What for some of us is a comfortable temperature, is for others too chilly.
People’s heat perception varies and their sex plays a role.
Women feel cold quicker than men do, as the many thermostat battles in homes and offices can attest.
“They typically have less muscle mass, and therefore, a lower metabolic rate, and generate less heat,” says German Physiological Society (DPG) board member and Goethe University of Frankfurt professor of physiology Dr Ralf Brandes.
More muscle mass increases your rate of metabolism, even at rest, meaning you burn food to fuel your body faster – a process that heats your body up.
And contractions of skeletal muscles, whether voluntarily or involuntarily through shivering, are a primary source of heat production.
The reason men typically have more muscle mass likely lies in evolutionary history.
While prehistoric men hunted – moving around and generating heat – women and children often stayed behind in their dwellings, says Oscar Langendorff Institute for Physiology director Dr Rudiger Kohling at the Rostock University Medical Centre in Germany.
However, “women are better at centralising heat”, he adds, namely by directing more blood carrying heat to their body’s core in response to cold.
“Meanwhile, blood circulation to the extremities – such as hands, feet, nose and lips – is restricted,” explains Prof Brandes.
This prioritises women’s vital organs, including reproductive organs.
“But it also means that women’s skin cools more quickly,” Dr Kohling notes, which can be seen in blue lips and pale, white hands, for instance.
Older people are said to feel chilly quickly too, even though studies suggest that their juniors have a greater sensation of cold since the nerve cells in their skin function better, Prof Brandes says.
Seniors tend to get less exercise though, as well as lose muscle mass and have a lower metabolic rate.
So their bodies generate less heat and they feel chilly more quickly than they did when they were younger.
Alas, “a declining metabolic rate is a part of growing older”, Prof Brandes says.
The recourse?
Bundling up better during colder weather. – dpa
