Cold Shock Proteins

Introduction: Cryotherapy

Humans have been using the benefits of cryotherapy for centuries, if not millennia. We have been exposing ourselves to cold water, ice, cold air, and anything else to lower our core body temperature, with knowing very little about the cellular and molecular mechanisms that start in our body as a result of this exposure, but being aware about its health benefits nevertheless. However, lots of research have been done since 1950s to discover the molecular mechanisms of cryotherapy methods, which led to the discovery of cold shock proteins.

What Are Cold Shock Proteins?

The term “cold shock proteins” refers to a family of DNA or RNA binding proteins. These proteins bind to either DNA or RNA, and by doing so they cause changes in gene expression. These proteins are expressed as a result of a cold shock, which is an exposure to cold temperature. Cold proteins are found in a huge variety of organisms, from bacteria to plants and animals. These proteins are named based on the role they play in the cell, for example there is a cold shock protein called YB-1, which is perhaps the best understood protein among others. The reason this protein is called YB-1 is that it is short for Y-box-binding protein. Some other proteins include RBM3 (RNA-binding motif protein 3), CIRP (cold-inducible RNA-binding protein), and so on.

What Are the Health Benefits of Cold Shock Proteins?

While cold shock proteins offer a wide range of benefits for different organisms, helping with their responding to changes in the environment and increasing their chance of survival, they can be activated artificially in humans to offer health benefits in various aspects. Here is a short list of health benefits from some of the best-understood cold shock proteins:

YB-1: the best-understood cold shock protein helps us heal our wounds, and promotes formation of scar tissue, speeding up the healing process. It can also recruit several cells of the immune system to a site of infection or inflammation.

CIRP: this protein is an interesting one in that it plays a wide range of roles in our body: along with YB-1, this protein helps with wound healing and decreasing inflammation. It can also maintain muscle mass during periods when people don’t use their muscles much (as in a period of recovery after an injury or having your arm or leg put in a cast). It can even help with regulating your internal clock (also known as the circadian rhythm) and improve your sleep pattern.

CSDE: this protein is involved in regulation of the expression of LDL receptor, which is the main factor in lowering your “bad cholesterol”.

LIN28A and LIN28B: these two related proteins are involved in glucose metabolism, and similar to YB-1 and CIRP, they help with wound healing, particularly speeding up cartilage and bone growth.

RBM3: this protein helps protect the nervous tissue, including the brain. Also similar to CIRP, it can maintain muscle tissue in periods of disuse.

How Do I Activate My Cold Shock Proteins?

While it sounds obvious that exposure to cold can trigger the release of cold shock proteins, there are several ways to do so, based on your personal habits and individual taste. These methods include:

simply going outside when it’s cold, without wearing much clothing. Now this method may sound overly simplified, but is in my opinion the easiest way among others to expose yourself to cold. There is no minimum amount of time you should expose yourself to cold but the longer, the better. In the beginning it will feel really uncomfortable to go out with not much clothing but once you get used to it, it won’t bother you at all, and in fact you will even enjoy it, going out of your house first thing in the morning, not wearing much! The only problem with this method is if you live in a place that has warm climate, like Los Angeles, where yours truly lives, you get actual cold morning weather maybe 3 months a year! That’s when you need to do something indoors, which brings us to:

taking a cold shower. Now I know this may not be the most pleasant one, but taking a cold shower can offer the same benefits of going out in the cold. You don’t have to take a long cold shower. You can trigger the release of cold shock proteins if you take your regular shower at your convenient temperature, then bring the temperature down to 70 Fahrenheit/21 Celsius degrees for the last couple minutes, but remember: the longer your exposure to cold water and the lower the temperature of water, the more cold shock proteins are released. Once again, this will become a habit for you.

soaking in cold water. Perhaps this is the most efficient way to release cold shock proteins. Water has a greater specific heat capacity (and that’s the science teacher in me talking!), so it can absorb more thermal energy from your body than air does, and when you immerse your whole body in cold water, you maximize that energy delivery from your body to water, compared to taking a cold shower. Once again, it may be very uncomfortable in the beginning but it will become a habit. Good luck releasing those cold shock proteins!

Cold Shock Proteins Quiz

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