Why am I so temperature-sensitive? page

[orielwen]

At night my husband and I often have some difficulty sleeping: we're either too hot or too cold. We've started tracking it.

Night before last: room temperature 18.5ºC, covering two cotton cellular blankets + sheet, result: too cold.
Last night: room temperature 18.5ºC, covering one thicker blanket + sheet, result: too hot.

This suggests that our temperature tolerance is in a very narrow band. Any ideas on how to widen it?

[Lewis]

This suggests that our temperature tolerance is in a very narrow band. Any ideas on how to widen it?

Perhaps exposing yourself to different temperatures to accustom yourself to them might help.

I guess this might mean anything from small things like not putting a jumper on just because you feel a little cold up to stuff like finshing a shower with a minute or two of cold. You could try saunas with cold plunges, too.

The Wild Boy of Aveyron seems to have been pretty much insensible to heat and cold when he was found. This was the boy, found in 18th century France, who'd been brought up by wolves. I think it was simply a case of his not being in the habit of wearing clothing or using bedclothes. He was just used to variations in temperature and not bothered by it:

Victor of Aveyron - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What you eat and drink, and your general health and hormonal status, is going to be relevant here. A major one, as I understand it, is alcohol. That will interfere with your cold-tolerance. I don't know much about that side of things, though. the one person in the paleo community who makes a speciality of that is the Nashville neurosurgeon Dr. Kruse. You might find something on his site. If not, he has an "Ask Jack" board on his forums where you can put a question direct to him.

Begin Your Journey Now - Jack Kruse

[codered5]

Thyroid and adrenals usually have a large role in temp problems

[Iron Fireling]

Interesting... I was FREEZING last night (can't tell you what the temp of the room was as I had no thermometer ). But it was pretty cold (being as it's winter here). I heat the room a little before I go to bed then turn the heater off, so it had pretty much gone down to cold. I ended up turning the electric blanket on because I was just soooo darn cold (and I thought I was cold adapting nicely...I've noticed that by this time of year, the middle of winter, I'm not really even wearing a coat when I go out anymore). I usually never sleep with the electric blanket on (although I will use it to pre-warm the bed).

It would be interesting to know how cold the room is exactly, too... Just out of curiosity. If the outside temperature is maybe 2 or 3 degrees Celsius, I wonder what the inner temp would be with no heating?

I find it fascinating though that some nights my body warmth seems to heat the bed enough... other times it's too cold. I would think the outside temperatures wouldn't be THAT different.

[magicmerl]

I've been experimenting a little with fasting, and with it came the cold hands/feet.

Adding a few more carbs into my evening meal (in the form of bananas, whipped cream and dark chocolate...) meant that I was then quite hot under the duvet at night. Eating a more normal sized meal (which for the whole day would result in calorie restriction) means I have cold feet all night long.

So for me it seems to be based on my carb intake at my last meal.

[orielwen]

It would be interesting to know how cold the room is exactly, too... Just out of curiosity. If the outside temperature is maybe 2 or 3 degrees Celsius, I wonder what the inner temp would be with no heating?

Depends on your insulation, and whether it was heated during the day. I'd guess a typical room starting at 18°C at bedtime might get down to about 10–12°C overnight if the outside temperature was 2–3°C. But that's just a guess.

I find that if you let yourself get too cool (e.g. you have to get up in the middle of the night) your body can no longer warm the bed.

Thanks for your responses. Might try increasing carb in the evenings then (that should help with the adrenals too).

[BestBetter]

I've had good results with Cold Thermogenesis in several areas, one of which was temperature sensitivity/regulation. I used to be extremely cold intolerant, and now the cold doesn't seem to bother me at all.

There's extensive information and tons of links on the Cold Water thread:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread56730.html

[Iron Fireling]

Depends on your insulation, and whether it was heated during the day. I'd guess a typical room starting at 18°C at bedtime might get down to about 10–12°C overnight if the outside temperature was 2–3°C. But that's just a guess.

I find that if you let yourself get too cool (e.g. you have to get up in the middle of the night) your body can no longer warm the bed.

Thanks for your responses. Might try increasing carb in the evenings then (that should help with the adrenals too).

My room was slightly heated (for a short while) before I went to bed, but not really warm enough to get comfortably warm, just to take the chill out of the air. I would think, though, that you're probably close to right. I'd be really interested to find out how cold it DOES get in there though, so I might go invest in a thermometer!