It is shown to be possible to control your body temperature within a certain range. I’m not a monk but when I do TaiChi for >1hour I usually feel an increase in my body temperature (although taichi consists of very slow motions). Some people can really increase/decrease their body temperature +/- 2-3C degrees. Some people can resist in extreme cold or hot but there is a range for it. Our ideal body temperature is 37C and it is simply impossible to survive outside 24-44 C range. Even >40 or <32 will result with death in many people.
The reason we have such a narrow range for our body temperature is because the proteins inside our cells work optimally within that range. When proteins get too hot they start to denature, that is they unfold and stop working sometimes permanently if they get too hot or for too long. Think about cooking an egg. If you removed the yolk it would be clear before you cooked it. When you heat it with cooking it goes white and that is all the proteins denaturing. This is a permanent change. On a really hot day we feel tired and lethargic, this is because it is getting too hot for our proteins to work optimally but not so hot they would denature like in the egg – we would be dead then! This is why generally our bodies regulate our temperature for us. To keep us as close as possible to the optimal range for their activity.
My firs thought was, no, our body likes to be 37C and works to keep it there, but some researching lead me to this https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/09-tummo.html
It would appear that it IS actually possible to control your body temp by meditation and that monks have known how to do it for generations.
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It is shown to be possible to control your body temperature within a certain range. I’m not a monk but when I do TaiChi for >1hour I usually feel an increase in my body temperature (although taichi consists of very slow motions). Some people can really increase/decrease their body temperature +/- 2-3C degrees. Some people can resist in extreme cold or hot but there is a range for it. Our ideal body temperature is 37C and it is simply impossible to survive outside 24-44 C range. Even >40 or <32 will result with death in many people.
0
The reason we have such a narrow range for our body temperature is because the proteins inside our cells work optimally within that range. When proteins get too hot they start to denature, that is they unfold and stop working sometimes permanently if they get too hot or for too long. Think about cooking an egg. If you removed the yolk it would be clear before you cooked it. When you heat it with cooking it goes white and that is all the proteins denaturing. This is a permanent change. On a really hot day we feel tired and lethargic, this is because it is getting too hot for our proteins to work optimally but not so hot they would denature like in the egg – we would be dead then! This is why generally our bodies regulate our temperature for us. To keep us as close as possible to the optimal range for their activity.
0