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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

#91

Post by superpermutat0r »

leto_ii wrote: post #84
allovernow wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ;))

This is not true, the breathing technique is pretty simple.

You just breathe very deep and just relax and breathe out (not fully, just as much as comfortable). You breathe with a rhythm, faster or slower, anyway you like.

After breathing for a while you'll feel tingles or warm/cold sensations all over and then you breathe out and hold. After about 90-180 seconds (some people do more) you inhale, hold the breath for 15 seconds and start breathing normally.

You can immediatelly start another round of breathing.

That's it.

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

#92

Post by jniedrauer »

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…

> 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.

This is a big fear of mine as well. If I'm going out of cell coverage, I always bring the 10 essentials and at least one extra layer. Even if my legs are cold, at least I'll have a fleece jacket.

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

#93

Post by benibela »

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

That reminds me of the witches in His Dark Materials

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

#94

Post by jniedrauer »

rmcpherson wrote: post #37
js2 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

The article mentions that plastic bags work better than emergency "space" blankets since they block moisture and thus evaporative cooling. A large industrial trash bag is part of my emergency supplies on cold backpacking trips. It's cheap, weighs almost nothing, and provides protection from both radiative and convective cooling.

Related: I used ziploc bags as vapor barriers nested between two pairs of socks while on a multi-month winter hiking trip in trail shoes. It was extremely effective. I could posthole in deep snow all day in my running shoes and not get frostbite.

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

#95

Post by Riguad87 »

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…

Well I hail from the similar ancestry, but while I was immune to cold in my teens, anyway sandals in winter snow and I have clear memory of traversing bitter winter drifts with nothing but summer suit and a Crombie overcoat, this almost fifty year old thinks the cold leis an diabhlaíocht.

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

#96

Post by lettergram »

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…

Of Norwegian and Irish decent, I have the same thing. My roommates have always been so confused because I prefer a 60 degree house with short sleeves. Even in -10 or -2 degrees fahrenheit I’ll often just wear a light jacket and feel totally fine.

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

#97

Post by rconti »

rmcpherson wrote: post #37
js2 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

The article mentions that plastic bags work better than emergency "space" blankets since they block moisture and thus evaporative cooling. A large industrial trash bag is part of my emergency supplies on cold backpacking trips. It's cheap, weighs almost nothing, and provides protection from both radiative and convective cooling.

Funny, this Californian ran a half marathon in northern norway rain (during the summer, though, so it was about 45f). I inadvertently tested this plastic bag theory.

My luggage had been lost by the airlines, so I didn't have my rain shell, just the most basic running clothes that I wisely chose to put in my carryon.

I ended up running the race in t-shirt and shorts covered by a free plastic poncho handed out by a restaurant. I quickly saturated my clothes from a combination of sweat and rain getting in, but it functioned like a wet suit in that it prevented the fresh rain and wind from cooling me evaporatively, while my body kept my wet clothes warm.

While it was a bit stuffy, I was afraid I'd get cold very quickly in the wind and rain if I took it off (which I did in the last few miles, and yes, it got cold quickly). As soon as I stopped running, even with a space blanket, even going indoors, my temperature plummeted EXTREMELY rapidly.

At 45f in the dry I'd typically use long sleeves (and I repeated this experiment this past weekend in Napa) although, again, it's really just to keep you warm while you wait to start; once you're running, it's no problem to get by with only short sleeves and shorts.

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

#98

Post by pmichaud »

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…

I was recently in Northern-ish Ontario, and I had to pump some gas, so I was in the shade of the roof overhead the pumps. It was about -40 degrees.

I was standing there in relatively dense clothing, since it was cold, and I was out there for maybe 1-2 minutes.

It was the first time I really felt and could believe that standing out there in that temperature would cause me to simply die in not very long. I could feel the bite through my thick coat, through my boots, through my hat. I could feel the heat leaching out. Cold like that is no joke.

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

#99

Post by kaybe »

henrikschroder wrote: post #87
batmansmk wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There is no rule you can only have two though, just saying. More than one per person can be quite nice, especially in winter.

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

#100

Post by moltar »

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…

Maybe it’s because of the news about scouts declaring bankruptcy?
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