How to get used to the cold

Content

Steps
Method 1 of 3: Acclimatizing the Body
Method 2 of 3: Developing Appropriate Habits
Method 3 of 3: Exercise the Mind
Tips
Warnings
Additional articles

No one likes the cold, but there are situations when there is no choice. Cold weather can cause physical discomfort, illness, and constant overwhelming drowsiness if you are not properly prepared for it. Whether you've moved to a colder climate or just want to feel better in the winter, there are ways you can handle the cold more easily.

Attention: This article is intended for residents of a temperate climatic zone. Use caution and common sense if the outside temperature is below minus 5 degrees. Outdoor advices are not intended for temperatures below minus 15 degrees!

Steps

Method 1 of 3: Acclimatizing the Body

1 Get out of the house in cold weather. If you really want to accustom yourself to the cold, you'll have to get out of the house when it's cold outside. Spend a couple of hours daily outdoors in late fall, winter, or early spring. Wear only the minimum necessary warm clothing and remove excess clothing as soon as you can do without them. Over time, you will be able to withstand the cold for longer. Be careful and reasonably determine the time you walk if the temperature drops below minus 10 degrees Celsius.
- Wear gloves, boots, and a hat when outdoors for a long time, but try to avoid warm jackets. As a rule, fingers and ears are the first to freeze, and they will let you know much earlier that it is time for warmth than the rest of the body has time to freeze. You should not follow this advice if the outside temperature is below minus 5 degrees.
- Try not to turn on the heater in your car. You can further complicate the task and open the window.
2 Take a cold shower. Turn the tap slightly and reduce the amount of hot water every day. A cold shower can be an extremely frustrating experience, but it is one of the main ways to accustom your body to cold temperatures. Some go even further and immerse themselves in cold winter water to physiologically adapt to the cold.
- Reduce the temperature gradually so that your body has time to get used to it. If you start taking an ice cold shower too abruptly, you will not be able to stand it, or even catch a cold.
- You can also change the temperature of the water from hot to cold and vice versa while taking a shower - such a contrast shower will help you get used to sudden changes in temperature.
3 Put on weight. The function of fat stores is to constantly supply the body with calories, which, when burned, are converted into energy. The fat serves as a protective layer for the internal organs and helps keep them at a constant temperature. While this method may seem unattractive to you, increasing your body fat will help you feel warmer in cold weather.
- Be careful with your weight gain.You should still eat a well-balanced and healthy diet - just increase your daily calorie intake slightly.
- Eating foods rich in protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats, such as lean meats, dairy products, whole grains, and vegetable oils, is a proven way to gain weight without putting too much strain on your heart and digestive system.
4 Exercise regularly. Start doing cardio and strength training several times a week. The metabolism, which is responsible for burning calories and releasing energy, helps to regulate the average body temperature, and it becomes more efficient when adapting to high physical activity. In other words, training will speed up the body's work a little, and as a result, your metabolism is kept healthy and ready for stress.
- Increasing muscle mass will help you feel warmer and at rest simply because of the more heat-producing tissue.
- Exercise for the cardiovascular system increases the ability of the heart and lungs to pump oxygen-rich blood, that is, improves the functioning of the whole body.

Method 2 of 3: Developing Appropriate Habits

1 Lower the room temperature. Once you get used to the cold outside, you should try to adapt to the cold inside the house as well. As a rule, people maintain the temperature in the house at the level of 20-23 degrees Celsius, and this is the most comfortable for the human body. Try to gradually lower the temperature 1 to 2 degrees at a time until you get used to living in a colder room.
- If you learn to live in a cold house, you will also save on heating costs during the winter season. However, if you do not live alone, check with your family or flatmates first.
2 Unlearn the habit of wrapping up. The next time you feel cold and want to throw in a warm blanket or a pair of slippers, don't. Instead, try to endure the cold and distract yourself from thinking about it. The idea is to break the habit of throwing on something warm when you're cold and learn to cope without it. If you are already accustomed to lower temperatures and regularly take cold showers, then this step will be easy for you.
- If you find it difficult to resist throwing on a warm blanket, roll it up and place it on the top shelf of your closet. You can more easily refuse to use the blanket if it is difficult to obtain.
- Your body temperature naturally drops slightly during sleep, so if you want to further strengthen your willpower, train yourself to sleep without a blanket!
3 Drink ice cold water. Train yourself to regularly drink ice water and do not give up this habit, even in the middle of winter. When cold drinks are absorbed, the body's core temperature drops slightly, and the body has to make additional efforts to compensate for these changes. While most people prefer to drink coffee or hot chocolate in cold weather to keep warm, you should do the opposite. Eventually, you will no longer feel the need to keep warm.
- In addition to helping you build your cold endurance, ice water is readily available and can be found almost everywhere.
4 Do winter sports. To get used to the cold, it is not at all necessary to do only serious and tedious matters. Enjoy winter sports like sledding, downhill skiing or snowboarding and you can have fun outdoors while others sit at home. This way you will get used to the cold much faster, and, moreover, it will be interesting to spend the winter months instead of just waiting out them within four walls.
- Go hiking in late fall or winter to train yourself for the cold weather.In the wilderness, you just have to sleep on cold ground and be exposed to all the elements, and it will do you good!
- It is possible that after a few hours of intense skiing or snowboarding, you will get hot, and you will see how much heat your body can generate. This will demonstrate to you the remarkable ability of your body to overcome the cold.

Method 3 of 3: Exercise the Mind

1 Be aware of the actual temperature. Instead of thinking about how cold you are after going outside, focus on the actual ambient temperature. It's hardly as cold around as you think. Try to accurately estimate the ambient temperature, and you will realize that it is not so cold outside.
- Learn to evaluate your actual temperature impartially in order to gain control over your feelings and avoid involuntary reactions to stressful situations.
2 Imagine being even colder outside. Of course you wouldn't want to, but what if it was even colder? This psychological technique helps to realize that in reality everything is not so bad and everything is learned in comparison. If you remember that many people have to live in much colder places, for example in Antarctica or Chukotka, then the Central European winter will seem to you quite an easy test.
3 Stop shaking. As soon as you find yourself shivering from the cold, try to stop. Shivering is one of the mechanisms by which the body generates heat, but in most cases such a physiological response requires truly extreme conditions. If the temperature is slightly below freezing, and you experience uncontrollable shivering, then this is most likely an overreaction.
- Shivering is an autonomous process in the body, in which heat is generated due to small and rapid muscle contractions (this is reminiscent of warming up during physical activity).
- Studies have shown that shivering in not very cold weather is not at all necessary and ineffective.
4 Realize that cold is usually not a serious threat. We instinctively experience discomfort in unfamiliar conditions, but discomfort and danger are two different things. Usually cold weather does no harm as long as the frost is not severe enough to actually cause the central body temperature to drop for a sufficiently long time.
- Being in the cold is not life threatening until the core temperature drops to about 35 degrees Celsius. Until that happens, it's best to find a warm place and warm up.

Tips

The first step is always to admit that it is cold around. If you spend time dreaming about getting warmer, you will never feel normal in cold conditions.
Sometimes you need to pause and consciously force yourself to stay warm. After a while, you will be able to subconsciously endure the cold.
Minimize the amount of clothing you wear when going outside for a short time.
As an alternative to a cold shower, you can take a bath with as cool water as you can handle.

Warnings

It gets cold and then it gets very cold. Don't be too demanding of yourself. If the outside temperature drops to dangerous levels, or if you've been out in the cold for a long time, dress warmly or go indoors. Be aware of the factors that lead to hypothermia and its symptoms. There is no point in risking your health and safety.
Prolonged exposure to cold can be too burdensome for your body, weaken your immune system and increase your risk of illness. Always keep this in mind during your workouts.
With frostbite as a result of prolonged exposure to the cold in a supercooled part of the body, nerve endings and other tissues are damaged. If you have to spend a long time in the cold, be sure to cover your hands, feet, and other sensitive areas of your body with warm clothes.