<story><title>The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold</title><url>https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200226-how-to-survive-in-the-extreme-cold</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rmcpherson</author><text>The article mentions that plastic bags work better than emergency &amp;quot;space&amp;quot; blankets since they block moisture and thus evaporative cooling. A large industrial trash bag is part of my emergency supplies on cold backpacking trips. It&amp;#x27;s cheap, weighs almost nothing, and provides protection from both radiative and convective cooling.</text></item><item><author>js2</author><text>Fellow runner here. For God&amp;#x27;s sake man, carry an emergency blanket with you at least.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;Emergency-Blanket&amp;#x2F;s?k=Emergency+Blanket&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;Emergency-Blanket&amp;#x2F;s?k=Emergency+Blank...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>LeifCarrotson</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;A man in the cold is not necessarily a cold man,” says Tipton. “If you keep moving and you are reasonably insulated you will produce enough heat to stay warm. At maximum exercise, it is like you are running a 2kW fire. When you exercise reasonably hard you can do that in shorts and t-shirt in the cold...&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think about this a lot as a runner in the Midwest US. I regularly go out in 20-30F weather in wool socks, running shorts, a long-sleeve shell, and a hat and gloves. I add running tights and a bit of vaseline on my cheekbones and nose if it&amp;#x27;s under 20. This last weekend it was 45 and blissfully sunny; it felt like spring, I left my hat and gloves at home and did my first shirtless workout of the season.&lt;p&gt;The article reminds me of the quote from Jack London&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;To Build a Fire&amp;quot; (full text at [1]):&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;His idea of running until he arrived at the camp and the boys presented one problem: he lacked the endurance.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Guðlaugur did have the endurance! Good on him.&lt;p&gt;It does make me think, however, what would happen if I were to sprain an ankle or break a leg and be unable to run to generate heat. If I could only hobble, would I be able to, say, sit down to do sit-ups and push-ups until I could warm up and resume hobbling?  Fortunately, I&amp;#x27;m not far from from shore on a dark sea, my routes never take me further than about two miles from civilization.&lt;p&gt;[1]: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;americanenglish.state.gov&amp;#x2F;files&amp;#x2F;ae&amp;#x2F;resource_files&amp;#x2F;to-build-a-fire.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;americanenglish.state.gov&amp;#x2F;files&amp;#x2F;ae&amp;#x2F;resource_files&amp;#x2F;to...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rconti</author><text>Funny, this Californian ran a half marathon in northern norway rain (during the summer, though, so it was about 45f). I inadvertently tested this plastic bag theory.&lt;p&gt;My luggage had been lost by the airlines, so I didn&amp;#x27;t have my rain shell, just the most basic running clothes that I wisely chose to put in my carryon.&lt;p&gt;I ended up running the race in t-shirt and shorts covered by a free plastic poncho handed out by a restaurant. I quickly saturated my clothes from a combination of sweat and rain getting in, but it functioned like a wet suit in that it prevented the fresh rain and wind from cooling me evaporatively, while my body kept my wet clothes warm.&lt;p&gt;While it was a bit stuffy, I was afraid I&amp;#x27;d get cold very quickly in the wind and rain if I took it off (which I did in the last few miles, and yes, it got cold quickly). As soon as I stopped running, even with a space blanket, even going indoors, my temperature plummeted EXTREMELY rapidly.&lt;p&gt;At 45f in the dry I&amp;#x27;d typically use long sleeves (and I repeated this experiment this past weekend in Napa) although, again, it&amp;#x27;s really just to keep you warm while you wait to start; once you&amp;#x27;re running, it&amp;#x27;s no problem to get by with only short sleeves and shorts.</text></comment>
<story><title>The human body’s remarkable ability to adapt to the cold</title><url>https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200226-how-to-survive-in-the-extreme-cold</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rmcpherson</author><text>The article mentions that plastic bags work better than emergency &amp;quot;space&amp;quot; blankets since they block moisture and thus evaporative cooling. A large industrial trash bag is part of my emergency supplies on cold backpacking trips. It&amp;#x27;s cheap, weighs almost nothing, and provides protection from both radiative and convective cooling.</text></item><item><author>js2</author><text>Fellow runner here. For God&amp;#x27;s sake man, carry an emergency blanket with you at least.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;Emergency-Blanket&amp;#x2F;s?k=Emergency+Blanket&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;Emergency-Blanket&amp;#x2F;s?k=Emergency+Blank...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>LeifCarrotson</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;A man in the cold is not necessarily a cold man,” says Tipton. “If you keep moving and you are reasonably insulated you will produce enough heat to stay warm. At maximum exercise, it is like you are running a 2kW fire. When you exercise reasonably hard you can do that in shorts and t-shirt in the cold...&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think about this a lot as a runner in the Midwest US. I regularly go out in 20-30F weather in wool socks, running shorts, a long-sleeve shell, and a hat and gloves. I add running tights and a bit of vaseline on my cheekbones and nose if it&amp;#x27;s under 20. This last weekend it was 45 and blissfully sunny; it felt like spring, I left my hat and gloves at home and did my first shirtless workout of the season.&lt;p&gt;The article reminds me of the quote from Jack London&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;To Build a Fire&amp;quot; (full text at [1]):&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;His idea of running until he arrived at the camp and the boys presented one problem: he lacked the endurance.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Guðlaugur did have the endurance! Good on him.&lt;p&gt;It does make me think, however, what would happen if I were to sprain an ankle or break a leg and be unable to run to generate heat. If I could only hobble, would I be able to, say, sit down to do sit-ups and push-ups until I could warm up and resume hobbling?  Fortunately, I&amp;#x27;m not far from from shore on a dark sea, my routes never take me further than about two miles from civilization.&lt;p&gt;[1]: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;americanenglish.state.gov&amp;#x2F;files&amp;#x2F;ae&amp;#x2F;resource_files&amp;#x2F;to-build-a-fire.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;americanenglish.state.gov&amp;#x2F;files&amp;#x2F;ae&amp;#x2F;resource_files&amp;#x2F;to...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jniedrauer</author><text>Related: I used ziploc bags as vapor barriers nested between two pairs of socks while on a multi-month winter hiking trip in trail shoes. It was extremely effective. I could posthole in deep snow all day in my running shoes and not get frostbite.</text></comment>