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

bbc.com

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

#41

Post by thedrbrian »

Agenttin wrote: post #33
gumby wrote: post #31

> Unable to move far in the deep snow, his plan was to stay put, which under the circumstances was not a bad one. It is almost always the correct decision, no matter what the situation. At his home he had access to all sorts of materials, and was clearly visible from the air. And a shelter in the snow is pretty warm -- regardless of how cold it is outside it will pretty much stay at 0 C. The problem is that you can't…

What do you think of the V instead of SOS? Is it better? Should someone do both?

Should be pretty good as it’s one of the distress signals that pilots are taught to look for.

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

#42

Post by buserror »

marinhero wrote: post #40
buserror wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You get used to that cold shock, I take a cold shower every day for many many years, and quite frankly I don't feel a "cold shock" anymore, even in winter. It's really just requires a bit of training to get less sensitive to cold; on the other hand I also have a tendency to get warm a lot quicker, which can be a bit annoying sometimes. I keep my house at 18C and no warmer, when many people I know want 21C or sometime…

What's the idea behind getting cold showers? why is it beneficial?

Well, nothing scientific than I'm aware of, strictly speaking, but I love the effect.

Right after the shower, you'll get super warm, even in winter. You're system just gets going to equalise your temperature.

Also, you'll be woken up no dithering about in a stupor until your coffee kicks in, it definitely gives you a kick in the backside to get going, so even just for that, it's worth it in my opinion.

And, I never get cold. I can work outside in a t-shirt in winter (UK winter) without feeling any cold.

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

#43

Post by fouc »

gumby wrote: post #28

As it happens I'm leaving for a camping trip in the snow tomorrow morning. It's the sierras (relatively warm) and I'm leading a bunch of inexperienced scouts (so not a particularly grueling trip) but still with opportunities for danger. I was surprised how many of these SV kids signed up and were then pulled by their parents -- 50%! Only a few years ago these trips were immediately oversubscribed, with nobody getting…

The withdrawals sounds more like coronavirus concerns?

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

#44

Post by cafard »

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #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, runn…

Washington, DC, does have generally mild winters. The coldest I have been has been in cold rains, which are no fun to run in. One can almost always run in shorts, but below a certain temperature and with a wind blowing, you do need something windproof over or under your shorts.

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

#45

Post by felipemnoa »

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #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, runn…

>>This last weekend it was 45 and blissfully sunny

Any temperature above 40 is pretty warm though, assuming you have a sweater and a jacket of course. Anything below that starts to feel cold.

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

#46

Post by lamp_book »

jiggawatts wrote: post #32

Has nobody here done snow sports? Just a few weeks ago I was snowboarding in deep powder snow with temperatures down to -20 C and I was overheating to the point of being seriously worried about heat stroke. I had just a ski jacket and a thin under-layer. A few days before that I was "freezing to death" while standing still in a queue outside. It was +3 C and I had three layers on! The level of exercise makes all the…

Less is more was definitely one of the first lessons I learned skiing. Overheating on the downhill usually means you'll be freezing from cold sweat at the top of the lift, too.

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

#47

Post by xenonite »

thedrbrian wrote: post #41
Agenttin wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think of the V instead of SOS? Is it better? Should someone do both?

Should be pretty good as it’s one of the distress signals that pilots are taught to look for.

> “The SOS signal is what most people know, but the downside is it is very curvy,” says Krebs. “Most of nature is curvy – it is rounded hills and lakes and streams, so curvy blends in.”

> In the military Krebs was taught to use the letter “V” to request general help or an “X” specifically for medical assistance. The long straight lines stand out on a hillside. It also takes less time to create two straight lines 30 feet long compared to two loopy Ss and one O, each 10 feet high.

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

#48

Post by oblib »

When I was 14 years old I moved from northern Illinois to Hollywood CA and when I told kids there that on a sunny 40º winter day in Illinois we didn't wear coats because it was "warm out" for us.

They thought for sure I was bullshitting them. To be fair, after living in So. Cal for a few years when it fell to 70º on summer evenings I would get the shivers if I was only wearing a T-shirt.

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

#50

Post by sgt »

jiggawatts wrote: post #32

Has nobody here done snow sports? Just a few weeks ago I was snowboarding in deep powder snow with temperatures down to -20 C and I was overheating to the point of being seriously worried about heat stroke. I had just a ski jacket and a thin under-layer. A few days before that I was "freezing to death" while standing still in a queue outside. It was +3 C and I had three layers on! The level of exercise makes all the…

Or how about feeling like you're freezing to death in an office if the AC is set to 19C. Been there, and it gets cold real fast because you're not moving.
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