Liberal Free Chat Zone

[ksquared]

Hey, EZ. Turns out cold is good for people. From today's WSJ...
(I don't need their training suggestions. I adapt quite easily on my own.) <g>

Train Your Body to Work Out—or Just Hang Out—in Colder Weather
If you dread winter’s chill, these tips can help you handle the cold better. More good news: Cold, like exercise, makes you healthier.
By Betsy Morris Updated Nov. 23, 2020 8:30 am ET

So you hate the cold.

With coronavirus surging, restaurants and bars closed and the homes of even friends and family off-limits, does that mean your winter social life is doomed?

No, according to a host of scientists, professors and trainers who are experts on the physiological impact of frigid weather on humans. Adapting to cold isn’t fun— who loves to shiver?—but it’s possible, scientists say. And as a bonus: Cold, like exercise, makes you healthier...

If practiced consistently, training for cold can potentially transform a lonesome indoor winter. “If people follow a progressive intelligent path of delivering cold exposure, they will be able to tolerate the cold better, go out with friends and hang out outdoors on New Year’s Eve,” Mr. Whitley says.

This isn’t for everybody. People who hole up indoors likely will have a harder time adjusting. The elderly and those with cardiovascular and other health conditions must take extra care. Cold exposure can weaken the immune system, at least for a short time.

But kooky as it sounds, getting uncomfortably cold is good for you. “People are very thermostatic. We like our thermal systems at one temperature,” says Christopher Minson, a physiology professor at the University of Oregon, who studies the body’s response to extreme environments and works with professional and Olympic athletes and sports teams. While that’s comfortable, it’s not healthy long-term, he says. When temperature pushes you out of your comfort zone, “your metabolic rate goes up, your heart works a little harder, the blood vessels constrict. Every single cell of your body is challenged a little bit, the same as with exercise,” he says.

This type of training doesn’t require a trainer or special equipment. You can begin by taking simple (though not necessarily pleasant) steps like turning the thermostat down, shedding clothes and going outside in the cold air as often as possible. When it comes to temperature, “humans are very stimulus-oriented,” says John Castellani, a research physiologist for the U.S. Army who has studied how people adapt to and perform in the cold...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/train-your-body-to-work-outor-just-hang-outin-colder-weather-11606136400?mod=hp_featst_pos3