Women sweat differently than men

[Jolt]

Hmm. I was born in Virginia at the end of July and I've lived in VA, TN, FL, SC, and GA and still refuse to turn on the a/c unless I'm driving and glued to the seat of my car. I'm always the first person in CO to wear a jacket and gloves now.

But I also have Raynaud's so I'm not sure how much that has to do with my hatred of being cold.

Interesting theory (actually, hypothesis) about where one is born possibly affecting their heat/cold tolerance...what about where one has lived for most of their life? Actually in your case either one would make sense. I was born in the SF Bay Area at the end of December...it's in the 40s and 50s on average there at that time of year according to Wikipedia (assuming their info is accurate). Maybe that's part of why I like fall weather best, since here in MA we have a lot of fall temperatures in that range. I do OK with cold temps as long as I'm active and dressed properly (I have Raynaud's too, so that can be an annoyance if I'm not); heat isn't my thing. The one good thing about hot summer weather, IMO, is that it allows me to swim outside in natural bodies of water, which I like much better than being in a pool. I guess every season has its advantages; I do enjoy the variety of having four distinct seasons here and would miss that if I moved to a place that didn't have the same sort of variation.

[GLC1968]

Thanks, Jolt - my 'hypothesis'! Yes.

And I think it's mostly for extreme cases. I don't know that having been born when it was 60F means that you like 60F. I mean - in both my case and my husband's case (and my mom who was born during a horrible heat wave at the end of June in Chicago when they had no A/C), it's not necessarily what temps we prefer, but what temps our bodies are most adapted to. I love warm sunny days, but I don't perform well during them. My brother, his wife and my father were all born during mid-range temps and the three of them are not notably affected by temps.

I don't think it's upbrigning related, though that probably does influence what temps we choose/enjoy most. I have spent my life moving around from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina and then here in Oregon. I actually spent more time in Florida than anywhere and while I was able to somewhat adapt to the heat in terms of being comfortable, my body did not like it. I never physically performed well when we lived in FL or during the NC summers. NC is where I started paying attention to this amongst the people I knew because we found that my husband couldn't handle the NC winters at all. He'd have to cut bike rides short on even beautifully sunny winter days because he was shivering so badly. On the other hand, I had to get 'SAGed' home once or twice during summer rides when I totally wilted despite measures to prevent it. Neither of us had paid any attention to this previously but the difference was striking.

Of course, it could all just be coincidence and unless someone wants to pay me to do it, I don't foresee putting together a real study to prove it one way or another anytime soon.

[Crankin]

I really do better in cooler weather, too. The past 2 summers I feel I acclimated myself to riding in 80+ temperatures a little better, but I still feel not that great. I get hot no matter what I do. I am always either over heated or chilled when I x country ski. Riding in Spain was torture for me, as it was about 98 for the first 5 days of the 8 day tour. I hated living in Miami, but I didn't exercise then. I never went outside in Phoenix, when it was 112, except to run into the pool in my backyard and sit in the pool, on the steps, or on a float in the pool. All my exercising was done in a gym; when the nice weather came, I would walk once in awhile, but generally never went outside!

[jessmarimba]

Jolt, I'm shivering just thinking about swimming!

Even though I'm fine with heat and humidity, it still takes me awhile to adapt to running in it. I can't ever remember to drink enough water.

Do the rest of you sweat...saltier...as you get more fit? I can scrape the salt off of my face by the time marathon training ends.

[Jolt]

I hated living in Miami, but I didn't exercise then. I never went outside in Phoenix, when it was 112, except to run into the pool in my backyard and sit in the pool, on the steps, or on a float in the pool. All my exercising was done in a gym; when the nice weather came, I would walk once in awhile, but generally never went outside!

Yes, places like that sound awful!! There's a reason I've avoided places like FL, TX, AZ etc. in my job search. I can't imagine living somewhere so hot that I would be stuck inside all the time--at least when it's cold one can dress for it and still enjoy being outside and being active. GLC, I had to laugh about your description of your husband not being able to handle the NC winters--cold winters are just not something I associate with NC! I guess it's all relative.

I was also just thinking about how my youngest sister doesn't fit the hypothesis about temperature tolerance being affected by the environment in which one was born...she was born here in MA in January but really doesn't care for cold weather. She says she wants to live "somewhere warm" when she finishes school and starts working, and thinks I'm crazy for enjoying running in the cold and snow.

[GLC1968]

Yes, places like that sound awful!! There's a reason I've avoided places like FL, TX, AZ etc. in my job search. I can't imagine living somewhere so hot that I would be stuck inside all the time--at least when it's cold one can dress for it and still enjoy being outside and being active. GLC, I had to laugh about your description of your husband not being able to handle the NC winters--cold winters are just not something I associate with NC! I guess it's all relative.

I was also just thinking about how my youngest sister doesn't fit the hypothesis about temperature tolerance being affected by the environment in which one was born...she was born here in MA in January but really doesn't care for cold weather. She says she wants to live "somewhere warm" when she finishes school and starts working, and thinks I'm crazy for enjoying running in the cold and snow.

I totally agree. I actually would overload my school work during the summers in FL because I couldn't stand to be outside anyway. I had to get special permission too! All I wanted to do was hide in the cool library!

Yeah, I made the mistake of taking my husband to my HS reunion in February...in Boston. Worst weekend of my life! It was bitter cold, grey and dreary and all he did was moan and complain. Of course, witnessing that meant that when I graduated, I knew I had to immediately rule out all far northern cities or I'd be miserable around him all winter. We thought NC would be a good compromise for us, but summers were too hot for me and winters were too cold for him. So far, the PNW seems to be working out ok though!

[Owlie]

DBF grew up in Florida and Arizona. He complains all the time about winter here. 50s and 60s are apparently cold. He doesn't handle humidity well.

I grew up in New York and southern Ohio. I'm fine with cold. Just layer! What I don't handle well is heat and humidity--you sweat and it does nothing. Once it gets above 85 or so, I turn into a slug. All I want to do is hide somewhere air-conditioned.

[arielmoon]

I am an aclimator. I think I made that word up. I was born in Philly but spent most of my childhood in FL. I went away to school in MA then to Boston University. My first summer back in FL I thought I was dying and my first winter I was chuckling at all the cold people. Then I acclimated and I can deal with extreme heat. When it starts getting colder I adapt to that well too.

What I have a hard time with is cool nights in the 40's and daytime high's in the upper 80's or so. My body doesnt know what to do!! I get hot flashes of sorts because my body was ready for all the cool weather and instead it is hot.

[OakLeaf]

I grew up in a variety of climates too. Never anything that was super cold or super warm year round, but by the time I was 14 I'd experienced -40° (which is the same C or F), +115°F (46°C, but it was a dry heat ), and Chicago-area humidity.

My body just doesn't make warmth in the cold. Even in north Florida, if the winter stays cool, my toes are blue. In Ohio, my toes are literally blue from October through April. When I go to sleep on a cool night, I have to wear a cap, wool everything, three blankets drawn up over my head with only my eyes and nose exposed, and I still spend a half hour shivering before I can sleep.

I can acclimate to heat, but I'm also prone to overheating when I'm not acclimated. I try to stay out of AC as much as possible - I don't like it anyway, but the less I have to deal with it, the easier I can acclimate to heat.

[malkin]

So if I ever see someone else in gloves at the grocery store I'll assume it's you

I'll say hi to both of you who remembered your gloves!
If you see someone hurrying through the grocery store with her left hand tucked in her armpit and her striped right hand pushing the cart, that's me.

[colby]

After a few years of year-round exercise now, I'm pretty well convinced I was born to exercise in overcast skies in the 50s. Coincidentally, I grew up in Seattle and have only lived in Washington.

My husband spent a few years in WA, then moved to CO, then spent 10 years in TN before moving back to WA in college, where he's lived since. He can't tolerate the cooler temps nearly as well. There are probably other factors, but I wonder if it's just the environment you spent/spend the most time in outside collectively - we all (generally) spend a lot of time outside as kids, and maybe that's where we do the majority of our general acclimatizing.

It takes me a few weeks to acclimate to warm summer weather, and I still haven't quite figured out the formula for high effort or endurance exercise in hotter temps with lots of sun.

[moonfroggy]

i have spent time in snow (not super cold maybe 10 degrees Fahrenheit but still i did better than my aunt who lived at the south pole for a while) and time in tropics and i always seem to adapt quickly and do better than others regardless of climate. i was born in San Francisco in march so was probably pretty mild weather.