61–70 of 181 posts
Years later, in the military, we would spend 3-14 days in the wilderness for training. I was in much better shape, and would not get tired from simply being outside.
This may be anecdotal, but it seems to lend support to the author's claims.
There's a well-known paper from 1958 documenting some of this: 'Cold Adaptation in Australian Aborigines', by Scholander et al; but the more interesting account is from the Textbook of Biochemistry and Human Biology by Talwar & Srivastava: "Australian aborigines... a group of stone age people who customarily sleep comfortably without clothing, on the ground at temperatures well below freezing. Their body and skin temperature drops tremendously, insulation against heat loss increases by vasoconstriction, and metabolism and heat production remains unaltered. This ethnic group have developed the inborn ability to tolerate hypothermia without recourse to compensation by metabolic heat production - a case of acclimatization by genetic adaptation." (page 886)
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.
Some groups of Australian Aborigines are known to enter a 'hibernation' state at night, in which temperatures plummet to near-freezing temperatures. Their bodies don't shiver - instead, they go into hypothermia, and 'revive' in the morning. There's a well-known paper from 1958 documenting some of this: 'Cold Adaptation in Australian Aborigines', by Scholander et al; but the more interesting account is from the Textbo…
I would love to learn more about this adaptation, which has been witnessed in multiple ethnic groups by so many witnesses that, even allowing for tall tails from exotic lands, still is apparently a real phenomenon (or multiple phenomena).
I wonder, for example, whether it makes a difference how old you are when you begin your "training". I wonder how much nature (genetic adaptation), if any, is required vs. nurture (exposure).
What's funny is that the article never suggests that the simplest solution would be to go swimming (Phelps example) instead of resorting to things like the cold vest or sleeping without a blanket. And swimming has more advantages than just being cold : it provides your cardio in a non damaging way (contrary to running) and you gain a valuable skill that can save your life.
I've read in the past that being cold from swimming tends to make your body think that you are in need of calories.
So casual swimmers will eat their workout at the vending machine, the one conveniently placed near the pool exit.
You can also eat less...
That doesn't work. People eat when they are hungry, if someone is hungry when he doesn't actually need food, he'll still eat. Telling people not to eat isn't going to work. For some, small, subset of people it might work. Emotional eaters, or people who make really poor choices of what food. But for most people who are trying to lose weight your advice is useless because it doesn't work.
For me, I don't buy ready made food and typically my own laziness is the reason I don't eat much.
What's funny is that the article never suggests that the simplest solution would be to go swimming (Phelps example) instead of resorting to things like the cold vest or sleeping without a blanket. And swimming has more advantages than just being cold : it provides your cardio in a non damaging way (contrary to running) and you gain a valuable skill that can save your life.
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…
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 my experience, comparing absolute temperatures across different climate/countries does not give the full picture. I used to live in Paris where it felt warmish when the temperature was around 10C. Now that I live in Hong Kong, 10C feels freezing cold, as you pointed out. Maybe it's related to humidity ? Or maybe it's because there is no indoor heating at all, as seanmcdirmid noted.