# Which is more difficult, heat or cold? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2019, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-difficult-heat-or-cold/837302 "2019-07-19T13:19:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-difficult-heat-or-cold/837302/21 "2019-07-20T02:30:32Z")
For me heat is worse. I can just add layers when its cold, you can’t take layers off in the heat. Plus being cold is less uncomfortable than heat. I’d rather be kind of cold than sweaty and grimy. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-difficult-heat-or-cold/837302/22 "2019-07-20T02:47:02Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > There’s a psychological part of being extremely cold that just steals your soul, like you’re one step away from the grave I think it depends a whole lot on the person. Because for me, it’s heat that’s like that, not cold. (And it hit 96º here today, which is way too hot for me.) ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-difficult-heat-or-cold/837302/23 "2019-07-20T04:05:06Z")
I’m gonna guess that most people, here and everywhere, will say that heat is more difficult. And I’m going to be the contrarian because, for me, cold is way more difficult. Let us note that for centuries mankind did not have air conditioning, but they developed fire and clothing pretty early on. Somebody in my family–I think one of my great-aunts–said that she’d rather be hot for a month than cold for a minute (or something like that). Yeah, that’s me. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-difficult-heat-or-cold/837302/24 "2019-07-20T13:47:11Z")
Once, I slept somewhere where it was 65 degrees. It was awful, I had to sleep in my coat and hat. Once, it was 83 inside my condo; uncomfortable, but one can always put your feet in some ice water. ---
**Author:** ![Buttercup\_Smith](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buttercup_smith/32/473_2.png) [@Buttercup\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buttercup_Smith)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-difficult-heat-or-cold/837302/25 "2019-07-20T14:00:38Z")
I live in the subtropics and I would rather be cold than too hot. Thank goodness as for air conditioning. I am not used to the cold so may have a different answer were I exposed to anything below 50F. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-difficult-heat-or-cold/837302/26 "2019-07-20T14:06:46Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > Once, I slept somewhere where it was 65 degrees. It was awful, I had to sleep in my coat and hat. Once, it was 83 inside my condo; uncomfortable, but one can always put your feet in some ice water. that sounds… horrible. my hands _hurt_ after several seconds in ice water. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-difficult-heat-or-cold/837302/27 "2019-07-20T14:57:36Z")
I complain more about the heat (and humidity) much more than I do about the cold, but honestly, there are few feelings worse than being frozen-bone cold with no immediate hope of relief. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-difficult-heat-or-cold/837302/28 "2019-07-20T17:09:29Z")
Well, either one can kill you. During Chicago’s polar vortex last January, I think the death toll was three. But during that massive heat wave back in the early nineties, nearly 800 people died. Of course, the polar vortex was on for less than a week. Had it gone on for months like the heatwave, the death toll might’ve been comparable. For sheer misery, I think heat is worse than cold. Heat just saps the life out of you. Cold brings out the fight in you to survive. There’s a real defiance of nature reaction that shows up in waiting out a cold spell that’s missing in waiting out a hot spell. At least, there is for me. I think the thought of global warming frightens people more than the thought of a new ice age. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-difficult-heat-or-cold/837302/29 "2019-07-20T17:50:04Z")
I have always preferred the cold. As a kid I slept with my window open during Buffalo winters. I still prefer my window cracked at night in the winter. I keep the heat set to 64-66 during the winter and I’m happy. The heat makes me miserable. I’m lethargic, headachy, and just hop from one AC cooled place to another. Give me cold and winter any day. This will be the new class divide- who can afford AC in the future and who cannot. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-difficult-heat-or-cold/837302/30 "2019-07-20T22:45:36Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > Once, I slept somewhere where it was 65 degrees. It was awful, I had to sleep in my coat and hat. . I have trouble sleeping if my bedroom’s anywhere _above_ 65. I’m probably happiest when it’s around 60, though colder is OK. I do have varying numbers of blankets/comforters on the bed, depending on how much colder it is. (Probably you shouldn’t come visit me in the wintertime. Maybe not in the fall and spring, either. I do however if desired provide guests with electric heaters in their bedrooms.) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-difficult-heat-or-cold/837302/31 "2019-07-20T23:54:50Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > … > > Let us note that for centuries mankind did not have air conditioning, but they developed fire and clothing pretty early on. > > … Yeah, but really hot parts of the world were _very_ sparsely populated until a/c was invented. Look at the population explosion in places like AZ in the 20th c. I can’t take too much heat. I can’t sleep, and my brain just conks out. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-difficult-heat-or-cold/837302/32 "2019-07-22T14:01:01Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Taking it a bit further, if you start with ‘nice temperature’ being 21°C/70°F (which is a little on the cold side) then add, say, 36°C/65°F to that, you’re gonna be at 57°C/135°F and you’ll be dead if your power and aircon fail. Take the same away and you end up at -15°C/5°F which is kinda miserable, but survivable. > > So too cold is better than too hot. I look at it differently - the top end for heat, where I live, is much closer to the mid-70 range than the bottom end of cold. We may hit 100F a few days a year, but that is only 25 degrees over mid 70’s. In the winter we will see single digits a few days each year. That’s over 60 degrees from the comfortable range. I’ll take heat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-difficult-heat-or-cold/837302.md?page=1)