Are you a cold person or a hot person?

Bullgrit · Jan 9, 2014

I'm seeing a lot of photos of people wearing bathing suits out in the snow and ice, right now. And I just read a reference to the Polar Bear Club. This all brings up this question:

Which temperature extreme are you more comfortable with? Can you withstand cold or heat better?

I hate, hate, hate the cold. It's downright painful. I can live with 90+ degrees (32C), even in this area where the humidity reaches 212%. If I don't have to look presentable -- like at work -- I don't mind sweating. I even run/jog outside in the height of summer.

Below 50 degrees (10C), I'm uncomfortable. Below 40 degrees (4C) and I'm in pain. Below 30 degrees (-1C) (like this week), dear God, this is inhuman torture. I avoid going outside as much as I can during winter months.

Seeing the Polar Bear Club stuff, I think I would literally die if pushed into water in freezing temps.

Bullgrit

Joker · Jan 9, 2014

I like the cold more. I used to take cold showers but that stopped the moment it froze outside and the water reached similar temperatures.

The air smells nicer when it's cold and it seems calmer outside. I don't mind the heat. I used to absolutely hate it. But now that I'm fitter and take saunas several times a week I've cultivated a tolerance towards warm weather. I still sweat a lot though which is only a problem if I'm going somewhere like work.

I feel you can do a lot to dress against the cold. There's little you can do against the heat. Also here in the Netherlands air conditioning isn't as common as I experienced it in Minnesota. There we went from our air conditioned home to our air conditioned garage to our air conditioned car to an air conditioned mall. Pure bliss that was. When it's hot here I camp out at the fresh food section in the grocery store. Dry-humping the microwaveable meals.

Bullgrit · Jan 9, 2014

Joker said:
I used to take cold showers ...

I prefer hot showers. I try to take "cooler" showers during the winter because hot showers in cold months make my skin itch. But my minimum temp shower is still hotter than my wife's hottest temp shower.

Bullgrit

Janx · Jan 9, 2014

My wife and I are from Up Nort, but live in Texas.

The weather has finally reached a tolerable zone. It'll be back to being too hot by March.

We keep our house at 70 during the day, 65 at night during the summer (where it's like 90-100 degrees out 24-7 during the summer). My AC guy loves me.

Anything over 75 degreess F is too hot to me.

Now sure, I get cold down here when the temperate drops, but I just put on warmer clothes or wear a jacket and then I'm back to feeling fine. Whereas the Texans just shiver like little dogs.

Also consider, I used to cut wood in the winter. -20F temps and we'd be unbuttoning our jackets because we were too hot. Being from one of the coldest states in the country, skews my sense of "what's cold and in what context"

Zombie_Babies · Jan 9, 2014

I hunt so I'm used to both extremes. I also used to work in a factory so that helped. All day in 30-40F during winter and all day in 95-115F in summer kind of gets you used to nasty temps.

That said, I prefer colder to warmer. Sweating is gross, sunscreen is annoying and walking shouldn't have potential health consequences. Plus it's provable that cold is easier to deal with and therefore better. You see, it's pretty much always socially acceptable to add layers of clothing. There very quickly comes a point, however, where removing layers of clothing steps off the deep end into arrestable offense.

Hand of Evil · Jan 9, 2014

Hate the cold. Give me the heat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=wbfgVEk-mxQ

Bullgrit · Jan 9, 2014

Hand of Evil, you made my day with that link!

Bullgrit

Dannyalcatraz · Jan 9, 2014

I am a southerner currently living in Texas...and I prefer the cold.

My college dorm room? The thermostat was set for 59degF. These days, I sleep with an overhead fan on year round- admittedly only on a low setting in Winter, but still.

Even so, I also like to roll my windows down and open the sunroof to experience the natural AC when I'm driving at temps into the low 90s.

Janx · Jan 9, 2014

Zombie_Babies said:
I hunt so I'm used to both extremes. I also used to work in a factory so that helped. All day in 30-40F during winter and all day in 95-115F in summer kind of gets you used to nasty temps.

That said, I prefer colder to warmer. Sweating is gross, sunscreen is annoying and walking shouldn't have potential health consequences. Plus it's provable that cold is easier to deal with and therefore better. You see, it's pretty much always socially acceptable to add layers of clothing. There very quickly comes a point, however, where removing layers of clothing steps off the deep end into arrestable offense.

I a few years back, I saw a pseudo-science article (meaning I can't prove it with lots of science but it seemed plausible) that claimed northerners were testably tougher than southerners. One example it cited was the old lady who fell in a snowbank in Duluth and didn't get found for a decent chunk of time and she turned out more OK than expected. It implied us northerners had some natural resistance to that kind of thing that was testably lacking in warmer-climate people.

There's probably some counter science that says we melt like candles in the heat. compared to our southern cousins as well.

Either way, I can more readily handle -40F with windchill by applying clothing.

Once it hits 100F, there ain't no greater level of naked I can get to make 100F bearable. It's still too freakin hot, and now the natives are scared.

Zombie_Babies · Jan 9, 2014

Janx said:
I a few years back, I saw a pseudo-science article (meaning I can't prove it with lots of science but it seemed plausible) that claimed northerners were testably tougher than southerners. One example it cited was the old lady who fell in a snowbank in Duluth and didn't get found for a decent chunk of time and she turned out more OK than expected. It implied us northerners had some natural resistance to that kind of thing that was testably lacking in warmer-climate people.

There's probably some counter science that says we melt like candles in the heat. compared to our southern cousins as well.

I know they can't drive worth a damn in rain or snow, heh. I'm not sure about the 'science', though. Anecdotally, for example, both my wife and sister in-law were born in Ohio and both would rather it be 100F and humid than even 30F. Kwazy gurls, I know,

Either way, I can more readily handle -40F with windchill by applying clothing.

Once it hits 100F, there ain't no greater level of naked I can get to make 100F bearable. It's still too freakin hot, and now the natives are scared.

Exactly! It's simply easier to deal with cold than heat. And more socially acceptable. :-D

Are you a cold person or a hot person?

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