The autumn season has started, and the temperature is dropping in thermostats across the northern hemisphere. Your body will slowly adjust to the cold weather, but if you want to hurry this process along, you can.
Since the 1960s, the U.S. Army researchers found that completely nude men who spend at least eight hours a day in 50F or 10C chamber become used to the cold, and they stopped shivering after two weeks of being exposed to the temperature. Later research from the Unite Kingdom and Scandinavian teams likewise concluded that those who get used to cool environments. A recent review from Army researchers showed that all humans seem to have at least some ability to acclimatize to the cold.
How our body adjusts to body temperature
In a 2014 study that was published in the journal PLOS One, a group of healthy men, spent at least three hours a day sitting in bathtubs that were filled with 57F and 14C water. That was the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean along with the New York and New Jersey coastlines in October, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The study lasted for 20 days, and when the group started, they all shivered intensely, which is the natural response of the human body to cold. Their metabolisms and heart rates sped up, thus generating natural heat. Their blood vessels all narrowed and drew back from the surface of the skin, which caused the skin temperature to drop. The men's vascular systems clenched, pulling their blood toward their warmer interiors in their body's effort to escape the exterior cold.
During the last day of the study, a lot had changed. The men's shivering had stopped. Although their metabolisms and heart rates still sped up in response to the cold water bath, their blood vessels no longer constricted, and their skin temperature did not drop the way that it had during the first few days of the study.
The participants reported less discomfort during their cold baths. Also, their blood samples contained fewer markers of cold-induced stress and immune-system activity. It also appeared that their bodies had gotten used to the cold.
According to Marius Brazaitis, the first author of the study and a senior researcher at Lithuanian Sports University, everyone can acclimatize to cold. He also said that the human body could achieve acclimatization through a mix of different internal adjustments, which people can either suppress or encourage depending on their behaviors.
Brazaitis says that the human body seems to possess a lot of different mechanisms that can help it adjust to the cold weather. But most people in the developed world can suppress these adaptive mechanisms by shielding their bodies from thermal distress.
Preparing for winter
He said that putting on more clothes, drinking hot drinks, increasing room temperature, and consuming more food does not allow the body to become more resistant to cold; in fact, it suppresses it.
While putting on more clothes or drinking hot beverages does impede the body's ability to adjust to the colder temperature, it does little long-term harm, so you can still do them if you wish. But adjusting the thermostat in your car or home costs money. Home and car heating is also a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, according to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency. By helping your body adjust to the cold, you can feel comfortable during the fall and winter seasons without needing to rely entirely on heating systems.
Adjusting your thermostat down by a few degrees, spending more time outside in cold conditions, and shedding layers will help your body acclimate to the cold. If you can induce shivering a few times a day, you will be to feel more comfortable in colder temperatures after one week.
