6 replies to this topic

[Droplet]

I have a question about exposure to cold. This is not about cold showers, else I would have used that thread. I am autistic and have sensory issues, which mean I'm more tolerant of cold than other people. Indeed it is mostly other people that take issue with me standing there in a t-shirt whilst they have a coat or at least jumper on. My question is this: should I be more careful about this due to sensory issues or just carry on enjoying myself and trying not to cook? When it gets truly cold to me, I do put more layers on and don't make myself suffer needlessly.

 

Would be grateful for input from anyone who knows more than I do.

[pamojja]

Don't worry. I do try to increase my cold tolerance by swiming in a cold river as long as possible. But already now on cloudy days I just can't. Otherwise I end up severely shivering for hours afterwards. So one's body surely will tell if overdone, even with a sensory issue.

 

At the same time some 20-30 years older ladies don't seem to have that problem, they even swim in much colder waters twice longer than I am able due to starting to get cold already in the summer (only in tropical water my swimming duration isn't limited by cooling too much down).

[Droplet]

Thank you for your input. Hopefully someone else will chime in too. I don't swim in cold water, I just go outside with less layers on than most people. I'm aware that due to how my brain is wired, that I process things differently and that some things that may not hurt others are painful to me and as with cold tolerance, something uncomfortable for most is tolerated for greater duration by me than others.

[Harkijn]

Are you quite sure that this is due to a certain insensitivity?  From your description I would say that you are the healthy outdoor type of person. Like you I get sometimes questions why I don't  always wear a thick coat in fall and winter. I tend to see this as a certain robustness in my constitution. The only practical problem I have is on entering a house or shop. Invariably my body has some difficulty adapting to the (for me) high inside temperatures....

Anyway: don't worry, be happy!

[Droplet]

Are you quite sure that this is due to a certain insensitivity?  From your description I would say that you are the healthy outdoor type of person. Like you I get sometimes questions why I don't  always wear a thick coat in fall and winter. I tend to see this as a certain robustness in my constitution. The only practical problem I have is on entering a house or shop. Invariably my body has some difficulty adapting to the (for me) high inside temperatures....

Anyway: don't worry, be happy!

 

Thank you for this. I'm pretty sure that it is a sensory issue, as I'm diagnosed autistic and I am WAY more tolerant than those around me. Like you, I cook when I go into a shop. I am actually not an outdoor type at all and whilst I obviously go out to go places, I'm not the sort who is into outdoor sports or anything like that.
 

[Clavius]

Wait what? There's a connection between cold preference and autism? Are there any sources on that?

 

I was diagnosed in 2018 at 40 years of age with high functioning autism. Also, I almost always wear a T-shirt. When it's freezing, but no rain or snow is falling, I love going around in my T-shirt. I've also been exercising the Wim Hof method. Even long before my diagnose. 

 

To answer your question. I've been swimming in water below freezing point for decades now. I take ice-baths and cold showers. I'm never sick. Last time I had the flu was over 25 years ago when I was still in school.

 

The only disadvantage is, as cold tolerance increased my heat tolerance got worse. The cold tolerance isn't added, it shifts toward cold. In summer I was always dying. Sweating like an otter. Wim Hof explained that I need heat-training as well. (Yuck!) So since then I've been trying out sauna's as well. Just so I can live through summer. I think it's working. Little to early to tell.

[Droplet]

Wait what? There's a connection between cold preference and autism? Are there any sources on that?

 

Not that I know to but autism affects your senses, hence some people can't touch or wear certain things and others can't stand certain sounds, smells, etc.  However the flip side to that is you can be hyposensitive instead of hypersensitive. I have reduced sensitivity to cold (hyposensitivity) compared to others yet I suffer like you when it is summer (hypersensitivity). I have still contracted colds despite this hyposensitivity and I have never actively endeavoured to develop it, just always been a thing for me.