The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold • Hacker News Board

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

#171

Post by londons_explore » Sat, Mar 07, 2020, 8:40 AM UTC

germinalphrase wrote: post #26

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…

Long distance snow walkers (snowshoes/backcountry skis) will take the opposite approach. Oversized insulation + air permeable shell. Oversized clothing allows for complete ventilation when needed/possible. Air permeable shell allows vapor to escape or freeze onto interior surface and flake off under movement. As for light/fast: I’ve worn a small running fanny pack with an emergency blanket and whistle at times.

I don't really understand this 'breathable' clothing from a physics perspective.

Every liter of water lost through breathable clothing is 2.3MJ of lost heat. So one would presumably prefer to have non-breathable clothing, keep that water in and potentially get 'clammy', yet stay warmer.

Yet nobody seems to do this. Is there a physics based reason other than 'it feels icky and is uncomfortable'?

Perhaps because even when in very cold environments there are occasions when the body is too hot and needs to loose heat?

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

#172

Post by oska » Sat, Mar 07, 2020, 11:20 AM UTC

chachachoney wrote: post #159

rmcpherson wrote: post #37

Earlier 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.

Space blankets are made of mylar, and are not porous. Not sure why people here think that they don't block moisture and allow evaporative cooling... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_blanket

They're not a bag. Thus they're not sealable.

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

#173

Post by oska » Sat, Mar 07, 2020, 11:30 AM UTC

lemmonii wrote: post #118

lee wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm Vietnamese and I was born and still live in Canada. My body has adapted to the cold quite well and I prefer it over the summer heat. This makes me feel that ancestry is not a part of cold resistance.

Regardless of your anecdotal experience, adaption to cold is certainly genetic to a large extent and the literature seems to support that hypothesis. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-014-2962-2#...

Your article looks like junk to me. At least from the abstract, there doesn't seem to have been any attempt to control for the environment (and climate) that the subjects grew up in.

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

#174

Post by oska » Sat, Mar 07, 2020, 11:31 AM UTC

henrikschroder wrote: post #107

banku_brougham wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You've already solved the problem with the pillows. This phrase will help me remember a very important concept.

Right? That's what's so incredibly baffling about this thing. The solution to the problem is right in front of everyone's eyes . And most Americans have no idea how to solve the problem. They keep complaining about it, but they never solve it. It's even a common sitcom trope, ffs.

I think it's mostly a sitcom trope, rather than a problem that ordinary people can't solve.

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

#175

Post by oska » Sat, Mar 07, 2020, 11:41 AM UTC

buserror wrote: post #145

philsnow wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You get used to that cold shock I'm currently only taking cold showers, this is the third time I've started doing so. The very first one was quite an experience: my vision turned gray for a few seconds, I couldn't breathe, and I nearly fell over. The next day's was a little jarring but tolerable, and it kept on like that, a little less each day. Then I fell out of the habit. My second and third times getting back i…

Do it gradually -- first one arm, shoulder; then the other arm, shoulder, then your front, then your head, then lastly your back. Don't dither about it, but don't dive into it either :-)

This is basically the same sequence I use (cold showers for over a year).

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

#176

Post by germinalphrase » Sat, Mar 07, 2020, 1:20 PM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #171

germinalphrase wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Long distance snow walkers (snowshoes/backcountry skis) will take the opposite approach. Oversized insulation + air permeable shell. Oversized clothing allows for complete ventilation when needed/possible. Air permeable shell allows vapor to escape or freeze onto interior surface and flake off under movement. As for light/fast: I’ve worn a small running fanny pack with an emergency blanket and whistle at times.

I don't really understand this 'breathable' clothing from a physics perspective. Every liter of water lost through breathable clothing is 2.3MJ of lost heat. So one would presumably prefer to have non-breathable clothing, keep that water in and potentially get 'clammy', yet stay warmer. Yet nobody seems to do this. Is there a physics based reason other than 'it feels icky and is uncomfortable'? Perhaps because even w…

Wet clothing is a life threatening situation in the backcountry.

Intentionally venting excess heat is common and not at all a concern for snow walkers.

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

#177

Post by thinkingemote » Sat, Mar 07, 2020, 1:25 PM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #171

germinalphrase wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Long distance snow walkers (snowshoes/backcountry skis) will take the opposite approach. Oversized insulation + air permeable shell. Oversized clothing allows for complete ventilation when needed/possible. Air permeable shell allows vapor to escape or freeze onto interior surface and flake off under movement. As for light/fast: I’ve worn a small running fanny pack with an emergency blanket and whistle at times.

I don't really understand this 'breathable' clothing from a physics perspective. Every liter of water lost through breathable clothing is 2.3MJ of lost heat. So one would presumably prefer to have non-breathable clothing, keep that water in and potentially get 'clammy', yet stay warmer. Yet nobody seems to do this. Is there a physics based reason other than 'it feels icky and is uncomfortable'? Perhaps because even w…

Some cold weather gear works on that principle. Synthetic string vest for example, keeps you warm even when sweaty. It dries off quickly too when you are no longer sweaty. The main thing is that you are warm and never cold and that you shouldn't worry about soggy undergarment.

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

#178

Post by samplatt » Mon, Mar 09, 2020, 1:08 AM UTC

grecy wrote: post #162

samplatt wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...)

Fair enough. I've noticed a lot of south-coast WA people are cold-acclimatised (even more so than south-coast eastern-states, ie, Melbourne) and also see the occasional 48.C day.