or by getting into cold water of some other kind.”
After explaining the three types of fat—white fat, brown fat and beige adipose tissue, Huberman dove into how brown fat works alongside shivering to increase metabolism. He detailed that brown fat, which primarily exists between our shoulder blades and the back of our neck, is thermogenic, and cites a paper published in Nature that shows shivering itself causes brown fat to increase the “burn rate and metabolism.”
“When you get into cold and you shiver, that low-level movement of the muscle, those small movements, triggers the release of a molecule called succinate. Succinate acts on the brown fat to increase brown fat thermogenesis and fat burning overall,” Huberman explained.
Then came two of the most important aspects of getting into the cold—how long you should stay there and, specifically, how cold the water should actually be.
“It turns out that if you want to trigger the shiver, what you want to do is get into the cold and then get out of the cold, and typically not dry off,” Huberman details. “And then get back into the cold and out of the cold. That will definitely stimulate more shivering than just getting into the cold itself.”
Then came the million-dollar question—just how cold does it really need to be in order to help trigger shivering? Huberman explicitly stated that you don’t want it to be too cold, as it can shock your heart if the water is at a point where your body isn’t adapted to it.
”Just cold enough to be uncomfortable is a good place to start,” he continued. “So for some of you that’s going to be 60 degrees, for some of you that’s going to be 55 degrees. For some of you, it’s going to be high-30s. [It] depends on how cold adapted you are.”
“So, what you need to do is find a temperature that you can get into one to five, probably one to three times a week if you really want this to accelerate fat loss. You want to get in until you just start to shiver and then you want to get out and not dry off. Wait anywhere from one to three minutes and then get back into the cold.”
While fidgeting and shivering may seem like off-the-wall approaches to aid in fat burning and weight loss, it’s hard to argue with two science-backed methods that can work alongside normal exercise, or even be used on their own.