Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Benefits of Being Cold

theatlantic.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 181 posts

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#31

Post by hnhg »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #27
arjie wrote: post #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.

20C is ideal, 25C is too hot. In China, they always try cutting the AC back, and I always have to complain about it. It is difficult programming when your arms are sticking to the desk. Also, humidity has a lot to do with it (AC will remove humidity from the air as much as it will cool it).

It depends on the individual.

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#32

Post by Sambdala »

logicallee wrote: post #26

I know an 84 year old man in the prime of life, he speaks 37 languages, five of them nearly natively (including three that I happen to speak at a high level from my study and travels, and in which I have conversed with him), and is learning more every day. He is the personal language consultant of a billionaire, and recently picked up a new language fluently for him in less than a year. He also made impressive stride…

Don't try that with an otherwise unhealthy lifestyle or if you have a heart condition.

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/01/18/the-james-bond-show...

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#34

Post by Renaud »

sidek wrote: post #24

People's reactions to the cold always astonish me. I spend a lot of time in Canada and Hong Kong. In Canada, it can be 12 C (~53F) and lots of people will be wearing t-shirts and jeans, and it isn't too uncommon to see the odd person wearing shorts. In Hong Kong, 12 C necessitates a cold weather warning, and a fair amount of people die when it drops to 10 C (50F). It would be interesting to try this article's suggest…

Don't forget one thing though: Canadian homes are built to resist the cold and they are usually well-insulated.

Hong Kong, by comparison, is probably one of the worse places when it comes to thermal insulation. When it's 12 outside, it's not far from being the same inside.

It always amazed me how such an energy-hungry place, where electricity is expensive, is built so cheaply that insulation doesn't factor at all. Energy-efficiency is totally unknown when it comes to housing.

I'm yet to see a double-glazed window pane in Hong Kong.

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#35

Post by lazyjones »

FWIW, I moved from sunny Greece to somewhat cold Austria at the age of (almost) 18. In the following 2 years, I gained quite a bit of body hair (more than typical in the family), which I (now) attribute to the cold temperatures I had to endure during the first winters due to poor heating and light clothing. My point is: perhaps the body has more tricks up its sleeve than just to turn up the heating by burning more calories, not all of them as desirable as we'd hope. Then again, it might have been normal for my age and not related to climate, although I had plenty of facial hair very early (at 14) and generally didn't develop/grow much after 16.

Needless to say, I wasn't able to reverse the process with proper heating. I lose hair in all the wrong spots only!

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#36

Post by learc83 »

LordHumungous wrote: post #33

The southern US and midwest must be seeing all the benefits of cold, considering they keep the AC at about 60F in the summer.

Who keeps the AC at 60F? I live in Georgia and the normal setting is somewhere between 68 and 74. On a hot day, I don't think most people's ACs are even cable of getting the temperature down to 60.

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#37

Post by learc83 »

sidek wrote: post #24

People's reactions to the cold always astonish me. I spend a lot of time in Canada and Hong Kong. In Canada, it can be 12 C (~53F) and lots of people will be wearing t-shirts and jeans, and it isn't too uncommon to see the odd person wearing shorts. In Hong Kong, 12 C necessitates a cold weather warning, and a fair amount of people die when it drops to 10 C (50F). It would be interesting to try this article's suggest…

How cold it feels is also dependent on humidity. A very humid climate means that it feels much colder than it actually is.

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#38

Post by seanmcdirmid »

hnhg wrote: post #31
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

20C is ideal, 25C is too hot. In China, they always try cutting the AC back, and I always have to complain about it. It is difficult programming when your arms are sticking to the desk. Also, humidity has a lot to do with it (AC will remove humidity from the air as much as it will cool it).

It depends on the individual.

It depends on the humidity. 25C at 50+% humidity feels pretty bad.

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#39

Post by logicallee »

Sambdala wrote: post #32
logicallee wrote: post #26

I know an 84 year old man in the prime of life, he speaks 37 languages, five of them nearly natively (including three that I happen to speak at a high level from my study and travels, and in which I have conversed with him), and is learning more every day. He is the personal language consultant of a billionaire, and recently picked up a new language fluently for him in less than a year. He also made impressive stride…

Don't try that with an otherwise unhealthy lifestyle or if you have a heart condition. http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/01/18/the-james-bond-show...

So, I heard it stated that when someone has no rebuttal, instead of refuting a poster's point they will ask for references.

This isn't why I'm asking. It's just that I just would like to know if you have a better reference, i.e. where did you hear or learn this. Your article is from 'the art of manliness', and unlike the earlier sections from it on benefits, the section you cite doesn't actually contain any references to medicine at all. It just seems to be the author's speculation.

I performed the following Google query:

https://www.google.com/search?q=are+cold+showers+harmful

so I guess I'm saying I don't believe your facts, but am happy to be proved wrong if you happen to know or can find something I didn't. I think this is a civil response that leaves it quite open to my being wrong.

Thank you.

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#40

Post by bane »

sidek wrote: post #24

People's reactions to the cold always astonish me. I spend a lot of time in Canada and Hong Kong. In Canada, it can be 12 C (~53F) and lots of people will be wearing t-shirts and jeans, and it isn't too uncommon to see the odd person wearing shorts. In Hong Kong, 12 C necessitates a cold weather warning, and a fair amount of people die when it drops to 10 C (50F). It would be interesting to try this article's suggest…

In the deep desert, temperatures change fast. I once spent some time in a desert environment that went from 120F (49C) to 50F (10C) in a matter of a couple weeks. Where I come from 50F is light jacket weather if it's windy at night. But in the desert, after having become accustomed to hair dryer temperatures all day, I was freezing.

I mean shivering, teeth chattering cold. It was the most bizarre feeling. I could feel the air temperature, and it was fine, but my body simply couldn't keep up with the sudden change and I didn't get used to the new temperature for a few weeks.

Post reply on HN