To wish people would stop saying “just put a jumper on”?

[Notcontent]

There have been sooo many thread over the years with people saying how no one really needs heating - how e.g. 16 degrees is positively sweltering - and if you feel the cold you should just put a jumper on and a bit of cold never hurt anyone…

This is complete rubbish and I think this myth needs to be debunked. It’s not helpful. Of course many people are being forced to have their heating off but that does not mean this is good for their physical or mental health.

I was prompted to start this thread as I was listening to a radio 4 science programme that tackled this topic head on. In summary:

• when we get really cold (e.g. a room at 10 degrees) our body has to work really hard to keep our core warm and this places great strain on our body - increased heart rate, blood pressure, decreased congnitive ability, etc;

• surprisingly, for a lot of people 23 degrees is the right temperature if you are just sitting around - this does not surprise me as if I am working from home, if I have my thermostat set to 19.5 degrees, I still have to wear ugg slippers and a big jumper;

• getting chilled does make you likely to get sick - this is because we are constantly being exposed to viruses, which we do fight off (the cold virus in particular) but when we get chilled our body’s immune response is severely impaired.

I have a bad chest, and the Recommended room temp for kids kids is no lower that 16 degrees. Anything less makes us poorly. Plus house gets damp and mouldy.

YANBU. People don’t seem to realise how much things like central heating, double glazing etc have improved infant death rates, respiratory illness rates, etc.

This is meaningless without knowing how cold your kitchen actually got yesterday in terms of degrees. (Eg. were you feeling "very cold" at 16 degrees or 10 degrees? A dressing gown will completely fix the situation in the former case but not be much use on its own in the latter). And that temperature could be completely different to your neighbour over the road if your houses have different levels of insulation (if it's 5 degrees outside, a very well insulated house might manage to stay at 16 degrees without heating, whereas a poorly insulated one could plunge to 9 or 10 for example. It wouldn't be very meaningful for the inhabitants of the first house to boast to the inhabitants of the second about just needing to put a dressing gown on).

Level of physical activity makes a big difference too. Even a healthy young adult will feel colder at higher temperatures if sat at a desk all day, and it's all very well criticising a sedentary lifestyle but if your income depends on being glued to a desk 8 hours a day there's only so much you can do to keep your bloody flowing during those hours.

Well, if you're asthmatic it often isn't optimum, leads to chest infections and has even led to pneumonia for me.

Ah. Major asthma (and lifelong joint problems) here. I'm just far too warm to think about putting the heating on. Years of living in a cold-ish old house means I struggle with being overheated now!

I often feel cold in winter - when it’s cold and windy outside - even when the thermostat is showing 21. I had to put it up to 23 tonight to warm up.

However, in the summer months anything over 20 can feel fine and 23 feels far too hot at night and I need a window open all summer at night.

I don’t think it is psychological either, based on seeing the weather outside, I can actually feel the cold draughts in the air in winter, despite being in a well insulated house, no matter what the thermostat says.

I think most of those wall mounted central heating thermometers are wildly inaccurate so a lot of you may think your house is warmer/colder than it actually is. Ours was replaced a few years ago and despite setting it at the same 20 degrees we'd always had, it was much warmer in the house. I went and bought a properly calibrated digital thermometer and have it where we sit. Currently it's 19.5 in our living room and hasn't yet dropped below 19 at all this year so no heating for us yet as we are totally fine at that.

I find it really useful as if I feel hot or cold, I can check that it's just me and not the house temperature (and it stops others moaning it's too cold/hot).

Jumpers and other clothing rely on trapping your body heat. If you layer up when you're warm, they're pretty useful.
When you're cold, your body will direct blood circulation and heat to the core and leave the extremities to go cold. Layering up at this point isn't very effective because there's not much surface heat to retain, and an external heat source will help. Cold water swimmers will use hot drinks and hot waterbottles to add external heat and get the core temperature up. I find it better not to layer up heavily straight away because it then traps the cold in and stops my body warming in the heat of the car if I'm driving soon after.

I'm usually happy to put extra layers on before reaching for the heating switch. If my nose has gone cold, it'll either take warmer air or movement to warm it up rather than an extra layer.

People were more active in the past. They'd have had more muscle mass which would boost the metabolism. They'd have spent less time sitting around in the evening (poorer lighting) and would have gravitated to fires. Poorer people would have shared beds which also shares body heat. Sharing with animals too.

My body gets warm easily through movement, but cools off when sedentary. I've got a heated throw because I find that the school run gets me warm and sweaty, but skin cold and then I end up feeling chilly for a long time after because I cool off too rapidly from not being thoroughly warm

I might wear a t-shirt when walking outside at 16-18⁰C. I wouldn't sit in that temperature, unless it was in warm sun and sheltered, but the sun would feel warmer from the radiated heat than the air temperature. Humidity tends to make temperatures feel cooler, as will draughts.

I keep a thermometer in the lounge. I'm happy at 20-21⁰C. Below 18⁰C and I'll tend to need to heat the room unless I'm being active. The thermometer is placed at knee height because that represents where we sit at. It would be warmer up the wall. The thermostat is useless up a wall in the hallway and doesn't reflect actual temperatures.

Can't help wondering how humans evolved over 1000s of years without central heating.

Well, they died a lot younger.

I live in a country where central heating is not common, and the average life expectancy here is higher than in the UK. It is possible to keep warm in winter without heating an entire house!

I was working in an office today where the company has put thermometers in the rooms because the heating is over-enthusiastic. I spent the day in temperatures between 23.5 and 24. I ended up extremely hot and uncomfortable.

They lived in Africa.

I can cope at 18 in the house, so we’ve hardly had the heating on yet this year.
I do find a hot water bottle helps a lot! I’ve not felt cold at all as I just pop that on when it gets cold.

People like me with a dodgy immune system would have died out. Fortunately my partner is far more accepting of the fact not everyone is the same than you are, and we heat my small study, where I sit to work, to a higher temperature than his home office. And we have an electric blanket on my half of the bed.

Yanbu. I'm cold blooded and 19 is not warm. I can tolerate it if I'm wrapped up and busy but it's horrible when I stop. I'm trying to use less for the sake of the planet (heating at 20°) but I'm uncomfortable and my joints are stiff.
I didn't find the last summer unbearably hot tbh.

Me to no CH we only had a gas fire in the front and back room. Upstairs was freezing when we breathed out we could see our breath.

Me being a size 8 at the time so not much weight on me to keep me warm. Despite me having a healthy appetite. When I started earning my own money one of the first things I bought was a plug in radiator for my room. My younger sister used to use it as well.

So what's your solution for all the people who can't afford to put their heating on? Hardly helpful to tell people who are already struggling that they are risking their health.
Most people don't choose to be cold, it's because they can't afford the incredibly high energy bills.

My facebook feed keeps throwing up articles about people with tips for living without heating. They all look uniformly pale, peaky and ill. Not a great advert for it! Food, shelter, warmth - they are the basics of life. It is scandalous that anyone should be placed in a position where they are considering doing without.

You burn more calories as well trying to keep warm. Often I have gone somewhere for the day it has been colder than expected. But after I have had some lunch I always feel warmer.

Each line is one degree and each jump to a longer thicker line is 5 degrees- if that makes sense?!

Everyone is different I like to warm but I hate lots of layers on. I feel restricted....would much rather turn up the thermostat which I done today to 23 Felt much better😁

Sorry forgot to say I was looking at the C temperatures (right hand side).

Where do you li e that you don't get frost, ice and snow in winter? Plenty of that up in Durham.

I'm in Melbourne, it's 12 degrees at 10am and I'm sitting working in my wooden house, no heating, in an Oodie and ugg boots (bare legs).

I would not consider myself a cold weather person AT ALL - I am happily out and about in 30, 40 degrees when everyone else is sitting inside in the dark wearing wet tea towels.

It was a real eye opener to read a thread about UK expats in Australia the other day, and people complaining about cold houses here. While central heating is becoming more common, it's pretty normal for people in temperate Aus climates to leave the heating off until they really need it - we get up in a cold house and only heat the rooms we are using.

The idea of having a home permanently heated to 20+ just seems shockingly expensive and unnecessary to me, I'm not sure if it's just what we're all used to or whether the cold in the UK is just different? Is it dampness that's the real problem?

@Notcontent I think a small fresian!
& my friends lab who is happiest when 'sitting' on my lap (aka squishing me into the sofa)

the smart meter says it's 16 in the halllway, the non smart old fashioned red liquid says it's 14° in the lounge. The heater thermostat says nothing as it's given up
on the digital display 🙄🙄

the air is cool, but I had a chunky cardi on that I've just taken off (It's only. Tu (Sainsbury) and I suspect only acrylic -wasn't expensive, I just liked it). Socks & fluffy boots, in fact I've just kicked the boots off because my feet are too hot.

Heating your body is important, it's important people are reminded! And reminded ankles, wrists, heads, neck are very important. Put on warm socks that cover the ankles and a cardi/jumper that has warm cuffs (I'm short with short arms so my wrists always have extra layers!!)

Warm AIR is very important for certain health conditions & I hope people in that situation are getting help with their bills!

the thing that will make me put the heating on is when I start coughing, it happens every winter when the air gets too cold, but no idea what temperature that is.

And they had more active jobs.