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jca's avatar

People who live in places where winter is frigid: As you get older, do you find it harder to tolerate cold weather?

Asked by jca (36062points) November 25th, 2013

When I was visiting a good friend yesterday, she and I were talking about how it’s harder to tolerate really cold weather (like the kind we get in the Northeastern part of the US) as we get older. We can understand better how people want to move to warmer climates, at least for part of the year.

For those who live in cold areas of the country, is it harder and harder for you to tolerate cold weather as you get older?

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22 Answers

SQUEEKY2's avatar

Just when you have to work and drive in it,other than that I don’t mind winter.

talljasperman's avatar

Actually I find it easier because I can afford better winter clothing.

laurenkem's avatar

Well, I now live in Florida, but I moved down here from NE Pennsylvania when I was 45. Yes, the cold was already feeling much worse than it did when I was 30. When my ex and I separated, I made a run for Florida, swearing that I would never shovel snow again. Even now, if it dips down into the 50s in Florida, my bones are feeling chilled (especially with the wind off the ocean).

El_Cadejo's avatar

I’m 25 and I find it near impossible to tolerate the cold.

Homo Sapien is a tropical climate species damn it. >_<

OneBadApple's avatar

It may be in the attitude of the person more so than the climate where they live.

I grew up in New York, but have lived in Florida for the past 24 years. The heat and humidity wear me down, making me feel older. We lived in Brooklyn for a month last January, and walking the streets with tears running down my face from the cold somehow energized me into feeling 10 years younger….

KNOWITALL's avatar

Hubs says his body aches & he feels the pain more now otherwise cold generally is just sucky but bearable.

LornaLove's avatar

Yes I think so I can recall my elderly father being highly sensitive to cold. I have never tolerated cold well and have just moved from a tropical climate to a cold one and it is tough. I do think maybe our circulation is poorer. So, I am exercising like crazy this year.

tedibear's avatar

I’m the opposite. I find myself less heat & humidity tolerant the older I get.

jonsblond's avatar

I also find myself less tolerant of the heat and humidity as I get older. Cold weather invigorates me.

livelaughlove21's avatar

This happens to everyone thanks to physical changes related to aging.

SadieMartinPaul's avatar

No. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been unable to tolerate the cold. I recall being age 18 and having to walk maybe 2 kilometers during a freezing night; I was literally in pain before it was over.

hearkat's avatar

I’m still in my 40s, but was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis last year. I still tolerate the cold way better than I tolerate the heat in the summer!

glacial's avatar

Curiously, I find it harder to justify spending money and energy on heat than I did when I was younger. So, I tolerate colder temperatures, and I tolerate them better than I used to. I’m far more content to put on a sweater or hat, or use a hot water bottle, than I was when I first left home, and thought that the “proper” thing was to just crank up the heat.

jca's avatar

I find when it’s really cold, I dread going out in the evening and then once I’m wherever I am going, I dread leaving, getting into the cold car, being tense from the chill and the wind.

dxs's avatar

I just love being outdoors, so that’s the reason I got sick of it. I miss it now, but I know that I’ll probably be sick of it after a few days if I go back.

cookieman's avatar

Same answer as @tedibear. I can’t tolerate hot, humid summers any more. I love Winter.

Valerie111's avatar

I’m 28 and I’ve never liked the cold. I don’t think I ever will.

filmfann's avatar

I was born and raised in the moderate temperatures of Oakland.
I have lived the last 25 years in brutally hot Concord. Weeks of 100 degree heat, no air conditioner.
I am about to retire to brutally cold Shingletown. Temps often drop to single digits during winter.

SavoirFaire's avatar

Yes! I grew up in the cold north and tolerated it well for 25 years. I never disliked the cold and was infamously warm-blooded, sometimes going without a coat when others were freezing. Since moving to Virginia, however, I get increasingly intolerant of the cold every year. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m less accustomed to it than I used to be (I’ve gone from 7 months of winter per year to 3 months per year) or if it’s because I’m getting older, but I keep thinking about how much further south I’ll be able to move when I’m done with school here. If things keep going like this, I’ll be Fluthering from the inside of a volcano pretty soon.

Berserker's avatar

Not so much, but a little. I used to be able to wear thin pants out in severely cold weather and it wouldn’t bother me. These days if I don’t wear something thicker outside when it’s cold, I start to feel my legs going numb and stiff. I spent a hell of a lot of time drinking too much beer for like three years every day though, and I have to admit, because of that my health dropped a few good levels, so I’m not sure the cold tolerance thing has to do with my age much. But it is an effect. Seems very minor though. I also have to wear a hat now, otherwise the inside of my ears start hurting really bad when it’s too cold. I never wore any head protection out in the cold, no matter how cold it was. Gotta do it now.
But I love the cold and Winter, it is WAY easier for me to tolerate than severe heatwaves. Love my Canadian psycho Winters. That said, it totally snowed tonight, looks pretty everywhere. :)

downtide's avatar

I have never been able to tolerate the cold, even as a child. I would simply not survive the winter in many parts of the US. Or at least, I would be totally unable to leave the house until it was over.

gailcalled's avatar

I wear more layers and am about to buy a super ultra-warm down comforter to replace my 25-year-old one that seems to have very little down left in it. On the occasional really miserable days, I will get into bed under it and read, use the laptop, make phone calls, nap etc.

(Over the past five years, I thought that the white fluff floating around my bedroom was Milo shedding; it turns out it was the down pinfeathers escaping their confinement.)

In the long and cold winters where I live, it is harder but since I love my house and my acreage and my little community, I can make the accommodations necessary.

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