Effect of cold on the body

[Oldgreybeard]

Interesting BBC article on the effect of living in an unheated house at 10°C: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-63602501

Quite surprising just how potentially harmful a modestly cool temperature can be, surprised me, I thought that sort of temperature wouldn't really be a major issue for someone fit and healthy. The increase in heart rate and blood pressure alone could be harmful for someone that already has heart disease or high blood pressure, and the roughly 20% reduction in the ability for the brain to solve problems could easily cause someone to make a harmful decision, or just fail to make a decision that might save their life.

[Joeboy]

Interesting BBC article on the effect of living in an unheated house at 10°C: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-63602501

Quite surprising just how potentially harmful a modestly cool temperature can be, surprised me, I thought that sort of temperature wouldn't really be a major issue for someone fit and healthy. The increase in heart rate and blood pressure alone could be harmful for someone that already has heart disease or high blood pressure, and the roughly 20% reduction in the ability for the brain to solve problems could easily cause someone to make a harmful decision, or just fail to make a decision that might save their life.

'I wouldn't want to be trying to do school homework in a cold room or to have this compound something like dementia.'

[Krill]

Awful piece of journalism, enabling awful "science".

Tested wearing shorts and short-sleeved t shirt? This is meaningless, until they test people wearing appropriate clothing.

The BBC has become little more than a mouthpiece over the past several years, a real shame.

[Joeboy]

Awful piece of journalism, enabling awful "science".

Tested wearing shorts and short-sleeved t shirt? This is meaningless, until they test people wearing appropriate clothing.

How so? The idea is to test the stripped back human at 10 degs and show effects. It did that.

I was unaware of the link below

'The blood itself is also changing "so it becomes a bit like treacle", says Prof Bailey, and this thicker gloopier blood also adds to the risk of a dangerous blockage.

It's why heart attacks and strokes are more common in the winter.'

[Oldgreybeard]

My wife's just read the article and reminded me that I shouldn't be that surprised, as she remembered an incident many years ago when I was doing sea survival training. The training consisted of a group of us (in immersion suits, with life jackets) being dropped in the sea from a safety boat, so we could practice getting into an inflatable survival dinghy, putting the canopy up, firing flares, etc.

One of the group got into difficulties and we were unable to haul him aboard, as we were all knackered. Within a few minutes he was delirious, laughing and telling us to let him go. He ended up being taken to hospital with hypothermia. That was after maybe half an hour in the sea that was at about 8°C.

Turned out he'd had a lot to drink the night before, and that, together with the fact that he was a fairly tall and skinny bloke, made him a lot more vulnerable to the cold. Did teach me not to stay in the bar all evening when doing refresher training every couple of years, though.

[Krill]

I disagree that this was the point of the article. The title specifically states: "What does an unheated room do to your body?" Not "What happens if you wear weather or climate inappropriate clothing?"

The article does not even acknowledge that the clothing he was tested in was unsafe. For context if a child was dressed like that it in winter weather it would be an automatic referral to childrens social services for additional family support, and if a person with dementia was dressing themselves in this way they would probably end up in a care home (after various other steps including trial at home with care in put).

This is essentially a public health outreach piece and it's just poor at best because it illustrates the wrong concept.

Edit: I should state that this is still a relevant concept to advertise, my problem is they are linking two different points as a non sequitur. If it was written as "What happens when you don't wear warm enough clothing" it would be such better, because the issues exist in so many more environments as OGB illustrates.

[Joeboy]

I disagree that this was the point of the article. The title specifically states: "What does an unheated room do to your body?" Not "What happens if you wear weather or climate inappropriate clothing?"

The article does not even acknowledge that the clothing he was tested in was unsafe. For context if a child was dressed like that it in winter weather it would be an automatic referral to childrens social services for additional family support, and if a person with dementia was dressing themselves in this way they would probably end up in a care home (after various other steps including trial at home with care in put).

This is essentially a public health outreach piece and it's just poor at best because it illustrates the wrong concept.

Ah well, don't let it get ye down.

[Countrypaul]

Awful piece of journalism, enabling awful "science".

Tested wearing shorts and short-sleeved t shirt? This is meaningless, until they test people wearing appropriate clothing.

The BBC has become little more than a mouthpiece over the past several years, a real shame.

I agree the journalism is awful, but he science certainly isn't.

Finding and showing the effects of cold at just 10C is worthwhile, but explaining how that relates to the real world is almost completely mssing from the article. Most people do not have a strong science background therefore need an explanation of what the results mean to them How much difference does wearing a pair of trousers and a thick jumper make - rerunning the experiment and showing how much longer it takes to cool down to the same level (if we do) would give people much more useful information. In the very least showing that if you are only going to be up for an hour bwfore going to bed is it worthwhile putting you heating on? (Obviouly there are many other factors to take into account to answer that). The article has clearly dumbed down the science to the level the journalist feels most people can understand but without giving more than the ver basc implication.

[Oldgreybeard]

I agree, what is missing from the start of the article is how this relates to someone trying to live in a cold house, because they cannot afford to run the heating, and what they should do to mitigate the risk from the cold. Adding a paragraph or two at the end about wearing jumpers etc doesn't really cut it, IMHO.

[openspaceman]

Aside from the implications about clothing I found it interesting.

Also marveled at the young girls with bare midriffs while I was cold in my fleece this morning in town.

Our house has dropped to 16C near floor level and 19C at head height so one for OGB; does a high differential between top and bottom signify anything about house insulation?