Bad news for people (like me) who’ll use any excuse to skip their exercise regimen for the day – even if it’s, say, four degrees outside, it’s still safe for you to work out. This story from the New York Times states that, as long as you keep moving, your lungs can be safe – even in extreme temperatures.
[L]ungs are not damaged by cold, said Kenneth W. Rundell, the director of respiratory research and the human physiology laboratory at Marywood University in Scranton, Pa. No matter how cold the air is, by the time it reaches your lungs, it is body temperature, he explained.
Some people complain that they get exercise-induced asthma from the cold. But that sort of irritation of the respiratory tract is caused by dryness, not cold, Dr. Rundell said. “Cold air just happens not to hold much water and is quite dry,” he said. You’d have the same effect exercising in air that was equally dry but warm.
Two risks to keep in mind, though, are hypothermia and frostbite. Read through the end of the story for a really disgusting anecdote about a woman whose ear was frostbitten.
On a slightly related note, did you know that hypothermia is actually induced by some brain surgeons to prevent brain damage during surgery? Here’s a small piece I wrote for Men’s Health magazine about how it works:
This is just one method, by the way – other surgeons do it the old-fashioned way, simply submerging their patients in ice. Or, if the procedure is scheduled for today in Chicago, I guess they could just perform the surgery outside. Brrr!
Tags: cold weather, exercise, hypothermia
