My wifes dad seems to never be bothered by the heat but he works outside everyday. It’s likely that he is bothered but just doesn’t complain however I wondered recently, would our bodies just adapt to the heat if we stopped using our aircons as much? The people who work outside seem to be able to go out in the heat. It’s kinda like you know the people who take ice baths build resistance to the cold? Like that but the other way round.
I have a feeling I sound like an idiot, but it’s worth asking incase anyone else has this thought lol.
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It’s called heat acclimatization, and yes, working or exercising in the heat speeds up the process.
> [The best way to acclimatize yourself to the heat is to increase the workload performed in a hot setting gradually over a period of 1–2 weeks.](https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/userfiles/works/pdfs/2017-124.pdf)
I don’t know that just sitting at home in the heat does that much. I think you have to exercise.
There’s a bit of truth in this. When I first travelled to India regularly from the UK I was advised to gradually build my exposure to the outside world over a few days. Not just for the sun, but also adjusting to the heat. I’d spend a bit longer in the outdoor heat, and turn the temp up on the aircon. Things settled about 27C. It was less about cooling my temp down to the UK norm, more about giving my core a chance to relax as it adjusted.
I do pretty much the same thing here. I’m yet to run the A/C indoors yet apart from using the dehumidifying mode after doing the washing. Car’s A/C doesn’t come on until the outside temp is 25C.
Similar thing happens when the temp drops. First winter here was a nightmare for being cold. Second was tolerable. Third was OK. I just let my body adapt to it gradually rather than shock it into submission.
That said, I am mindful of the effects of heatstroke, and if the temp jumps too quickly I will hit the pocari sweat and a cold shower.
I think you can build resistance to a point, but I guess a lot of it is decided by where you grew up.
I wear winter clothes in spring to get ready for summer
My coworkers call me mad but I laugh at them in summer
I also wear summer clothes in autumn to get ready for the season of snowboarding
Some people can build up a resistance to the heat… some of us never do after years of being here. Aircons are god!
You can definitely build up resistance. Some of it is probably physical, but it is also mental. You just learn to deal with the fact that it’s hot, and not let it bother you.
Japanese summers were much harder on me when I first came 20 years ago, despite the effects of climate change and the location I live is hotter than where I used to be
I grew up in South East Asia where it’s perpetually summer. I still hate hot weather like everyone else, but I don’t bitch about the heat like they do. I’ve made it through summers with just fans and no ACs before.
It’s still important to pay attention to [wet-bulb temperature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature):
> Even heat-adapted people cannot carry out normal outdoor activities past a wet-bulb temperature of 32 °C (90 °F), equivalent to a heat index of 55 °C (130 °F). The theoretical limit to human survival for more than a few hours in the shade, even with unlimited water, is a wet-bulb temperature of 35 °C (95 °F) – equivalent to a heat index of 70 °C (160 °F).
The Japanese government provides [a very useful site](https://www.wbgt.env.go.jp/en/wbgt_data.php) showing the current wet-bulb temperature along with forecasts.
I used to work FIFO in Australia in remote locations, usually in the middle of a desert. My work day was 8hrs of digging holes and dragging wires in 35-45 degrees. When I got back to whatever accomodation I had, the AC was always turned on if I had one. I could certainly tolerate the heat better than my family in Perth who spent all their time in AC, but wasn’t going to put myself out any further than that though.
I guess to answer your question, yes you build some tolerance to it, but you are not immune from it.
I just sweat a lot and feel fine. Working sucks but I love being outside and playing in the summer
Maybe during the day, but I firmly believe that putting the aircon on at night and sleeping soundly keeps you better charged than tossing and turning in the heat and feeling wrecked the next day.
In 2020 and 2021 doing WFH I was going out walking and sometimes jogging everyday in the hot weather. Sometimes just in the morning as it was warming up or sometimes in the afternoon. I think it helped me get over the fear of going outside when it’s hot. I couldn’t say I acclimatized that much to it as I was always sweating like a beast.
I think getting scared of going out is quite a big deal though. It’s often not as bad as you think unless you are wearing suit and tie, or it’s really at the peak of the day. Things like going to the supermarket though, I got into a mind set where those little things wouldn’t do me in, whereas I would try and avoid them usually.
There’s a grain of truth in heat acclimatization, but there’s a physical limit to how much we can acclimate (eg you WILL die from heatstroke). For the Japanese summer I prefer to do that via nuking my guts with tasty spicy food. The kind that will turn your face into a faucet, makes your ears ring but not like how tinnitus does, and gets you a high that lasts for a couple of hours. The kind that might burn as it goes out the other end yet you can’t stop eating. Every time I pop out of the restaurant after having those kinds of food for lunch the hot midday sun feels pleasantly cool lol
My husband works outside and he hates the heat. He and most people who work outdoors wear jackets with fans these days.
It worked for me, actually!
Before I moved out I always had the AC on and if the temperature went up a little bit, I started sweating and felt like I was in the middle of the summer even though it was less than 25c. After I moved for college I started working out a lot, commuting everywhere by bike and using a fan more than the AC and now I feel pretty normal even in 29c weather.
Back in the military they’d put us in an auditorium and turn off the air conditioning, and slowly increase the amount of gear we were wearing. From just shorts and a t-shirt to fully kitted out with vests and everything over the span of 2 weeks
Smaller people can handle the heat better. It’s a principle of thermodynamics.
I workout and sweat a lot in the gym, run to and from the gym to get my cardio in, go hiking in the heat, and it does not matter at all. I still get hot and sweat a lot