Ask Marilyn

WHEN I’M OUT SHOVELING SNOW, COMPLETELY BUNDLED UP, MY NEIGHBOR IS DOING THE SAME THING IN A T-SHIRT. ARE SOME PEOPLE PHYSIOLOGICALLY CAPABLE OF WITHSTANDING COLD TEMPERATURES MORE THAN OTHERS? –Don Carroll, Rockford, Ill.

First, feeling cold and being cold are two diģerent concepts. (Consider how fevers may give us chills, yet our core temperatures are actually warm.) People vary wildly in both the way they react to cold and the way their bodies are resistant to actually being cold.

Even stranger, one’s feeling cold isn’t directly related to one’s core temperature being cold. In other words, one person may feel miserably cold while his core temperature is normal, and another person may feel comfortable while his core temperature is getting too cool. The phenomenon is confounding in the case of seniors. As the ability of their bodies to conserve heat declines, so does their ability to sense the cold.

The reasons for all this variation are too numerous to fully list (but they include hormones, metabolic rate, body fat location, lifestyle habits and other health issues). But let’s not forget that maybe your neighbor is just enjoying acting tough. If he’s especially energetic while he’s shoveling, he might be trying to keep warm enough to tolerate that T-shirt. Wouldn’t you love to peer in his kitchen window afterward to see him hunched over a mug of hot tea?