Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Tierra del Fuego The irony was good on these people.
The name is because of volcanic activity.
Not much volcanic activity in Tierra del Fuego. AFAIK it was named after the many fires of the natives.
The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold
161–170 of 178 posts
Re: The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
eh. My family is Australian since a while back, and I moved to the Yukon to live. I thoroughly enjoy riding my bike to work at and beyond -40(C/F), and am always out snowshoeing, snowboarding, ice fishing, bison hunting etc when it's in range of -25 to -40C. The coldest I ever saw was -48C (-54.4F) as a daytime high (before the windchill). It was about a degree colder overnight. It was glorious, and I hope to crack -…
You're not from south-coast WA are you?
Nope, but I understand your question because there are not so many Aussies in the Yukon (though more than I was expecting...)
Re: The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 1…
I dunno...I was doubtful at first but I had a thought that perhaps what the doctor said about raising adrenaline while lowering cortisol has something to do with activation of the vagus nerve. Breathing techniques are of course used in various relaxation techniques, this could be an extremely refined version. Perhaps each person has a particularly optimum frequency of breath that must be discovered. I've noticed that…
The breathing technique is a no BS technique. You just need to get the air in. You have to keep inhaling until you start feeling the effects of raised blood ph levels (dizziness, passing out, tingles etc.). You can breathe through nose or mouth, you can take as many breaths as you want, they have to be deep inhale, not that much of an exhale and that is it.
Optimum frequency is mostly just finding the breath rhythm that will get you to the state you need. You can experiment and try to go further and see what happens (worst case you pass out or start having some seizures).
I also experience a euphoric light headedness after one round. Sometimes I need to do a second round to experience it.
Re: The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
How did you avoid damp-related problems like fungal overgrowth?
Re: The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold
#165As 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 t…
Is that -40 celsius or fahrenheit?
Re: The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold
#166There 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 the current fad in magazine-style journalism. You essentially take two narratives: * A personal anecdotal account to provide human interest and color. * A relatively dry scientific narrative that explains the larger context. And then you weave the two together. The human interest side keeps readers engaged enough to wade through the otherwise tedious sciency part. The sciency part makes readers feel they are…
Sometimes adding a Breaking Bad-style flashforward of extreme peril at the beginning to draw you in, followed by the journalistic equivalent of a "two hours earlier" caption.
Re: The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold
#167I 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…
Oh I’m the exact same version of mutt as yourself (incidentally, born and raised Canadian) and am much the same. I’ve always said I “run hot” because it can be the dead of winter but as soon as I walk in the building in the morning I’ll start sweating. I have to unzip my coat and take my hat off on the bus and subway or I’ll sweat through. Humid summertimes have to be managed accordingly. I know your situation alllll…
I use the same phrase. Public transportation is the bane of my life - here in London they seem to turn the heaters on full blast between specified dates regardless of the actual temperature. I find myself taking off and carrying coat, hat, bag, umbrella on the tube (subway) and still sweating. It's worse having a toddler because I'm either chasing him around like mad and overheating, or freezing my ass off standing still for long periods of time while he examines a leaf!
Re: The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
How did you avoid damp-related problems like fungal overgrowth?
It didn't end up being a problem. I washed my feet when I could, used thick wool socks, let my feet air out at camp, and that was enough.
Re: The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 t…
Is that -40 celsius or fahrenheit?
Yes.
Re: The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
also a great make-shift Faraday cage for those pesky non-removable-battery phones
I don't know if that's true. In the nonideal world a Faraday cage must have a minimum thickness to function, which is a factor of the wavelengths you are trying to block and the conductivity of the material, I think.
Just the conductivity.