To tell you not to run around if caught in snow- exercise cools you down

[Nimbostratus100]

I am quite alarmed at the level of ignorance shown about this, so just in case anyone here gets caught in snow today

Please don't exercise to warm up - or tell your children to - this cools you down and leaves you vulnerable to hypothermia

Insulate yourself as well as you can, and huddle as close together as you can instead.

In the UK? Seriously, can you point to a single case where a child was stranded in the snow in a UK park, ran around to warm up and tragically died?

I used to live in Toronto and the only people who died of hypothermia in winter were drunks, and homeless people. Children were not dropping like flies in parks. And it was -20. This is not a concern for the vast majority of people.

Christ it’s scary how gullible some people are. One person comes on a forum with some bullshit “advice” and this poster swallows it and is ready to implement it into her childcare setting no questions asked 🤦‍♀️

Don't get full-on sweaty but other than that - move! You'll be warm as long as you move.
Distance skiers don't get hypothermic.
I didn't get hypothermia as a small child playing outside in the snow for hours and hours non-stop. Had spare gloves and socks with me, as getting wet in the cold was the main scare, not the cold itself!

Shivers are literally your body trying to create some heat via micro-movements. If you shiver, move! Your body wants you to.

The advice that was given to us at schools (and everywhere else) in a country that had -20 Celsius snowy, icy winters:

Never stay put (as in, move! )

Don't drink alcohol to stay warm or if heading outside

Whatever you do, don't get wet feet and/or hands

Only step on frozen lakes once ice turns heavy and opaque

Due to under-ice streams it's never quite safe to step on frozen rivers

Look up. Stay away from trees and structures heavily coated in snow and ice - will be fatal if the ice and snow falls

Don't jump in the snow heaps from higher structures. There might be an old fence or a bench, or anything else underneath that will spear you. We used to jump anyway.

And the best one:
Don't pee on electrical junction boxes during the big freeze: cold air conducts electricity very well and a tourist got electrecuted by doing just that.

Exercise warms you up. Sweating cools you down. Keep moving to keep warm, but don't do cardio.

I'm guessing the OP read something like "exercising in the cold increases your risk of hypothermia" and took that to mean it is the exercising that causes the hypothermia rather than the cold.

I have never had a child suffer from hypothermia whilst under my watch and have never heard of it amongst colleagues 🤷‍♀️

It’s something I will be wary of in future, especially with the current weather situation.

….. although it does make me wonder if the OP’s claims are true

@DarkNecessities When you exercise and feel warm - where do you think that heat comes from?

Do you understand that the movement of muscles actually creates the heat (as a by-product)?

Or do you think that your body has a finite supply of pre-existing heat, which is now just throwing out, leaving it in short supply?

Surely keeping moving and exercising to stay warm is the aim if you’re cold though? Within reason obviously.

It is - but you said you were wondering if the OP's claims were true. Hence my questions, because a basic understanding of the science is enough to tell you that the OP's description is nonsense..

The heat you generate through movement is 'new' heat. Moving your muscles converts stored energy in your body (which you get from food) into kinetic energy and heat energy.

Your body will only start trying to cool itself down if it gets too hot, at which point it will start to sweat etc. That's homeostasis. But it will never continue trying to cool itself once it's back down to a safe temperature. When it drops below approx 37 degrees, it will start trying to warm itself (shivering, retracting blood vessels).

If you get wet with sweat, or exhausted through exercise (use up all your stored reserves), you may risk hypothermia. But movement is never going to cool you down.