In response to Cecil’s Why are women always cold? , I partially disagree with him. He started to get on the right track with:
But does he mention that many women shave their body hair? No. Does he mention that some women in an office setting are more likely to be wearing skirts, dresses, or sleeveless tops than the men are? No. I think this simple explanation is the most logical, and if nothing else I think Cecil should have mentioned it as a factor.
Good point, jon.
I’m a woman who doesn’t shave or wear any of the aforementioned items, and I always feel fine when the women in my office are griping about the temperature. Anecdotal, yes—maybe we should start a study of hot women 
On a related note, why is that as people age they seem to migrate to warmer climates en mass (Florida)? Are some of the same resolutions applicable? As people age they generally become smaller in stature and lose muscle mass…
The clothes some women wear is definitely related, of course, and shaving may have something to do with it, but I think the key lies in muscle mass and fat content. I lived with some female gymnasts in college that never complained about the cold, even though I like it fairly chilly (68-72F). As for the surface area-to-volume argument, I would think that would apply more to total body heat than skin temperature, which is where you feel it when you’re cold. I’ve known overweight and tall women that still complain about the cold, even when they’re wearing big sweaters and such and I’m in a t-shirt.
Admittedly, this is all anecdotal of course, but then I generally rely on Cecil to supply the data
Weighing in with material of an anecdotal nature – I’m female, but I’m never cold when others aren’t. Quite the opposite; I’m hot when others are comfortable, and comfortable when others are cold. I attribute this to my size, which is rather large.
Aside from how warmly one is dressed, I think the most important factors are size, circulation, and age, Thin and/or slight people seem likely to complain of being cold when bulkier people are comfortable. On average, women are smaller and thinner then men; hence the perception that it’s women who are “always cold”. Having poor circulation also seems to result in being cold when others are comfortable. And elderly people seem to be more sensitive to the cold.
What this adds up to is that, no matter how warm an environment is, there will always be someone complaining that it’s “too cold”. I think the solution (for the workplace and other group environments) is to set some standards as to what is a reasonable indoor temperture to maintain. Scatter some reliable thermometers about, and pay attention to what the temperature actually IS. Disregard complaints that are wildly at varience with actual conditions.
You mean they really are cold? Whoa. I always thought they were just using it as an opening line on me by asking to wear my jacket.
I hereby volunteer to conduct this study! Hell, I have a decade’s worth of preliminary research I’d be willing to write up for a small grant…
I’m a warm woman who gets into a lot of conflicts with a cold woman friend if we travel anywhere:
Me: “It’s hot in here.”
Her: “No, it’s not. It’s nice.”
Her: “Why don’t you put on your sweater?”
Me: “Because it’ll just make me perspire more.”
And so forth.
My dad is the one who complains about being cold and wanting to close all the windows when mom wants them open because she’s warm. He and Mom are locked in mortal combat over this. So I guess I know who I take after.
At least some variation will be cultural - a tradesman here in Toronto mentioned to me that Caribbean immigrants to Canada will maintain winter temperatures in excess of 25 C - at which point I would be stifling! That observation doesn’t say much about a sex-based difference, though.
It’s also a good idea, when choosing an apartment, to get one between two old ladies: typically, they will crank the heat up all winter long and it will come into a “normal” apartment through the interior walls, providing massive savings on heat.
I’ll go for the muscle mass/vasoconstriction theory, on the grounds that, very generally speaking, people who complain about the ambient temperature are not as healthy as those who don’t. We’re warm blooded animals, after all! We’re supposed to be able to cope with temperature variation!
We’re also supposed to dress with tasteful elegance, thus implying a wardrobe filled with three-piece suits, even if we’re not lawyers!
Although this really doesn’t have anything to do with women being cold, I was wondering if anyone has heard of Reynodes.
I just heard about it a year ago when I was diagnosed with it. As Cecil had said (allow me to paraphrase and perhaps add to his comment) when you get cold your capillaries constrict and less blood gets to your skin.
Well, people with Reynodes have the problem of too much constriction. When I’m cold, my hands and feet turn purple and sometimes green and I lose feeling in them!
I have noticed a similar effect as everyone else (women being too cold during the day), but have any of you noticed the opposite in the morning? I have seen a pattern with women where she will be wrapped in three blankets when we go to bed while I take a single sheet if that, but inevitably come morning she will have tossed them all off and I will be under them. Perhaps there is an effect of circadian rhythms in on this too?
Aw, Cecil, I always thought you were a MAN, not some fem/wimp who wraps up in an afghan and sips herbal tea if it gets below 77 degrees! (I thought first of saying “wraps up in a muff”, but realized that’s a far more manly concept.)
Interesting theory, Jonfromdenver, but I’m a woman who doesn’t wear skirts or sleeveless tops, and I am still always cold. In fact, I think I’m colder than most other women, since I wear long sleeve clothing all year round and am constantly asked “Aren’t you hot in that?”. Believe me, my clothing is not contributing to my chilliness.
Brrrr!
I’m male and I’m reaching for a HEAVY sweater when the temp drops below 20 Celsius. Maybe it’s because I live in a relatively warm climate (Australia), maybe because I’m a featherweight (less than 9 stone), but I am comfortable at 34C (around 90F) and don’t complain at 38C (100F). Most of the women of my acquaintance are just about expiring with heat exhaustion at this point. Body fat is, I believe, the most significant factor. More padding equals wearing a sweater under your skin.
Just wanted to comment on the menstrual factor–I get about 10 degrees hotter when I’m on my period. Anyone else, or is it just me?
I am the person responsible for the “three-piece suits in south-facing window offices” claim – see
http://webfoot.com/advice/women.in.eng.html
However, Cecil misunderstood slightly. I said
" Toss in that the ultimate control over building thermostats usually
lies with large, well-fed men in three-piece suits in south-facing
window offices, and [women are] going to be cold a lot."
I didn’t mean that all the men at a company got window offices; I meant that the ultimate control lies with the CEO – who is usually a large, well-fed man in a three-piece suit with a south facing window office. I see how I wasn’t clear, but I certainly don’t think that all women are shunted into dark and clammy basements!
(Okay, so not even CEOs wear three-piece suits these days, but they do at least usually wear ties.)
Here’s another data point: I asked a woman who used to be a man if she noticed a temperature difference. After her sex change, she says she is MUCH colder. Since she didn’t lose height, it’s either hormonal (I presume she takes estrogen) or due to muscle mass.
Hey All,
I was under the impression that women had their fat marbled through the muscle and that men had their fat layered below the skin. The fat below the skin acts as an insulator making men warmer than women.
Or is that a big fat lie?
-Sandwriter
Makes sense to me, Sandwriter, and leads me to what I was going to post on this subject rather nicely:
I think it all has to do with circulation and insulation. I happen to be a woman, and I am always warm. I am comfortable at around 68F and my husband would rather have the thermostat set at 75F. Being a larger person, I have a lot of insulation (read: body fat). My husband is a type I diabetic, so his circulation is pretty bad, so he’s always cold.
I think it has to do with setpoints too. You get used to a certain temperature, and then that’s what you’re comfortable at. In college, my dorm’s thermostat was broken and for about 2 months it was always well above 90 degrees F all the time. Once they fixed it, I was cold at the 72 they set it at.
As the old saying goes, “it’s all in what you are used to”.
Setpoints would be more important if you are comparing people who recently moved from a place that had a different weather from the one they are currently in. If you are comparing people that for years, day by day go to the same job, live in the same city, raised with the same weather and temperatures…then setpoints are less influential, since they all go through the same weather patterns.
I get cold fairly easy. I have body fat, and I wear long jeans and T-shirts, so neither clothes nor fat (at least it seems) are factors. I’m from the tropics, and that may help why anything below 70°F is too cold for me, but other people from the same place that I lived say that I get cold too easily. Of course, for them the coldness threshold is 60°F. 
I think Cecil’s going the wrong way on this one. It’s an inverse relatonship: the lower the temperature you prefer, the higher the manliness quotient, because it frees you up to put your jacket around your lady and walk about in your shirt sleeves, as the wind chill dips down to 0° C.
I object to that gross generalisation - I have a snazzy three-piece, with a maroon waistcoat, thank you very much, and a pocket watch and gold chain to boot.
Oh, wait, I’m a lawyer.
Never mind.