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

91–100 of 181 posts

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#91

Post by trhway »

eru wrote: post #85
trhway wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What's funny is that the article never suggests that the simplest solution would be to go swimming or how about some thinking/learning - brain consumes a lot of energy when it works. I mean when it really works - to save energy we push (as result of training/repetition) many things into habit, automatic response territory and thus most of the times our brain doesn't actually "work".

I wonder whether thinking harder does burn more energy. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/thinking-hard-calo... seems to say, not really.

the facts in the article can be interpreted in many ways. Anyway, i was saying it based on my lifelong observations and personal experiences and understanding of how brain works. In short - i've never seen a fat mathematician :)

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#92

Post by trhway »

blackethylene wrote: post #28
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 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.

>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.

expectations and clothes. In Russia i never wore shorts in 10C which i do in CA (even at 5C :) In Russia it would be jeans, good boots, t-shirt, sweater, good jacket. In CA - shorts, light sneakers, t-shirt, light jacket. Getting caught in SF at cable car stop summer evening without jacket - you get to freeze like it would be -25C with wind in St Petersburg :)

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#94

Post by techrat »

SiVal wrote: post #65
fractallyte wrote: post #62

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…

When the English first began settling in New England in the 1600s, they were astonished that the local Indian men and boys wore only a loincloth during most of the year, even in snowy weather, adding leggings and a small shawl on the shoulders only in the coldest weeks of the New England winter. I would love to learn more about this adaptation, which has been witnessed in multiple ethnic groups by so many witnesses t…

Also keep in mind that Indians also largely only wore leather. Leather is renowned for its great insulative properties.

The other factor is wind exposure. It's easier to stay tolerant of cold when there's no wind. When that wind picks up and starts stripping you of your heat layer, you'll feel it much more even at slightly warmer temps.

I grew up in a part of the country that almost never gets cold and moved to chicago. First two years were rough. Got a (black dyed motorcycle style) leather jacket and learned to dress in less, but tighter layers. Haven't had a problem since. Too many poofy layers is more air that needs to be heated and kept heated by your body. Only times I have an issue is when skin is directly exposed. Even a thin cotton shawl is enough to keep the bodyheat layer more protected.

As I got more used to the winters, I also found it more comfortable to keep the temperatures lower indoors. I get nauseous when I'm outside and it's freezing and I step into a store or building that is heated above mid 70's. That constant warm up, cool down, warm up cycle of walking in and out of buildings in the city is more taxing than simply dealing with the cold.

With that in mind, I found it more comfortable to walk into my apartment as long as it was mostly just warmer than outside rather than the usual indoor temps people are used to. 62 degree (Fahrenheit) indoor average temp is quite easily adjusted to as long as skin isn't exposed elsewhere on the body.

Now I find I don't sleep as well if my pillow gets too warm. I have a pillow on my bed that I swap out with the other and when I do, I make sure it touches the wall so it's as cold as it can get when I swap them out again.

I did this in my late 20s, early 30s... so I don't think it would be a case of not being able to do this if you were older, training yourself to acclimate to colder temperatures.

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#95

Post by mark38848 »

Renaud wrote: post #34
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. En…

No, Canadian homes are not built to resist the cold. They have the same silly 3cm cardboard walls that American houses have. This was very stunning for me coming from a country where the temperature rarely drops below 0 degrees Celsius. I have learnt that the Canadians only feel like they are being eco-friendly because the only place they are comparing themselves with is the US. I mean: a remote control for your car's motor so you can have it pre-heat, half of the people driving around in pick up trucks or the toilets having about a million litres of water in them.

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#96

Post by lukeholder »

blackethylene wrote: post #28
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 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.

Also consider the constructions of the buildings. Perth, Western Australia can be a very hot place, but during nights and winters I hear from people visiting here that it feels far colder than their homelands which reach lower temperatures. All our houses are built with concrete flooring due to being built on sand - the concrete acts like chunk of ice under the house.

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#97

Post by techrat »

blackethylene wrote: post #28
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 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.

Humidity.

50f in San Fran can feel downright chilly.

50f in Chicago is shorts weather.

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#99

Post by aruggirello »

Throughout the winter my apartment's temperature drops to little above 10°C (f. 50). Some of my windows always stay open. I never turn on the heating, though I sleep with a thick blanket. I don't know if this could ever affect my weight; sleeping is actually comfortable though, the worst part being walking about semi-naked when going to and from the bathroom; when I'm at the computer, chilled hands usually prevent me from using keyboard & mouse effectively though, and I hate wearing gloves.

BTW I'm quite sure Homo Erectus/Abilis etc. mostly lived in Africa, and had fur.

Re: The Benefits of Being Cold

#100

Post by tmmm »

buro9 wrote: post #81

I used to dislike the cold, always feeling I suffered greatly from it due to growing up in poverty in the UK and living in damp spaces (mould on the walls, condensation on the window, a cough always a breathe away). Then I was homeless, sleeping rough through UK winters. One does adapt, and fairly quickly too. The first nights I slept out during snowfall I didn't get much sleep as I was shivering too violently and un…

I've always wondered how homeless people deal with cold when I saw them during winter. It's amazing what our bodies can do.
Post reply on HN