Who is colder, men or women? Science has finally found the answer

It is often said that women are colder These are men. There even seems to be some scientific evidence for this, since they generate less heat. The reason is that men have more muscle mass, so they burn more calories even at rest. This is absolutely true, but we need to give a little context and analyze the data as a whole. When it comes to establishing how people react to cold, most of the research, to no one’s surprise, has been done on men. Therefore, even knowing that they produce more heat It cannot be guaranteed with certainty that women are colder as there are more factors that come into play that have not been properly taken into account.

For this reason, recently a group of scientists from US National Institutes of Health conducted a more complete investigation into this matter. It analyzes how men and women react to cold. It’s not just who generates the most heat that’s analyzed. Other mechanisms that may influence the maintenance of body heat are also taken into account: temperatures are falling.

Thus, they saw that there were practically no differences between men and women. In any case, if you had to choose one of the two genders, their results suggest that men are slightly colder. It should be noted that the study was conducted with 28 people, so we will have to continue the study and repeat the procedure with more participants to get more reliable results. However, even with this low level of participation, it is worth keeping in mind that women’s beliefs about cold may not be well founded.

Human mechanisms for temperature regulation

A person has the ability to maintain a more or less constant body temperature. Regardless of whether there is 40°C or if the mercury drops below zero, our body It remains between 36°C and 37°C. More or less. This is because we have several mechanisms for regulate temperature.

For example, when it’s hot, we sweat. Sweat comes out through the pores of our skin and remains on the surface. Once there, it must evaporate, for which it needs heat, which is extracted from the body. Besides, blood vessel Closer to the skin they expand, so that with more blood flow, heat is transferred more easily.

In contrast, when it’s cold, blood vessels constrict to retain heat. And that is not all. We also have mechanisms such as action tremble, which help us warm up the body. Even processes such as glucose metabolism contribute to heat production. But what are the differences between men and women?

Sex that’s colder

There are several studies that analyze factors that may influence women’s feelings of cold. They mainly focus on analyzing the metabolic rate of each sex. It’s faster for men, which makes it clear that they heat up more easily. And this is true, but, as we have already seen, there are more factors.

In this new study, 28 men and women were placed in a temperature-controlled room for 5 hours, all wearing the same clothes. The temperature was dropping from 31 ºC to 17 ºC. Throughout the process, they were asked about their perception of cold, but several measurements were also taken, such as glucose uptake levels, muscle tension, and body and skin temperature.

Interestingly, women’s core temperature in response to cold was slightly higher than that of men. In addition, his comfortable temperature was on average 22°C, and for men – 23 ºC. The differences are minimal, but if followed, it means that men are colder than women, contrary to popular belief.

There were no differences in other measurements. Additionally, when the temperature dropped to 17°C, there were no differences in parameters such as chills or self-reported comfort.

What’s all this for?

The same study will need to be conducted with a larger number of participants. Meanwhile, the authors suggest that this may all be due to the fact that while women tend to be smaller and have a lower metabolic rate than men, they also have a higher metabolic rate. fat concentration, especially in certain areas of the body. So while they don’t produce more heat, they effectively store what they produce.

If there is one thing that can be definitively concluded from this study, it is that it is time to take women into account in research on human temperature regulation. This way there will be more room for science and less for myths. This is ideal to benefit us all.