Thread: does your environment's temperature affect metabolism?

My question is having to deal with temperature and your metabolism. I am pretty sure that if your environment were really cold, your metabolism would speed up because it has to generate heat to keep your body warm. However, if the temperature is very hot and you are sweating a little bit, what effect does this have on your metabolism?

I ask this because I am back in college and this time there is no air conditioning - it is very hot, and it seems like I am always hungry as hell even though I am eating enough.

[sorry for the double post, but this thread wasn't getting any attention in general health]

Both are correct in a round about way.

When it is cold, your body has to increase thermogenesis in order to maintain your core body temperature and therefore you will use more energy (this is why you can get away with eating more in very cold environments). But, if it gets too cold, it will indeed start to shut down... which will kind of kill you eventually...

However, when you heat up over and above normal temperature the enzymes in your cells speed up (the energy it takes for them to do all those chemical reactions in your body decreases - so they can do those reactions a lot faster) - so you end up burning more calories too (which is why when you are sick you need more energy - because the fever/temperature speeds your body up). But it is not all that good because once you go above a certain temperature the proteins that form these enzymes (and other things) begin to unfold - which kind of kills you too.