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Cold hardening

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sleek:
Does anyone else do this to their bodies for winter? I go as long as I can in as light as possible clothing, avoiding all heated areas to get my body to adapt to the cold well. I find it helps with hunting and reducing how cold I feel in general throughout each winter. Anyone do anything similar?

TimBo:
I tried it once, but I don't think five minutes is an adequate amount of time!

Jon_W:
I've been doing something similar this year as a test. I just turned on the heat of the apartment but it was at a consistent 58F for a while. Been taking showers as cold as I can for some time now too. I haven't felt chilly until this afternoon practicing in a brisk wind with some snow falling. The showers certainly aren't fun though.

JW_Halverson:
I used to do this every fall. Never wear a coat until it was absolutely necessary. Every morning I'd take the dog for a half hour walk wearing dress slacks and a dress shirt. I found that I was far better at tolerating the variation between temps in the office and temps outdoors. Even the drive to work was an opportunity to harden up. I'd run the heat just to clear the windshield.

There are physical AND mental aspects to it. First thing is to learn to relax all your muscles while you are cold. Tensing up against the cold only blocks blood flow, exacerbating the issue.

Eric Krewson:
Back when I was younger and often hunted almost every day if I could, I  remember a distinct improvement in my ability to withstand cold and blustery weather the more I stayed out in it.

On one long stretch of exposure day after day I noticed that I had dropped 10lbs from my body burning a exorbitant amount of calories just to keep me warm.

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