Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Why do people think being cold is automatically more an issue than being too hot?

215 replies

MotorGreenGrass · 06/03/2022 13:36

I started a thread about the heating and my lodger.

Automatically people state they can’t be cold…. At the same time, neither can I be too hot?

So surely a consensus can be meet?

OP posts:
ITSupport · 06/03/2022 16:07

But I do sleep with not heating in any bedrooms and windows open all year around regardless of temp

HunterHearstHelmsley · 06/03/2022 16:10

The OP baffles me.

On MN being too hot is always considered worse than too cold. In real life, I've had the same experience.

You always get an utter buffoon saying well just put a jumper on!!

Being cold to your bones is bloody awful and obviously not solved by wearing more layers.

I've never been a hot person. I imagine being too hot isn't particularly pleasant either. It's widely accepted that being hot is worse.

Either way is pretty shit but the idiotic commentary about how easy it is to warm up is tedious.

MolkosTeenageAngst · 06/03/2022 16:12

@Fairislefandango

Your other thread states your lodger is too cold. You should just open a window in your room if you are too hot. Or wear something cooling like a t shirt.

That's illogical and a waste of energy. Rather than the OP stripping off and opening windows and letting the heat out, why doesn't the lodger dress more warmly?

I find often when people say they’re too hot in an indoor environment they are still wearing socks and jeans rather than shorts and flip flops for example and aren’t using a fan or anything to help cool them.

If you need to cool yourself down in your house in winter, you've got your heating up too high. With energy prices as they are, it seems utterly ridicous to make your house so warm that you need to wear shorts and flipflops!

Equally it’s ridiculous to need to wear too many layers or to need to wear a hat and gloves indoors. It’s clear from this thread that different people feel the heat and the cold very differently and where some people struggle to cool down others struggle to warm up regardless of layers. If you live alone obviously you’re not going to have your heating up to where you are in shorts and T-shirt, but if you live with others it’s clear what feels overly hot to some people feels uncomfortably cold to others even when dressed appropriately for the season.

In a situation where a hot person is living with a cold person then it makes sense for both to compromise a bit. The hot person should be wearing minimal layers such as shorts and a T-shirt and using a fan and the cold person should be layering up and wearing a jumper/ warm slippers etc and using a hot water bottle or heated blanket etc. If in different rooms opening a window or using a personal heater is reasonable but sometimes spaces have to be shared. It shouldn’t be solely up to one person to make all the changes, there should be some understanding that they feel the heat (or lack of) differently and two adults should be able work to find a temperature at which they are both able to make adjustments in clothing etc to be comfortable. You can’t expect one person to walk around in 20 layers feeling cold whilst the other sits there comfortable in socks and jeans because they don’t want to put on shorts!

Svara · 06/03/2022 16:19

You can’t expect one person to walk around in 20 layers feeling cold whilst the other sits there comfortable in socks and jeans because they don’t want to put on shorts! I don't think shorts are reasonable in winter unless the person would wear shorts outside. They would have to get changed everytime to leave the house and then when they come back in. My limit of reasonability would be warm person in t-shirt, jeans, barefoot, cold person in three layers, jeans, blanket on legs, socks and slippers.

DaisyWaldron · 06/03/2022 16:26

So only hot people are allowed to move around? Or do the cold people have to tie the blankets around their waists?

ldontWanna · 06/03/2022 16:30

In general I agree it's better to be cold than hot and easier to fix.

However, being too cold actually hurts for me. Various parts of my body kick off and they don't stop hurting just because I've warmed up either. So a day or two of being cold can mean a week of being in pain. Luckily I'm fine at 18 degrees (that's where my flat is at) and I do wear clothes so unless I was living with someone really unreasonable it should be fine.

Svara · 06/03/2022 16:31

@DaisyWaldron

So only hot people are allowed to move around? Or do the cold people have to tie the blankets around their waists?
If you are moving around you are warmer than sitting still. I have a blanket on the sofa but would take my jumper off to vacuum.
CrunchyCarrot · 06/03/2022 16:35

I cannot endure the heat. I emigrated from Australia to be in the cold UK and I prefer it! I don't endure cold as well now, though, as I have hypothyroidism, but that also makes me less able to endure hot weather. At least when you're cold you can warm up. Cooling down when hot is far harder.

DaisyWaldron · 06/03/2022 16:36

I think that people vary in how ho/cold they feel, but generally speaking, if one person has a hat and scarf and jumper on indoors and is still too cold, then it's up to the warmer person to turn the heating up and take off some layers.

Equally, if it's a hot day and one person is suffering while in thin, loose, pale clothes, the cooler person should agree to some strategic shade and airflow management (DH, who is the warm person in our relationship has a complex system of opening and closing windows and curtains depending on whether the air is warmer outside or inside and where the sun is shining ) and put on a jumper or go outside if that's too cold for them.

Svara · 06/03/2022 16:42

@CrunchyCarrot
I did the same with DS. He hated the heat and he was born there. It's currently 15.3 in my living room (heating, which is set to 16 because of the rising costs, will come on in an hour) and he is in jeans t-shirt and barefoot.

Svara · 06/03/2022 16:43

Correction, 14.9 degrees, just brought the thermometer downstairs.

Original poster
MotorGreenGrass · 06/03/2022 17:01

@Svara

Correction, 14.9 degrees, just brought the thermometer downstairs.
Doesn’t take into consideration drafts?
OP posts:
RampantIvy · 06/03/2022 17:02

you are going to LOVE the menopause

I went through that 13 years ago. A few power surges and some migraines. Compared to many women I got off lightly @DedalusBloom.

Major reason I don’t like beach holidays where there is little to no tree cover, unfortunately the in-laws love them so I grin and bear it for family holidays

Do you have to go on holiday with your in laws @phoenixrosehere?

Putting some judgement behind it, telling the one who is cold to just wear layers (it doesn’t work btw) is just making things worse.

I agree. Sitting in 6 jumpers, scarf and gloves makes it difficult to work.

I don't know about others but I can't concentrate well or work when I am cold. The feeling of cold is always in my mind and I keep thinking about how uncomfortable I am. It is pervasive and even if I put warmer clothes on, I just still seem to feel cold and notice it. My hands get cold as do my feet (even with thick socks) and I just find it hard to think

I’m exactly the same. I hate working in airconditioned buildings. In summer my office is colder than in winter with the arctic aircon on.

Hotties please stop telling us coldies to just put another jumper on. It isn't enough. The air needs to be warm.

Svara · 06/03/2022 17:07

@MotorGreenGrass
Do you mean it would be colder than the thermometer reading? I was just saying my DS doesn't handle heat well as he is barefoot when it is sub 15 degrees. I'm the cold one in this house, I have two jumpers and slippers on right now (14.0, sun's going down).

CheshireChat · 06/03/2022 17:33

@MotorGreenGrass look it's pretty obvious you were convinced that you'll come here and everyone will tell you that your lodger is being U and they should just put an extra jumper on, but honestly depends a lot on how cold you are.
It's not feasible to have loads of layers on constantly and it's miserable too.

SirChenjins · 06/03/2022 17:35

@TwoCoffeesPlease

Easier to warm up than cool down!
How? Because if you genuinely believe this you’re not someone who really feels the cold.
peboh · 06/03/2022 17:36

I'd much rather be cold than warm. With cold I can layer up as many times as I need. When I'm warm I can only take off so many layers before I'm stuck and still sweaty.

phoenixrosehere · 06/03/2022 17:40

Major reason I don’t like beach holidays where there is little to no tree cover, unfortunately the in-laws love them so I grin and bear it for family holidays

Do you have to go on holiday with your in laws @phoenixrosehere?

Yes, I can grin and bear it once a year and it’s more for my sons can go spend time with their cousins and my DH with his family. The oldest is 7 with autism and the youngest is four. I wouldn’t take them alone on a flight so I wouldn’t have my DH do the same. I go out in the early morning and go inside before lunch time. Once it has cooled down which is usually near dinner time, I head out again with the others for dinner. As long I don’t go out in the hottest part of the day and stay near the ac or coolest part of the room, I can manage. When the days are cooler, cloudy, I go out then.

I was happy to move to the U.K. because of the temperate climate. Cold in the SE where I live is nothing to the cold or the hot in the States I grew up with.

luckylavender · 06/03/2022 17:41

I'd much rather be a little cold than a little hot. Being too hot makes me feel really ill.

RollaCola84 · 06/03/2022 17:46

Medically being too hot gets dangerous more quickly than being too cold. There are more options and easier options to warm up when you're cold than cool down when you're hot.

I have a medical condition that means I overheat easily. I'm fed up of telling people in the office in summer that they can put a cardi on if they're cold but I'll have reached the point where I can't take anymore clothes off without risking a public nudity offence.

Shodan · 06/03/2022 18:02

Being too hot makes me panic-sweat in addition to normal sweating. Which then makes me self-conscious, so I sweat some more. But the only time I can remember it being a real issue was in Florida in early August, where it felt like being permanently wrapped in towels in a sauna. I used to make XH go out and turn the aircon on in the car before I'd leave the aircon in the house.

But- if I get too cold indoors it takes direct heat to warm up my hands and nose- so it means a hot water bottle and the blanket over my nose. (I've even considered making some kind of warming 'nosebag'!)

And, of course, menopause means I can go from one to the other in the blink of an eye, so that's fun.

I think I must have a dodgy personal thermostat...

EmpressCixi · 06/03/2022 18:05

More people die of cold than of heat in the U.K.. That’s why we automatically think of it as more of an issue here to be too cold.

BuddhaForMary · 06/03/2022 18:09

Hate being cold. I have Reynauds so when it's cold I can't feel my hands or feet. And no amount of layering warms them up.

lljkk · 06/03/2022 18:10

Can wear wet clothes when too hot, or eat ice lollies. Wear a set scarf. Soak your hair.
Put your feet in a bucket of ice.
Go hang out in air conditioned places.
Yes I have done those things.

Svara · 06/03/2022 18:19

@lljkk

Can wear wet clothes when too hot, or eat ice lollies. Wear a set scarf. Soak your hair. Put your feet in a bucket of ice. Go hang out in air conditioned places. Yes I have done those things.
Those are mostly orientated towards hot weather though, rather than a hot house when it's single digits outside. If you wet your hair or clothing you can't then go out like that or you'd freeze.
Swipe left for the next trending thread