{"id":3490,"date":"2025-10-27T15:33:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T19:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/?p=3490"},"modified":"2025-10-27T15:33:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T19:33:39","slug":"enzymes-at-colder-temperatures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/2025\/10\/27\/enzymes-at-colder-temperatures\/","title":{"rendered":"Enzymes at colder temperatures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">I went on a bike ride this morning in 40 degree weather and was thinking about<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>how temperature may affect metabolism and performance. I noticed that even though my heart rate stayed relatively low, my pace was slower than usual, so I started thinking about it in terms of enzyme kinetics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Enzymes that drive energy metabolism, like those in glycolysis and the citric acid cycle, are highly sensitive to temperature. In colder conditions, their activity decreases, slowing the rate of ATP production. This means that even with adequate oxygen and fuel, muscles may generate energy less efficiently. The lower temperature likely also reduced blood flow to my extremities, limiting oxygen delivery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">I was also thinking about this in terms of athletic warm-ups. Increasing body temperature isn\u2019t only about preventing injury or feeling limber, but it may also optimize the conditions for the enzymatic reactions that sustain movement. In cold weather, the body has to balance thermoregulation with energy production, diverting resources toward maintaining core temperature instead of powering muscles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I went on a bike ride this morning in 40 degree weather and was thinking about\u00a0 how temperature may affect metabolism and performance. I noticed that even though my heart rate stayed relatively low, my pace was slower than usual, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/2025\/10\/27\/enzymes-at-colder-temperatures\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17524,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[349081],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17524"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3491,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490\/revisions\/3491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}