Michele Cannell

Fitness professional certified in Personal Training, Wellness, CPR/AED, Cycling, Pilates, YogaFit, Tai Chi, and living with Celiac Disease.

Brown Fat Cells or White Fat Cells?

We have many brown fat cells as children. Fat CellsBrown fat cells help us use our energy (calories) more effeciently. Brown Fat Cells determine our BMR (basal metabolic rate) which can determine our obesity rate. Brown fat cells can burn up to five times the amount of calories as white fat cells. As we get older, we replace many of those brown fat cells with white fat cells (typically as teenagers). Can we change those white fat cells back to brown fat cells? Not exactly but we can create the right environment to allow our white fat cells to act like brown fat cells and activate the brown fat cells you still have. Do you want to know how?

1. Brown fat cells can use the energy of the white fat cells to stay warm (regulate our temperature). This creates a higher percentage of calorie or fat to use as fuel. So, keep your room temperature a little cooler.
2. Exercise creates a boost in brown fat cell activity. It allows white fat cells to act like their friends-the brown fat cells.
3. Satiety. Eat enough to be full. Don’t over eat or under eat. Listen to your bodies signals. Over eating causes our white fat cells to become more active and store more energy instead of expending it.
4. Get enough sleep. Higher melatonin will activate our brown fat cells. This means getting enough sleep (average of 7 hours). Avoiding blue light before bedtime will increase melatonin.
5. Learn to manage stress. If your stressed, you may not eat healthy; you may not exercise; you may not sleep well. Learn how to manage your stress to keep your brown fat cells active!