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People used to tolerate a much wider range of temperatures. What techniques can I apply to widen my body's range of comfort?

A few examples that may or may not help:

  • Spend a lot of time slightly chilled.
  • Spend a short amount of time as cold as I can stand.
  • When I'm home, keep the heat down low.
  • Do Qi'gong to guide the Earth's energy to warm my hands.
Charlie Brumbaugh
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Jay Bazuzi
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    What degree ranges are you talking about? – RoflcoptrException Jan 24 '12 at 21:55
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    @Roflcoptr: Not sure; would that affect the answer? Doesn't any improvement to cold tolerance help in any range of cold? – Jay Bazuzi Jan 24 '12 at 21:57
  • I'm also not sure, but I think for 0 degree not a lot of effort is necessary, but for -20 degree a little bit more effort would be necessary probably. – RoflcoptrException Jan 24 '12 at 22:00
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    @Roflcoptr: I'm assuming it's just a matter of degree ha ha. The same techniques, just applied more. Let's see if the answers say otherwise. – Jay Bazuzi Jan 24 '12 at 22:20
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    Move to Minnesota – whatsisname Jan 19 '13 at 17:16
  • To increase the acceptable range of comfortable temperatures for your body you have to start slowly increasing the range of temperatures you are exposed to. Slowly decrease your usage of heaters and air conditioners. Slowly decrease the amount of clothing you wear in winter. Be careful, of course. If you make the switch too fast, you will be exposing your self to much risk. – john_science Jan 25 '13 at 18:38

4 Answers4

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Probably the best thing you can do to acclimate to the cold is to live in it.

Yeah, you can say that sounds simple and it may be hard to do, but it's the best way. I live in an area that gets fairly cold in the winter (as much as -40C/F), and I'm used to it. I don't think 27F is cold at all. Many of your suggestions are along this line of thinking, but they are not full time. When you actually live in a cold zone, you may have a hard time adjusting, but you do... eventually, hence why you would want to live in it.

Some other suggestions:

  • eat lots of calories, this will help you to stay warm
  • sleep outside when you are at home. This helps your body to get used to functioning in cold weather, even when you are asleep. Maybe in the fall, where it gets progressively colder (in locations further north and south of the equator), sleep outside frequently, and your body will adjust to the gradually colder temperatures.
  • You also may want to try taking cold showers. Or go from cold to hot and back again suddenly, this also has health benefits.
  • exercise outside, regardless of season or temperature. Even if it is for a short time, this is a good way to get/stay fit and spend time outside.
studiohack
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  • This is true. Coming out of winter in Iowa, I would be wearing shorts when it hit 40 degrees. Since living in Southern California for over a year, I get cold when it's in the 60s. – Timothy Strimple Jan 24 '12 at 23:53
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    +1 for cold showers - you don't even notice after a while, it just becomes nice and refreshing! – berry120 Jan 24 '12 at 23:55
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    Something else I'd suggest would be to not wear a coat when it's only needed for comfort, not survival. ex walking from your car to your house/a store when it's only slightly below freezing. You're not at risk for frostbite/hypothermia from the few minutes it takes to walk across a large parking lot at that temperature. However if you do this regularly you should add a coat to your cars emergency supply kit (if you don't already have one in it). – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight Feb 09 '12 at 16:30
  • @DanNeely a good point - one that I do all the time myself, but failed to remember/add :) It actually works... – studiohack Feb 09 '12 at 16:32
  • Good points. When we spend much of our time indoors, our bodies don't acclimate. WRT acclimatization, I years ago saw a slide show given by a man who had wintered in Antarctica. In the Spring, when the days warmed to nearly -40F, he felt comfortable in a short-sleeved shirt. The downside of that is possibly losing favored body parts. – Don Branson Jan 19 '13 at 14:26
  • Regarding @DanNeely's comment, when out and about, be sure to bring a coat though in case your car breaks down or some other event happens which forces you to be outdoors longer than expected. – Dolan Antenucci Mar 07 '14 at 19:54
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    @dolan agreed. Among other things, my in car emergency kit includes a pair of sweat pants large enough to pull on over whatever else I'm wearing, a coat, gloves, a summer weight sleeping bag, and a winter weight one. – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight Mar 07 '14 at 21:22
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I am not sure why you want to do this, but I have noticed that in a group of people in cool (not cold) weather eg 5 C which is 41 F, those who live in places with a very cold winter (rural Ontario like me, Winnipeg) are not even zipping up their coats while those who live in year-round warm places (Texas) are shivering and complaining and borrowing gloves.

My theories about why that is:

  • base clothing is warmer. Sure, we're all just wearing pants, shirts, shoes, and light jackets, but the Texan's shoes are thinner soled, his jacket is lighter, etc.
  • those of us with cold experience are used to feeling a little cool and know it's not dangerous (unlike truly cold which is dangerous)
  • we have some habits we might not even notice about the way we're walking or standing that keep us warmer by using muscle energy, or reduce the heat we're losing to the air
  • our sympathetic nervous system is opening channels that the Texan's is closing, so we're pumping blood to our fingers and keeping them warm while his is throwing the fingers under the bus. US Soldiers apparently do learn some biofeedback thing to achieve this effect

I recommend acclimatizing to cool, not cold. Cold will kill you. Down to freezing is cool. I guess cold starts about -10C which is 14F. If you have access to cool, try just spending time in it wearing a little less clothing than you normally would. Leave off your hat or gloves or scarf. Don't zip up the coat. Wear the light jacket instead of the coat. Do this for short times - you won't die getting cold walking to get the mail in inside clothing when it's above freezing out. At 0C I will leave my coat in the car to go to the grocery store because it's annoying to wear with or deal with a large coat while shopping. And sure, I feel cold while I'm going through the parking lot. I just don't mind that much.

Figure out how to wave your arms around to drive more blood to your fingers, and how to jump up and down to drive more blood to your toes. If you're new to living somewhere where it gets cool and cold, watch what other people do at places like bus stops where you have to wait outside. (Even with full on hats gloves scarves etc, people get cold when they have to stand still. Watch how they deal with it.) Change the way you walk to make yourself warmer. And yes, learn to ignore the fact that you feel a little cool. Never ignore feeling chilled or cold - shivering is a big danger sign. I don't leave my coat behind at -10C. That would just be stupid. But cool? Lift up your chin. Tell yourself it's "bracing". Imagine a little glow in your cheeks and a sparkle in your eye. Look forward to hot chocolate. Think about skating, tobogganning, skiing, and all the other things that are fun to do outside and involve getting a little cold. Walk faster. Don't let it beat you. Then get into the warm house and really enjoy that warmth.

Kate Gregory
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You could do worse than to research Wim Hof, his accomplishments, and his training methods.

TEDx Amsterdam video

YouTube channel

Daredevils show featuring Wim Hof

Have fun. :o)

Mr.Wizard
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  • That is interesting. It would be interesting to learn how he trained himself to do this. – john_science Jan 25 '13 at 18:41
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    @theJollySin If you watch the "Daredevils" video you'll see that he sits is very cold water (for about 45 minutes if I recall) as a conditioning method, not just a stunt. He's apparently being doing this for years. He'll slip out at night to soak for a while in the cold river near his house, etc. Sounds miserable to me but apparently it, among other things, has conditioned body and mind in an unusual way. I'll look for some other references to his training a bit later. – Mr.Wizard Jan 25 '13 at 19:25
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    I practice elements of the WH Method. In particular, I live in an area with wonderful wild swimming and swim a number of times a week in cold water. The adaptive ability of the human body is a wonderful thing - I can now easily tolerate immersion in cold that according the the US Coastguard should leave me semi-conscious. In fact I positively enjoy the cold exposure - my swim is a highlight of the day. And this is from someone who spent most of their life hating cold bathing - you just have to start gently and gradually acclimatise. – Tullochgorum Oct 29 '17 at 08:32
  • @Tullochgorum Thanks for the personal report. That's a nice confirmation to at least some aspect of the adaptation. At this point do you find that you are able to soak like Wim or do you need to swim to stay warm (inside)? The apparent ability raise his metabolism in response to the cold, apart from any obvious physical exertion, is something that fascinates me about W.H. – Mr.Wizard Oct 30 '17 at 18:08
  • I'm not an expert, but my perception is that swimming in cold water cools you more quickly vs simply soaking passively as it speeds up heat loss by conduction by increasing the flow of cold water over your body. I read an account of an incident in Antarctica where two people fell out of a boat. One tried to swim to the mother-ship. The other floated in foetal position and waited for rescue. The guy who swam was rescued in far worse condition than the guy who floated. Doing the breathing exercise in cold water does help a little, but be very cautious as there is a risk of fainting! – Tullochgorum Oct 31 '17 at 10:49
  • @Tullochgorum Very interesting. That does make sense, but my instinct in cold water is to swim hard as I feel warmer. I'll have to experiment with this! Of course for me "cold" probably means 55-60°F (I haven't measured) as I've never tried to acclimate to true cold. – Mr.Wizard Oct 31 '17 at 23:16
  • @Mr.Wizard - well, those are fairly modest temperatures - I could swim for well over half an hour with no after-drop so you'd need long immersion to get much adaption. We have sea and river swimming here, and the range year-round is between 5°C (winter up on the moors) to 17°C (late summer sea). You certainly notice the difference! 5°C is pretty bracing, even when you're well adapted - anything much over 10 mins and you're facing a pretty unpleasant after-drop (unless you're Wim Hoff). – Tullochgorum Nov 01 '17 at 11:18
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Acclimatization isn't purely psychological; it is actually a physiologically different response based upon recent exposure and experience. Layering down over a period of time (days to weeks) could theoretically alter your biochemistry on a cellular level as you develop a different proportion of membrane proteins and salinity (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acclimatization).

Andrew
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