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Hands And Feet

I have lived in many cold countries (USA, Wales, England), but not under the conditions I now face (Argentina) and it seems that 'how to keep warm' has all but escaped my mind. I have some questions that maybe someone can help me with:

1. What is the best way to keep your hands and feet warm while sitting in a cold room where there is no heating or insulation? Please do not tell me where three or four socks.

2. What is the best body movement to make the body get very hot as quickly as possible?

3. Besides the obvious (soups and hot drinks) what foods do you find heat you up the most?

Feet Hands

I was a combat medic as you know so I have some training in this regard.

To warm your body very quickly I have found that clenching all your muscles tightly at once works rather well but I have also found that trying to relax all my muscles even when they want to shiver helps my body remain comfortable. So there you have a two pronged approach. 1: Clench muscles tightly and rapidly for a short duration. 2: When not engaged in the former try to relax your body.

I have found stamping the feet to be partially effective but dry feet are paramount to foot comfort in cold weather. But more importantly two pairs of loose socks can help greatly. The inner pair must be cotton to wick away moisture and the outer pair must be wool for warmth. The socks must be loose as to not hinder the circulation of the feet. Which of course means the outer pair must be larger than the inner pair.

As for the question of which food heats you up the most. This is bit of a non sequitur.
One would assume that heated foods or beverages would warm the whole body. While it is true that your gastro intestinal tract may be warmed temporarily it actually has the opposite effect. When ingesting warm food or beverage it sends signals to your brain that you are warm and causes you pores to open thus let more heat escape. Conversely
drinking cold drinks in the summer does not in fact make you cooler because it causes your pores to close and your body to retain more heat.

Edited: wavecutter on 9th Jun, 2005 - 10:39am

Hands And Feet History & Civil Business Politics

Excellent, now that is advice I can use, however I did not understand this part:

Isn't shivering an involuntary movement of the body to stay warm? How would trying to stop that (if possible) enable you to be comfortable?

Feet Hands

After a certain point it is pretty much impossible to stop. I had read a native american mans acount of how his father made him walk several miles in a T-shirt and shorts durning the winter. He claimed that by relaxing he was able to remain comfortable and was never again truely cold. I have tried the same and while not quite as succesfull as he
I have found myself with a much greater tolerance for cold. More importantly if you can warm yourself a bit by clenching your muscles rapidly to generate some heat you can then try to relax and conserve your energy.

Edited: wavecutter on 9th Jun, 2005 - 11:16am

Feet Hands

Interesting. I hope the father was not secretly using that as punishment. I often wonder if constant exposure to cold like that does affect your hands and feet somehow as I have found that my ability to be accurate with my hands has dwindled a lot (typing, moving the mouse, etc.) to the point that even when it is warmed I am not as dexterous as I used to be.