Many people assume thin people will feel the cold more than their chubbier counterparts, but why people react differently to the cold is actually based on a number of factors, and not just body fat.
1 Feeling cold and actually being cold with a genuine drop in body temperature are two different things. According to a physiology researcher at Sydney Uni, Ollie Jay, the reason we feel the cold in the first place is due to receptors in the skin which are sensitive to changes in temperature. So, he says, how cold you may feel depends on which parts of the body are exposed.
2 We respond to the cold differently due to many things, says Ollie, including body size, shape, age and gender. Ollie says fatter people may feel the cold slightly less than thinner people; however body size has a greater influence. According to Ollie, we generate heat from within our bodies and lose it from the skin. So bigger people generate more heat and lose less.
“If something is bigger and you’re waiting for it to cool down, it will take longer to cool down because the heat sink is larger. That is a benefit for people who are heavier, but they don’t have to have higher fat,” says Ollie..
3 Women often seem to complain about being cold more than than men. Ollie says this could be because on average women are smaller than men.
4 Genetic influences also have an affect on your experience of feeling cold. For example, a study of twins found feeling cold in the hands and feet could be inherited from your parents.
5 The idea that you lose most heat from your head is a myth. “That is only relevant if you are completely bundled up,” says Ollie. “If everyone was naked, then of course you wouldn’t lose 90% of your heat through your head, you would lose far more heat elsewhere, and the only reason that you would lose that much heat is if that was the only bit that is exposed.
“If you had everything covered but no shoes, you would lose 100% of your heat from your feet.”
6 Our lifestyles could actually contribute to us feeling we are cold all the time.Most of us have become accustomed to feeling comfortably warm more often than not. Instead of our metabolism doing its job, we use external factors to keep warm, like heaters and expensive clothes, which could even be contributing to obesity, says Ollie.
