Dealing with the cold - moved from Q&A

Dealing with the cold

I have heard there are ways to "harden" yourself up so you can deal with the cold better. One of them is to take cold showers alot. Is there any truth to this and has anyone tried this.

Cold acclimitization method

I have discovered that if I keep my house at 60 when occupied, and 45 at night or when empty I have a greater tolerance for the winter cold. Sometimes as a treat I run the house up to 62 and it fells absolutely steamy. I heat with wood, with a oil/hotwater heat as backup. I burn about 6 cords of wood a year. At 66 I find that my hands get cold, like now while I'm typing, but sweaters are one of the keys. Another requirement is a humidifier running full blast all winter. About 5 gallons a day to keep the hardwood floors from shrinking too much. In a good winter I never turn the oil heat thermostats on at all unless I will be away for more than 18 hours. Then the t-stats are set at 45. I live alone so no one complains, and my dog has never commented on it.

Cold showers under these conditions would be awful. Just getting out from a down loaded bed is chilling enough some mornings. I also have been known to hike in bunting shorts all winter.

cp2000 said:

I have heard there are ways to "harden" yourself up so you can deal with the cold better. One of them is to take cold showers alot. Is there any truth to this and has anyone tried this.

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I'd be surprised if cold showers really work. It will not alter your body temperature in the long run. Your body will choose its own temperature.

I think the best thing you can do is stay fit and healthy. If you have good blood circulation, you will be able to adapt to the cold more easily.

I suffer from Raynaud's Syndrome. The extremities get very cold, very fast. In my case, it's my hands. Here is a reference on Raynaud's, some of the advice is generally applicable to keeping your entire body warm.

One thing I did not see there is windmilling your arms to warm up your hands, which does work for me.

Hillwalker said:

I live alone so no one complains, and my dog has never commented on it.

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LOL! I wonder what our dogs would say sometimes if they could speak!

Canine Communication

I have lived with my dog for 12 years now, and the level of understanding (communication) is pretty high between us.

Hillwalker said:

I have discovered that if I keep my house at 60 when occupied, and 45 at night or when empty I have a greater tolerance for the winter cold. Sometimes as a treat I run the house up to 62 and it fells absolutely steamy. I heat with wood, with a oil/hotwater heat as backup. I burn about 6 cords of wood a year. At 66 I find that my hands get cold, like now while I'm typing, but sweaters are one of the keys. Another requirement is a humidifier running full blast all winter. About 5 gallons a day to keep the hardwood floors from shrinking too much. In a good winter I never turn the oil heat thermostats on at all unless I will be away for more than 18 hours. Then the t-stats are set at 45. I live alone so no one complains, and my dog has never commented on it.

Cold showers under these conditions would be awful. Just getting out from a down loaded bed is chilling enough some mornings. I also have been known to hike in bunting shorts all winter.

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i agree with everything stated here, well besides the fact that we keep our house at 54 at night

but definitely a longer exposure to cooler temps will help the body rather then short shots from the shower...

Noooo!!!! don't do it! hot showers in cold weather are too nice to give up

i'd suggest more smaller dayhikes near your house in the colder weather. cook up some tea or noodles during your hike and start getting your hands used to fuctioning in the cold. your threshold will certainly change. i think its a matter of just putting yourself in the situation more.

also the key is just learning what works well for you. how to quickly warm hands back up on your thighs or armpits etc.

Know what works for me? Commuting by bicycle. That means, that, 5 days a week, I'm out in all kinds of weather (-37F was coldest). Rain, snow, cold, winds, etc.

http://mudhead.uottawa.ca/~pete/bike.html

IMO, the best way to get used to the cold, is being out in it often. I do find that the body 'learns' how to deal with the cold. For example, i the fall, on a day where the temperatures are in the 30's (F), I'll be wear the same clothes that I would on a late winter day, with temperatures in the teens, if it followed a week of below zero weather.

Showers? Maybe if you take 30 minute cold showers it would help.

I agree with Pete!

Though sometimes you just have to have an affinity with the cold, if you go out already thinking "this is friggin cold", you've already lost half the battle. Dealing with the cold is part mental too. When I get to work, many of my co-workers think I'm nuts, but usually with cycling as it is with hiking in the winter, it's harder not to overdress in winter. I'm typically a lot warmer than those that park outside and have to walk to their car in the morning.

Jay

Pete_Hickey said:

IMO, the best way to get used to the cold, is being out in it often. I do find that the body 'learns' how to deal with the cold.

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I agree. I get outside as often as I can. And I wear shorts as long as I can also.

But no way am I giving up the hot shower!

Jay H said:

Dealing with the cold is part mental too.

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I think dealing with the cold is 90% mental and the other half is in your head.

I would however, be very interested to read research on what pysiological adaptations, if any, occur when one is exposed to the cold for varying amounts of time. Maybe increased thyroid hormone production. Also, would just sitting around getting chilly provoke more of a response than generating heat by exercising? Beyond the usual "ready-made" adaptations such as vasoconstriction of the surface blood vessels and shivering, for the body to adapt to the cold it would have to somehow increase heat production without exercise, ie. burn off fuel in some sort of a biochemical cycle that generates no useful work other than heat production.

On a typical winter dayhike I'm almost always moving and generating too much heat so my body probably never feels the need to adapt to the cold.

Cold showers are my idea of torture. Brrrrr!

I have rolled naked in the snow however. Talk about shrinkage!

Kevin Rooney said:

Apparently animal protein rachets up your metabolism a bit. When I heard his talk I'd been a vegetarian for a few months, and was having a trouble staying warm in the mountains (hadn't been as much of a problem before). So, I added a little fish (maybe a meal every two weeks) and my internal thermostat returned to its old level.

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Interesting! When winter camping in very cold temps we would consume a pound of meat before turning in because protein digestion is an exothermic reaction. It really seemed to work and gave us a perfect excuse for glottony!

A lot of dealing with the cold is just getting used to it. Hikers are not just out in the cold, they are active in the cold. You have to learn how your body responds, how much heat you produce, etc. (There is fairly wide range.) Frequently, the issue is often dumping excess heat without sweating (and getting your insulation wet) rather than conserving heat.

Staying adequately hydrated and fed are also important.

Doug

Neil said:

When winter camping in very cold temps we would consume a pound of meat before turning in because protein digestion is an exothermic reaction. It really seemed to work and gave us a perfect excuse for glottony!

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Way back in winter school, we were taught that digestion of carbs gave short-term (~1 hr) heat, protein medium-term (~3-4 hrs) heat, and fats long-term (~7hr) heat. We typically put 1/4 to a full stick of butter (or equivalent) per person in our dinners. Works for me...

In general, a high-fat diet is helpful in the cold. The Inuit eat whale blubber like we eat candy...

Doug

Wasn't it Jon Waterman (or is it John Waterman, I get the two mixed up often) who used to sit in an ice-cube fuilled bathtub to condition himself for Denali?
FWIW, I also agree with Pete. I try to spend as much time as possible outside to keep adjusted to the cold. It helps with my perception as to what cold really is. Cold and wet is a whole different ballgame, though.

Ever notice how a 40 degree day in October feels cold, but a 40 degree day in March feels warm? Even in town I find I wear less clothing in the spring than in the fall, in the same temperature.

Must be something to that "getting used to it" stuff.

In "Mountains of My Life," Walter Bonatti describes how he would condition himself for cold bivouacs by sitting on his front porch on cold winter nights.

The best way to get used to the cold is to just be outside. A few years back when I was skiing at Sugarbush in Vermont, the temp did not get above 10-15 degrees all of january. It was brutal. I skiied a few times a week, and it was generally between -5 and 5 degrees. After a few times out, my body just got used to it. The only problem was keeping an eye out for frostbite. That and the creaking and groaning my poor old nissan altima made in that weather. Each bump on the road and i was waiting for parts of the car to snap off. Also, after skiing down the mountain in this weather, a walk in the woods at 0 degrees is downright balmy.

I'm not sure if this helps or not but I sleep with my bedroom window open year round.

-MEB

I'll have to agree with Pete in that being exposed to the cold frequently is the best way to acclimate. Now I am a winter person and my body adjusts to the cold quite easily but...

In college I was on the ski team and we practiced every day for 2 weeks before the spring semmester would begin. After those 2 weeks I would walk the 20-30min walk (each way) to classes all winter long with my top layer being just a long shirt and a windproof fleece and maybe gloves or a hat and pants for a lower layer and be quite comfortable. This was in Syracuse of course with winter temps that would reach the single digits (Farenheit)! The way my body acclimated to the cold from those two weeks of being outside all the time always amazed me!

I actually tried that technique years ago (25) when I first started climbing during the winter. My overall assesment of it's effectiveness is that it benifitted me mostly in a mental way by toughening my resolve to expose my body to uncomfortablely cold conditions, Period.
I do'nt believe it acclimatized me in anyway to cold temps. It did however prepare me for the shock that comes with getting out of a warm sleeping bag in the middle of February to take a late night trip to the bathroom...and that I guess is something.
The sensation of being cold is a message the body sends out to itself and to our brains. Knowing how to insulate ourselves properly during our winter activities is probably THE most important skill one has to learn. Without that knowledge and experience one's adventures can either be one of great enjoyment or one where you actually feel like your taking a cold shower, except this time outside.