“This is the most difficult time,” writes Marieke Baan on Twitter. She tells her followers that she hasn’t turned on the heat in her house for five years and promises: if you start now, you’ll get used to it in a month.
Sander Boon agrees. He is a coach who breathes and is cold at Bridge2Cross and also says: a person can get used to the cold. “Your body can do a lot more than you think,” he says. “A few decades ago it was not at all normal to have heating in the house. Heat was a luxury. My parents sometimes talk about when they had to wash with a tub, and that tub was only cold. coal, in the houses it was not always hot ».
we are lazy
According to Boon, the human body has been much more challenged in the past century than it is today. “We’ve gotten pretty lazy. In the summer we want air conditioning, fans, and in the winter we turn up the thermostat a few degrees. Our body adapted to the circumstances, now we adapt the circumstances to our body.”
But the latter is more expensive now that gas prices have risenand even more controversial, now that Russia, where part of our gas comes from, has a war in Ukraine. People are coming financially in trouble.
The video below explains the effect on your wallet and Russia if you turn down the thermostat:
Those who prefer not to touch the thermostat for the moment can train, explains Bart Scholtissen, which allows students to cope with the cold according to the well-known Wim Hof method. “We can get used to cold houses if we expose ourselves to the cold,” he says. “It just takes a little getting used to, because we are so pampered by thermostats in our western world. But if you look at the polar regions, where it can get very cold – people live there too.”
By exposing your body to the cold, taking a cold shower, going out barefoot, or going out without a coat, you create brown fat. “This is the only good fat we have,” Boon points out, “and brown fat allows us to quickly create energy to warm our bodies again.” As a child, you have a lot of that brown fat. “Even children don’t get cold that easily. In spring they walk easily on the beach in bathing suits while their parents watch trembling.”
An extra pair of socks
You don’t create brown fat by sitting in your cold living room with six layers of clothes, a hot water bottle, and thick socks, Scholtissen says. Your bare skin should really feel the cold. “And you have to be a little cold, so that your body receives a signal: get to work, warm up. And it doesn’t if you wear an extra pair of socks. Then you continue to feel cold because your body doesn’t warms. ” Do.”
You don’t have to sit in an ice bath for half an hour to “turn on” your body, Scholtissen points out. This can also be done by taking a cold shower, for example, a minute and a half is enough for most people, whether now, in the fall, go out without a coat, walk outside barefoot, or, Boon tips, even for a bit. to stand out in a bathing suit for a few minutes. “Even less and less pose when you go out is a good way to build it.”
October is a good month for this, according to both cold experts. “There’s some time in between now, it’s already cool for many people, but not very cold yet,” says Scholtissen. “Now your body can get used to it. In winter it is often too extreme for many people to expose themselves to the cold for the first time.”
Don’t be afraid it’ll make you sick, Boon points out. “Colds are not caused by the cold, but by a virus. And exposure to cold is really good for your immune system.”
question of persistence
And then, according to Scholtissen, it’s about persevering through the winter, and then there’s a good chance the thermostat doesn’t have to be much higher than you think. “Of course it depends on the person how quickly you get used to the cold and how well you manage it, but training with it will help everyone.”
According to Marieke Baan you will notice a difference within a few weeks. Now, in the dead of winter, she no longer needs heating in the living room or a blanket. “Just slippers and a wool cardigan or sweater.”
The video below explains how gas prices affect your energy bill:
