Live data from Hacker News

The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold

bbc.com

1–10 of 178 posts

Re: The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold

#4
post #3

There is a lot of interesting information. However, is it only me, or the style of writing is chaotic (almost as if every paragraph was shuffled)?

You're not alone. The article tends to leap from one story to another in a way that's not really fully clear or consistent at times.

Re: The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold

#5
> A man in the cold is not necessarily a cold man,” says Tipton. “If you keep moving and you are reasonably insulated you will produce enough heat to stay warm. At maximum exercise, it is like you are running a 2kW fire. When you exercise reasonably hard you can do that in shorts and t-shirt in the cold...

I think about this a lot as a runner in the Midwest US. I regularly go out in 20-30F weather in wool socks, running shorts, a long-sleeve shell, and a hat and gloves. I add running tights and a bit of vaseline on my cheekbones and nose if it's under 20. This last weekend it was 45 and blissfully sunny; it felt like spring, I left my hat and gloves at home and did my first shirtless workout of the season.

The article reminds me of the quote from Jack London's "To Build a Fire" (full text at [1]):

> His idea of running until he arrived at the camp and the boys presented one problem: he lacked the endurance.

Guðlaugur did have the endurance! Good on him.

It does make me think, however, what would happen if I were to sprain an ankle or break a leg and be unable to run to generate heat. If I could only hobble, would I be able to, say, sit down to do sit-ups and push-ups until I could warm up and resume hobbling? Fortunately, I'm not far from from shore on a dark sea, my routes never take me further than about two miles from civilization.

[1]: https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/to...

Re: The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold

#6
post #3

There is a lot of interesting information. However, is it only me, or the style of writing is chaotic (almost as if every paragraph was shuffled)?

Though you were exaggerating, but holy cow batman, thought I was reading about an Icelandic fisherman, then a multi-paragraph divert into cold weather effects on the body, to emerge in more multi-paragraphs talking about an off-the-grid Alaska guy whose house burned down. I had forgot that the article wasn't about the Alaska guy by the time the meandering story returned to Iceland~

Re: The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold

#7
post #3

There is a lot of interesting information. However, is it only me, or the style of writing is chaotic (almost as if every paragraph was shuffled)?

true! I skipped 85% of the trash verbiage. You cannot expect anything from "journalists" these days anymore.

Re: The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold

#8

> A man in the cold is not necessarily a cold man,” says Tipton. “If you keep moving and you are reasonably insulated you will produce enough heat to stay warm. At maximum exercise, it is like you are running a 2kW fire. When you exercise reasonably hard you can do that in shorts and t-shirt in the cold... I think about this a lot as a runner in the Midwest US. I regularly go out in 20-30F weather in wool socks, runn…

Fellow runner here. For God's sake man, carry an emergency blanket with you at least.

https://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Blanket/s?k=Emergency+Blank...

Re: The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold

#9

Surprisingly, no mention of Wim Hoff - The Ice Man > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6XKcsm3dKs

That stuff actually works... basically if, like me, you're overweight... you've got a ruddy big log to burn strapped to your middle.

The trick is to get enough air in and bump your metabolism to start burning it.

Re: The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold

#10
post #3

There is a lot of interesting information. However, is it only me, or the style of writing is chaotic (almost as if every paragraph was shuffled)?

This is just the style of modern story writing. Words, a lot of words. Just too many of them. I have tried to read such stories and most of the time there are just words and not much substance.
Post reply on HN