Cold therapy can raise NAD+ levels, key for making energy, fixing DNA, and keeping cells healthy. Here's a brief rundown of why it's good and how to get started:
- Why NAD+ Is Important: As we get older, NAD+ levels fall, leading to a slow metabolism, worse memory, and long-term illness.
- How Cold Therapy Aids: Being cold helps boost NAD+ recycling, turns on key enzymes (like sirtuins), and helps cells manage stress better.
- Steps to Take: Begin with short dips in cold water (50–59°F) for 2–5 minutes, three to five times weekly, or try cold showers or being outside in cold air. For more set results, use cold plunge baths.
Cold therapy not only lifts NAD+; it also builds strength, helps use energy well, and aids mental health over time. Start slow, stay steady, and watch how your body reacts for lasting gains.
Boost Your NAD+ Levels: Cold Baths, Saunas, and NMN Supplements
How Cold Hits NAD+ Metabolism
Cold hits how cells make and use NAD+. Even just a few hours in the cold can mix up blood details. Let’s look at how this happens in cell paths.
Cold Bumps Up NAD+ Recycling
Cold makes the body up its game in getting back NAD+. In a study, folks lay under cold wraps for two hours and had an 8 times rise in nicotinamide (NAM) and 4 times more 1-methylnicotinamide (1-MNAM) than those in normal warmth.
This jump shows the body picks using old NAD+ bits over making new ones. Why? Cold bumps up energy needs and kicks off fixes, sparking a quick reuse of NAM into working NAD+.
Slow Down in Fresh NAD+ Making
Cold slows making new NAD+ from tryptophan. People with active brown fat show much lower tryptophan (p = 0.029) and kynurenine (p = 0.00043), hinting the body leans more on reuse than building anew [1][2]. Yet, this isn’t seen in folks with less brown fat.
Brown Fat and Warming Up
In the cold, brown fat helps make heat. This uses more NAD+ and cuts tryptophan, pulling it from fresh making. The aim? Keep up NAD+ in power cells. For a clear view, the heart’s power cells may have 70% of a cell's NAD+ [4], and these levels stay at ≥250 μM [3].
This link between brown fat action and NAD+ use shows how cold helps with energy and cell health in cool ways.
The Power of Cold for a Long Life
Cold therapy is more than just about NAD⁺ levels - it also turns on other key ways that help us live longer. Two main parts that play a role are the sirtuin group of enzymes and changes in our genes.
Sirtuins: Energy Checkers Driven by NAD⁺
Sirtuins, mainly SIRT1 and SIRT3, are proteins that act when NAD⁺ levels change. They work as energy checkers in cells. When NAD⁺ goes up, these proteins start working, controlling how our body handles energy.
"The sirtuins are a family of essential NAD⁺-dependent deacetylases that act as cellular sensors to detect energy availability and modulate metabolic processes." [5]
SIRT3 works mainly in the mitochondria and is present in places that use a lot of energy such as the brain, liver, brown fat, and kidneys [6]. Studies show that not eating for 24 hours greatly raises SIRT3 in mouse muscle, and exercise also heightens SIRT3 levels with other signs of a longer life [6]. When sirtuin work is thrown off, it may cause problems with metabolism [5].
"SIRT3 is a potential key regulator of skeletal muscle biology, responding to important environmental cues and activating cellular factors in vivo." [6]
How Cold Changes Genes and Age
Being in the cold does more than start up enzymes - it also changes how genes work through epigenetic changes. These shifts, set off by cold as a soft push, adjust how genes turn on, making your body's energy use better and making it more tough to stress.
Take this for a look, being in cold water often can really bump up the rate at which your body burns energy - after just one hour in 57°F (14°C) water, it could go up by as much as 350% [7]. Also, women who swim in cold water a lot find they deal with insulin better and have lower insulin and leptin [7]. These changes likely come from epigenetic tweaks that help cells deal with energy needs and stress better.
Cold Help for NAD+ Levels
Boosting NAD+ with cold help needs you to keep at it, stay safe, and push your limits.
Ways to Dip in Cold Water
Dipping in cold water is a top way to try cold help. The right water coolness is from 50°F to 59°F (10°C–15°C). A dip lasts 2–5 minutes, long enough to start up brown fat and up nicotinamide levels - both help NAD+ work better.
Starters often begin with short dips, about 30 seconds to 1 minute, and slowly stay in longer as they get used to it. Some may reach up to 5–10 minutes per dip. For the best, do it 3–5 times a week. This rate helps a lot but doesn't tire you too much, a good place to start before trying easier steps.
Other Cold Ways
If whole body dips feel too strong, there are softer starts. For instance, contrast showers let you start with hot water, then go to the cold for 30 seconds and back to hot. Do this back and forth 3–5 times, end on a cold note. This way still boosts your body.
You can also try going out in the cold, perfect in cold places. A quick walk or easy move in 40–50°F can be a mild start to cold help without dipping in water. Or, use an ice bath at home. Fill your bath with water and ice, check the coolness with a thermometer. This method works well, but setting it up takes effort.
For a harder try, mix cold with heat. Going from a sauna to a cold dip makes your body work extra hard to keep its cool, which might up the cold's good effects.
Cold Tubs for Regular Use
If you dip often, buying a cold plunge tub makes it easy and keeps going. These tubs stay at 50–59°F, so no need to add ice. Many have filters to clean the water, so less work to change it.
Pick a tub you can get into and out of easy and fits your whole body. Sites like ColdPlungeTubs.com review and compare to help you find the best tub.
Studies say 11 minutes a week of cold is a good aim for health[8]. You can do this in 2–3 dips a week, easy even if you're busy. Keep at it, and you'll see better NAD+ work and health with time.
The Power of Cold Therapy for Your Health
Cold therapy does more than help you right away - it can aid in keeping you healthy as you get older. When you get cold often, your body starts to work differently. This helps in making NAD⁺, which is key for making energy and fixing cells. Over time, these shifts keep NAD⁺ up, helping your body make energy and fix itself well.
The good things don't end with how your body makes energy. Cold often also makes you tougher overall. For example, dipping in cold water can up your dopamine by a lot (250%) [7], while dropping cortisol, the stress hormone, to handle stress better [10]. Dr. Chawla talks about how being strong in body and mind are linked:
"Resilience is the ability to adapt to life's stressors and adversities. The body and mind are interconnected, therefore greater physiological resilience may lead to greater psychological resilience as well." [10]
But, living longer comes with a need for steady, often cold times. Just one go won't make lasting shifts in NAD⁺ work or turn on the cell paths that help with aging well. Your body must get used to it - making more brown fat (BAT), bettering enzyme work, and setting up the body ways needed for long health.
Dr. Chawla says to take care:
"This intervention is not for everyone. It's important for people to consider what works best for their individual needs. If you are going to try CWI, be mindful of how it impacts your mind and body and incorporate the activity into your routine accordingly." [10]
If you're new to cold therapy, start slow and watch how your body acts - this is key if you have heart worries. The aim is to keep it up long-term, not to risk your health. Keep in mind, cold shock can hit in water as mild as 77°F (25°C) [9], so even not-so-cold water needs you to get ready and be careful.
For those set to keep it up, buying the right gear can help a lot. Things like those on ColdPlungeTubs.com make it simpler, cutting out the need to get ice every day and keeping the cold steady.
Studies show: regular cold use turns on major health paths, like better NAD⁺ metabolism, BAT use, and stress handling. With steady use and staying safe, cold therapy can be a big help in keeping cells young and healthy.
FAQs
How can cold use help NAD+ and keep cells healthy?
Cold use can make NAD+ levels go up by starting stress events in the body that make mitochondria work better and help fix cells. When in the cold, the body turns on the NAD+ salvage pathway, a way to make NAD+ again from what it was before. This keeps up energy making and fights the drop in NAD+ as we age.
Being cold also helps with mitophagy, a needed act where bad mitochondria are cleaned out to keep cell energy right - a job that needs NAD+. More so, it might lead to epigenetic changes that touch genes linked to how long we live and how well our cells work. To get the most from these good things, you need to put cold use into your routine often to keep these ways working well.
How does using cold help you live longer and boost how well your body works?
Using cold can help us age better and keep our bodies running well by turning on sirtuins, a set of key enzymes like SIRT1 and SIRT3. These enzymes are key for fixing cells, keeping cell powerhouses working right, and cutting down swelling - all parts that help us live longer.
When we face cold, our bodies make norepinephrine, a stuff that makes these powerhouses work harder and turns on sirtuins. This start sets off epigenetic changes, leading our cells to work better as time goes on. These changes make for better energy making, less cell damage, and more control over genes tied to aging. By adding cold use to your daily habits, you could boost these key cell jobs and better your health overall.