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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

#81

Post by tempestn »

teddyh wrote: post #69
noir_lord wrote: post #51

I do wonder how much of this is genetic. My ancestry is Celtic (Scottish on one side, Irish the other) and I have a high resistance to cold, until I lived with my partner I’d have the the windows ajar even in winter and rarely put the heating on, I’m rarely cold even when cycling long distances on days with the temperature around zero and I wear t-shirts year around, I find jumpers and shirts stifling in any normal t…

You’re one of them ! “They're almost like normal humans, except they have no knowledge of what it means to be cold. ” — http://absurdnotions.org/F1992.html Of course, there are those other people as well… http://absurdnotions.org/an20020702.gif

Direct link to the first comic referenced: http://absurdnotions.org/anc70.gif

> Comic strip characters have a tendency to wear the same clothes all the time, for the ease of both artist habit and reader recognition. But with Jay, there's a reason. He's one of them. You personally know at least one. They're almost like normal humans, except they have no knowledge of what it means to be cold. Jay doesn't even own a coat.

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

#82

Post by gumby »

mrexroad wrote: post #58
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…

FWIW, did a winter camping trip with kid's SV troop a few weeks back. no one got pulled, and had a few last minute joins. with that said, it was unreasonably warm that weekend (it barely got down to -1 C at night), which was a bummer.

Glad you had an enthusiastic crowd!

When the weather is warm, a bunch of experienced snow campers can have a really fun trip.

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

#83

Post by marcosdumay »

anthk wrote: post #54
mynegation wrote: post #49

When traveling Tierra del Fuego (Southern tip of South America) I learned about Yaghan people [1] that survived pretty cold winters not wearing much of an essence. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuegians

>Tierra del Fuego The irony was good on these people.

The name is because of volcanic activity.

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

#84

Post by leto_ii »

allovernow wrote: post #19
JSeymourATL wrote: post #2

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

All the videos I've seen about Wim are incredibly frustrating - none of them are remotely technical and none of them go into any kind of depth as to how to actually practice the method - just a bunch of montages of Wim doing Wim stuff and talking about his magic breathing. Granted, I haven't searched in a few years now, perhaps things have changed.... I want to believe but I don't have enough information to try anyth…

> none of them go into any kind of depth as to how to actually practice the method

Wim is selling his technique (https://www.wimhofmethod.com/experience-wim-hof), so that's probably why he doesn't go into much detail. Turns out even the transcendence of human boundaries has a well specified monetary value ;))

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

#85

Post by nightbrawler »

bllguo wrote: post #30

I like to think I can stand the cold relatively well, but what always gets me is my ears. The rest of my body will be fine but my ears start hurting in minutes, which then translates into quite the headache.

I have the same issue with my ears in cold weather. They start to hurt pretty quick in cold temps, so I try to always either have some small wrap around ear muffs or a beanie. As long as I keep my ears warm and out of cold wind, I'm able to stay comfortable.

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

#86

Post by forkexec »

It is possible to generate enough heat to prevent frostbite in mild freezing conditions for some hours using a Tibetan thermoregulation technique. They practice this technique in nearly freezing conditions and are required to dry 3 wet soaked towels. It requires much training, patience, and practice to develop this skill. Furthermore, there is a technique to raise the temperature of the extremities as well.

https://www.buzzworthy.com/monks-raise-body-temperature/

Deliberate shivering of more muscle groups is another idea but unlikely to raise extremity temperatures.

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

#87

Post by henrikschroder »

batmansmk wrote: post #70
noir_lord wrote: post #51

I do wonder how much of this is genetic. My ancestry is Celtic (Scottish on one side, Irish the other) and I have a high resistance to cold, until I lived with my partner I’d have the the windows ajar even in winter and rarely put the heating on, I’m rarely cold even when cycling long distances on days with the temperature around zero and I wear t-shirts year around, I find jumpers and shirts stifling in any normal t…

On that point, I wanted to share something you may relate to: my Filipino wife is always freezing in SF. I'm from Scandinavian descent, I could live as naked as a jaybird in the Bay Area weather. Where can't I find a blanket thick on the left, thin on the right? :)

Things Americans do that completely baffle me: In a double bed, they have two pillows, but only one blanket, and end up having fights and struggles about the blanket.

You've already solved the problem with the pillows. You don't fight over a shared pillow. Come on, you can figure out how to solve the problem with the blanket as well.

"You can have two blankets in a double bed?"

Yes. There you go. You're welcome.

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

#88

Post by mrkstu »

The Gauls would fight naked in the snow against their enemies [0].

"This practice was common to the Gauls Aul Cellius Lib ix cap 13 quotes the account of the Gaul who fought with Manlius whom he describes as nudus practer soutum et gladi's duos torque atque armillis decoratus; and Plutarch in Mario tells us the Cimbri went naked among the snow of the Alps to shew their enemies how much they defied the cold."

[0] https://books.google.com/books?id=Wl2jgA9j5UkC&pg=PA800&lpg=...

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

#89

Post by ggm »

"Another paper found that people brought very close to the point of hypothermia (their core body temperature was lowered to 35.5C) suffered no decline in cognitive function at all."

Never give up. Equally, you may be aware, of what is happening, right up until the end.

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

#90

Post by jniedrauer »

I hiked the Appalachian trail during the winter with a very low bodyfat percentage. I learned to adjust layers constantly. Even in temperatures down near 0*F, you can become drenched in sweat while climbing a mountain. But once you stop moving (especially if you don't stay dry), you've got less than 5 minutes before you start to shiver uncontrollably, and complex tasks like pitching a tent start to become difficult. The most challenging part was moisture management, because gear never dries when it's below freezing and you're not wearing it.
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