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The Benefits of Being Cold

theatlantic.com

11–20 of 181 posts

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#11
post #7

>Seven million years of human evolution were dominated by two challenges: food scarcity and cold. Almost all of that time was spent in Africa. Even during glacial periods, was it ever icy? I don't know much about the paleoclimate, so I'm not sure.

A great deal of Africa can get cold.

[deleted]

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#13

>Seven million years of human evolution were dominated by two challenges: food scarcity and cold. Almost all of that time was spent in Africa. Even during glacial periods, was it ever icy? I don't know much about the paleoclimate, so I'm not sure.

Adaptations can happen quite quickly. There are quite a few that the human populations which migrated out of Africa developed shortly afterward in response to new environments. Pale skin and retention of the ability to digest milk past childhood, for example.

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#14
I don't think he'll sell many ice vests to women - they always seem to feel the cold. The women at work are always rugged up, while the guys (ok, all the guys do a lot of exercise) are mostly in shorts and t-shirts. In bed, my wife has a couple of duvets on, and I'm on the top of the bed with nothing on, sweating away. Maybe, based on the theories in this article, women would find it easier to lose weight if they let themselves get cold. But they already are.

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#15
I'm continually travelling from north to south and I feel a lot more people live healthy by the beach so they look good during the year while up north it's easy to bundle up because it's easy to wear long sleeves all the time.

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#17
As someone who was a grad student in an apartment with poor heating: it's not worth it. Eat appropriately, and exercise. The bloody cold numbs your brain too. I also remember reading, though I can't find a good source now, that programmers perform better when warmer (until a point, maybe 27 degrees C).

Besides, exercising feels good, while this feels bad. Might as well enjoy yourself.

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#18
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recall reading an article, though, where Michael Phelps admitted he didn't eat as much as was reported. The story about the gargantuan amounts he ate was something the media loved, and something that helped build a "mythology" around him, but even Phelps said it wasn't true.

12,000 is on the high end of extreme athlete caloric intake, but not totally outlandish. There are many stories about Iditarod mushers throwing whole sticks of butter into their food for the fat, and a study of one musher showed average consumption of about 9,000 calories per day through the race [1] (with weight loss indicating a deficit of ~2k/day). A quick google says Tour de France racers consume in the range of…

Appalachian Trail through-hikers can consume 5000 calories a day and still lose notable weight on the trail.

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#20

I don't think he'll sell many ice vests to women - they always seem to feel the cold. The women at work are always rugged up, while the guys (ok, all the guys do a lot of exercise) are mostly in shorts and t-shirts. In bed, my wife has a couple of duvets on, and I'm on the top of the bed with nothing on, sweating away. Maybe, based on the theories in this article, women would find it easier to lose weight if they let…

Me too, but just wait until your wife is pregnant... Then you're shivering in a ball and she's sweating with the window open.
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