Inspired by this thread.
I tend to prefer cooler, or even cold, or even extremely fucking cold, weather over hot and humid.
I have one friend who, when we are both outside for say ten minutes in cold weather and similarly dressed, whose ears and fingers and nose get extremely cold to the touch, while mine are still warm. She hates cold weather; it doesn’t bother me much. Why does she get demonstratively cold to the touch in cold weather, while I don’t?
Similarly, she and another couple of people I know seem to thrive in hot, humid weather. They don’t sweat, they act all perky and energized - and I am sweating and miserable and want nothing more than to go find air conditioning. Or January. In Michigan.
I used to think it was more psychological than physiological - but before menopause, I had very high tolerance for weather at either extreme, but now I’m just utterly miserable when it’s hot. (I often have to work outside, so I suck it up and deal…but I’m not real happy about it.) And then there’s my friend, whose extremities get cold fast in nippy weather, and wears extra layers if it gets below 60.
So what is it, physiologically, that contributes to temperature sensitivity?