Even without heating – With these methods you can trick your body to freeze less

You’ve probably heard it before. And it’s true: you can save an average of six percent in energy consumption if the temperature is only reduced by one degree, explains the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice center.

The problem: Everyone has a different temperature sensitivity. One freezes at 20 degrees, while the other already takes off his sweater at this temperature. But what temperatures do energy and environmental experts actually recommend?

The usual tip is 20 to 22 degrees for living rooms such as the living and dining room as well as for the children’s room and study. This is achieved with level 3 on the mechanical thermostat. In the bedroom, the recommendations range from 16 to 18 degrees, which corresponds to level 2.

Also in the kitchen can be heated a little less, because here you produce heat when cooking and baking anyway. 18 degrees are usually mentioned (levels 2 to 3). In less used rooms, 16 degrees (level 2) is sufficient – but not less, otherwise there is a risk of mold formation in the long term, warns the Federal Environment Agency.

But are there any tricks we can use to change our perception of cold? Especially with a view to the winter months, when many do not want to turn the heating up to the max due to the high costs.

Yes, these tricks exist. And they have to do with thermoreceptors in the body, which ensure that we perceive heat and cold. They generate nerve impulses depending on the temperature. This is how they tell our brain whether our surroundings – or something we touch – are cold or warm. The thermoreceptors are not only located in the skin, but also in our body. And you can take advantage of that.

Trick 1: Trick your body

“If you drink something hot, it doesn’t mean that your entire body warms up,” says Brandes, who is also Secretary General of the German Physiological Society. “But only that heat receptors in the stomach are addressed, irritate our brain and trigger a reaction.” This gives us the feeling that our body is warm. But in reality we only have warm liquid in the stomach.

The same principle applies when you smear yourself with a warm ointment or eat a spicy curry. Because the heat receptors also react to pepper and chili. As a result, they report warmth, even though the body’s core temperature hasn’t really changed.

Trick 2: Avoid drafts

Sometimes it is our environment that causes differences in our temperature perception. “Anything that causes us to lose more heat makes us feel cold faster,” says Brandes.

An example of this is drafts. In a windless environment, a layer of warmth forms around the body. If the wind picks up, the warm air around the body blows away – to put it bluntly. We freeze faster. This phenomenon is also known as the wind chill effect.

At least at home you can try to curb this effect. For example, you can seal a leaky window through which a barely noticeable flow of air cools the skin. The non-profit consulting company “co2online” advises, for example, to fill the gaps between the window and the frame with foam sealing tape or a rubber seal.

Front doors often let cold air through. A doorstop, such as a fabric snake, is one solution. But it has to be put back and forth again and again. A rubber lip that you attach to the bottom of the door, or the so-called enemy of the cold, are more practical alternatives.

Trick 3: Find another place

Sometimes it can help to sit somewhere else in the room: According to the Federal Environment Agency, a person feels more comfortable the closer their own body temperature is to the temperature of the room surfaces around them. You feel that in winter, for example, when you sit next to a cold window: you quickly feel more uncomfortable here than in the rest of the heated room.

Can you get used to the cold?

By the way: You can train your sensitivity to cold. A tip that is often read in this context: take a cold shower. “It certainly makes you tougher and also has various positive effects on your health,” says Brandes. However, it has not been investigated whether short, cold showers reduce the perception of cold in the long term.

The body can only get used to the cold if it is regularly exposed to it. But there are limits. “When the temperature in the core of the body drops, we inevitably have to freeze so that we don’t freeze to death,” says Ralf Brandes. This manifests itself, for example, in the form of muscle tremors, which cause the body to produce heat.

It is therefore also important to keep the heat loss of the body within limits. And a hat helps a lot. Because: The average temperature of the brain is 38.5 degrees, slightly higher than the average body temperature. A hat is quick to put on – and ensures that we lose less heat through our heads.