I recently wrote a “Battle of the Sexes” type article about Bathroom Battles, seat up, seat down and the way the toilet paper unrolls. This inspired me to write a series of short articles.

The battle of the sexes part II. The Thermostat Troubles.

I think my wife’s thermostat is broken. Summer, winter, fall, spring, day and night we are constantly playing temperature roulette. Every time either one of us passes the thermostat, we adjust it to our own personal liking.

She keeps saying that sixty is sixty but she is wrong. Sixty is not sixty. It all depends on the situation and I can’t make her understand this. Sixty two degrees in the summer feels down right comfortable to me and I set the air conditioner to that. I will have an additional fan blowing on me just to cool down. Anything over seventy and I’m wearing shorts and no shirt. However if the temp is anything under eighty She has on a fleecy, a shawl and has her legs covered by a throw.

The same thing happens in the winter. I like the house around sixty six to sixty eight and she keeps setting back the thermostat to what she calls a “reasonable temperature” like sixty four.

She also seems to think if the thermostat is turned up higher, the house will heat up faster. I try to explain it is just an on – off switch and she insists it is more like a gas petal. The harder you push it the faster you will speed up.

The battle of the sexes part III. The Blanket Brawl.

There is also a difference between sixty during the day and sixty during the night and she just doesn’t comprehend that. Most people feel cooler when they go to bed and feel like they need to pile on the blankets. That isn't due to the world being colder. It is because your body temperature drops when you go to sleep.

The main reason is light, which regulates your circadian rhythms. This is also known as your sleep/wake cycle. Exposure to light, especially blue light causes your body to release the hormone melatonin, which regulates your sleep. It also controls your body temperature.

Every time she rolls over in bed, we play blanket tug of war. She pulls the blankets so much that my side of the blanket or sheet no longer reach the mattress. Feeling a cold blast of air on my back is akin to throwing a bucket of cold water on me, instant awake… Wide awake.

The battle of the sexes part IV. The Window and Door Dilemma.

As I was writing this, my wife is running around closing up the house. It’s sixth five out and warmer than it is indoors. Never mind it is warm air we are letting in. She feels cold so we have to shut the doors and windows

In Conclusion:

Women and men usually have the ability to sustain a stable core body temperature despite changing external situations as long as they are not extreme. But while our internal temperature can remain fairly consistent, our skin temperature can change much more. Your hands and feet are frequently the first to cool off. If your feet and hands are cold, then you will feel cold.

If you find yourself putting on a sweater just when others are reaching for the air conditioning, you're not alone. Many different things can affect your response to various temperatures. These include age, activity levels, gender, diet and sleeping habits among others.

Many studies have indicated that a women’s hand temperature tends to be less than a man's. Donna proved this by touching my skin several times today as I was getting dressed, causing me to yelp. All I wanted was a hug.  An article was published in The Lancet Medical Journal indicating that an average women's hand was over four degrees cooler than a man’s in the same circumstances. It proposed that the basic physiological differences between the sexes like size, weight and bodily proportions affected the way men and women conserve heat.

According to what I have read, men and women really do feel temperature differently because women are generally smaller than men. This can cause a quicker heat loss. Most of our temperature sensors are located in the skin and women can feel cold even when their internal organs are comphy-cozy. So it's not just in your head when it appears that females are prone to feel a change in temperature earlier than males.

Our bodies are very capable of maintaining their core temperature within a small, safe range even though the external temperature changes. When you feel warm, your blood vessels dilate to release the heat through the skin. This makes you sweat and look flushed. I found an effective way to reduce my core temp when I used to work and got overheated. I would go to a sink and run cold water over my wrists. Because the vessels and veins were close to the skin in this area, it would cool my blood and that in turn would cool my body.

Norb is a loving husband and writer living in Lockport and he knows he is going to pay for this article. Follow him at WhyWNY.home.blog