Why do I have minimal tolerance for heat?

[ironfist]

I cannot stand summer. There's a thread all about summer and sunlight, and it annoys me so much because I dislike summer.

I remember some times during my youth when I was outside in the summer and it wasn't so bad. It wasn't so hot. I live in the same city I did then, so the atmosphere is probably similar.

Sometime in teenage years, and definitely in university, I started disliking the heat.

I am thin. I eat a lot of food. I thought that it was just burning all the food I ate that makes me hot. Seriously, when I was bodybuilding, I'd be hot all the time (a natural side effect of consuming lots of calories).

Anyway, I can't do anything when it's hot. My thoughts shut down. I get annoyed, and angry, and want to exit NOW. When it's cool outside, when everyone else is like "IT'S TOO COLD", I am comfortable. Comfortable for me is 50 or 60F. I can wear a tshirt and pants and be comfortable.

I like to have the air on when I am inside. I cannot focus, or sleep if it isn't chilly. Last night I got like 3 hours of sleep because the air wasn't on, and I woke up and I was hot and annoyed. The fan on our ceiling doesn't do anything. It blows air on me but that doesn't make it cooler or make it easier to sleep. So I laid in bed being annoyed and hot.

I dislike the summer. I don't like being outside, or going anywhere. Fall is awesome, winter is awesome, and I live in Chicago, and yes it's freezing here, and do you know what? It's preferable to summer because I can go outside and not sweat. I have a serious anxiety attack when summer is coming. I know 80 degree days means it's going to be intolerable for the next few months. I know it's coming. Everyone gets spring fever. I get summer dread. I am literally useless in the summer because I don't want to go anywhere or do anything.

Why is this the case? Most people I know LOOOOoOoOooOOOooOOVE the summer. They can't stop conversing about it. They can't stop waiting for summer to get here. Gross.

Do I just have weird physiology that doesn't do heat?

The only people I know who loathe summer are overweight people. I'm very thin.

My mood changes instantaneously when I get cool. I will go from being frustrated and mad to finally I can ******* breath (figuratively). I don't understand, I just can't... do... heat.

Does anyone know the reason?

But there's more to it. The times I go outside when it's cool, I feel awake and alive. I feel happy and full of love. This is rare.

When I go outside and it's hot, I'm so aggravated I don't want to do anything. I can't think about anything other than how hot an uncomfortable I am. Sunlight doesn't feel good unless it's like 60 degree outside, and I'd rather it be cloudy. Then I get inside and I either have to cool down by the air, or I just sit there and be ******* annoyed until it's cool, which could be a few days.

The air feels different when it's hot. It makes my skin feel powdery. I can't breathe. My self feels like it's fighting nature. I do not feel awakened or enlivened by the sun. I feel attacked. I feel connected to the universe when it is cool and I am outside. This emotion is so powerful I am not able to put it into words. It happens maybe a handful of times a year when I go outside and it's actually nice and cool and sunny and I feel detached from my worries. But I have never once felt this in the hot heat of the sun or in the summer. The only thing I can think of is "I cannot wait for this heat to be over, I cannot wait to be in the air conditioning, I cannot wait to be home." I am literally unhappy every summer. Some people have lack of sunlight emotion problems, I have lack of cool weather discontent. I am miserable all summer long. I am the opposite of everyone.

Being at a beach sounds like the worst thing ever. Hot and sweaty and hot and gross, and surrounded by people who love it, which makes me even more ostracized. I'm so miserable I don't even want to talk to people when it's hot. I'm so focusing on how disgusting I feel that I just want to leave.

 

[redsun]

I cannot stand summer. There's a thread all about summer and sunlight, and it annoys me so much because I dislike summer.

I remember some times during my youth when I was outside in the summer and it wasn't so bad. It wasn't so hot. I live in the same city I did then, so the atmosphere is probably similar.

Sometime in teenage years, and definitely in university, I started disliking the heat.

I am thin. I eat a lot of food. I thought that it was just burning all the food I ate that makes me hot. Seriously, when I was bodybuilding, I'd be hot all the time (a natural side effect of consuming lots of calories).

Anyway, I can't do anything when it's hot. My thoughts shut down. I get annoyed, and angry, and want to exit NOW. When it's cool outside, when everyone else is like "IT'S TOO COLD", I am comfortable. Comfortable for me is 50 or 60F. I can wear a tshirt and pants and be comfortable.

I like to have the air on when I am inside. I cannot focus, or sleep if it isn't chilly. Last night I got like 3 hours of sleep because the air wasn't on, and I woke up and I was hot and annoyed. The fan on our ceiling doesn't do anything. It blows air on me but that doesn't make it cooler or make it easier to sleep. So I laid in bed being annoyed and hot.

I dislike the summer. I don't like being outside, or going anywhere. Fall is awesome, winter is awesome, and I live in Chicago, and yes it's freezing here, and do you know what? It's preferable to summer because I can go outside and not sweat. I have a serious anxiety attack when summer is coming. I know 80 degree days means it's going to be intolerable for the next few months. I know it's coming. Everyone gets spring fever. I get summer dread. I am literally useless in the summer because I don't want to go anywhere or do anything.

Why is this the case? Most people I know LOOOOoOoOooOOOooOOVE the summer. They can't stop conversing about it. They can't stop waiting for summer to get here. Gross.

Do I just have weird physiology that doesn't do heat?

The only people I know who loathe summer are overweight people. I'm very thin.

My mood changes instantaneously when I get cool. I will go from being frustrated and mad to finally I can ******* breath (figuratively). I don't understand, I just can't... do... heat.

Does anyone know the reason?

But there's more to it. The times I go outside when it's cool, I feel awake and alive. I feel happy and full of love. This is rare.

When I go outside and it's hot, I'm so aggravated I don't want to do anything. I can't think about anything other than how hot an uncomfortable I am. Sunlight doesn't feel good unless it's like 60 degree outside, and I'd rather it be cloudy. Then I get inside and I either have to cool down by the air, or I just sit there and be ******* annoyed until it's cool, which could be a few days.

The air feels different when it's hot. It makes my skin feel powdery. I can't breathe. My self feels like it's fighting nature. I do not feel awakened or enlivened by the sun. I feel attacked. I feel connected to the universe when it is cool and I am outside. This emotion is so powerful I am not able to put it into words. It happens maybe a handful of times a year when I go outside and it's actually nice and cool and sunny and I feel detached from my worries. But I have never once felt this in the hot heat of the sun or in the summer. The only thing I can think of is "I cannot wait for this heat to be over, I cannot wait to be in the air conditioning, I cannot wait to be home." I am literally unhappy every summer. Some people have lack of sunlight emotion problems, I have lack of cool weather discontent. I am miserable all summer long. I am the opposite of everyone.

Being at a beach sounds like the worst thing ever. Hot and sweaty and hot and gross, and surrounded by people who love it, which makes me even more ostracized. I'm so miserable I don't even want to talk to people when it's hot. I'm so focusing on how disgusting I feel that I just want to leave.

I am also thin and its the same for me. If you run hot thats just how its going to be. But for the few times I have went to the beach after awhile you stop being hot. The body compensates for heat by lowering your core temp but its not immediate it takes time. But if you are not out in the sun for long stretches of time this adaptation does not kick in.

People with low body temps will enjoy summer much more.

 

[Vanset]

I could've written that post. Word for word. Winter and cool climate is awesome. I can't stand summer and the heat. Perfect temperature outside for me is 16 degrees celsius. I just checked the thermometer and it's 16 degrees celsius in my room as well. My mind is also much sharper when it's cold. Most people seem to be the opposite it seems.

What helps me cool down when it's really hot outside is completely removing salt from my diet and eating juicy, watery, potassium rich fruit like melons.

 

[Harley]

When you feel hot is your actual body temperature high? If your body temp is high when you feel hot it's very different problem/solution to feeling hot while your body temperature is actually low.

In the past, at night time, I would feel very hot and the still air in a closed room would feel like it was suffocating me. Yet, my underarm temperature would only be 36.1°C (97.0°F) when that occured. I would need the air conditioner and fan on to feel okay and sleep without waking up with night sweats or feeling stressed like I need to escape the heat. My peak temperature during the day would be 36.6°C (97.9°F).

Then, after a week of taking Energin (Haidut's B Vitamin Complex) 4 doses a day, my temperature at night was 36.5°C (97.7°F) and my peak temperature during the day was 36.9°C (98.4°F). This change in body temperature was gradual as the week progressed and has not regressed even if I stop taking the B Vitamins. As my body temperature set point increased, I actually felt colder and needed to put on more clothes to stay warm. This subsided by the end of the week, yet I was still able to tolerate higher heat, which would only be tested at night time due to the temperatures being quite cool during the day at the time.

Nowadays, I have a 36.6°C (97.9°F) waking temperature and a 37.2°C (99.0°F) peak temperature and I can tolerate the heat without feeling the stressful "hot" feeling.

Estrogen lowers the body temperature set point which makes you feel hot at a lower temperature than normal.

Progesterone raises the body temperature set point which means you only feel hot at a higher temperature than normal.

 

[Perry Staltic]

Humidity is what wrecks me. I think I could deal with heat if it was drier. I sweat profusely, and if it's humid I can't get rid of the heat. Even a breeze helps. I dread June - Sept.

 

[akgrrrl]

Glad to I wasnt the only one. I lived in central Texas 18 yrs and Oklahoma 18 year. The heat and humidity were everything you described. Completely deflating.
And then I came here.
I have 4 wonderful seasons in crisp clean air. I was so energized, I built my own house. Just because I had been a city dweller, was a single woman, knew nothing about house building, and arrived with nothing but the clothes on my back, didnt matter one bit.
Every day, I wonder why those people PAY to live indoors with air conditioning, running from house to hot car to grocery store and back.
Wait. No, its terrible up here, cold and dangerous. y'all just stay put ok?

 

[andrewlee224]

Totally agree, can't stand the heat. Actually being on the beach would be OK since you can go into the water and cool down - but living in a crowded city prone to heatwaves, without A/C, is a nightmare.

 

[Dutchie]

The humidity is the most killing for me in regards to temperatures, both hot and cold.

I also find that the sun's UV-index is very high,which causes problems of its own.

 

[Nebula]

I do think ancestry has a large impact on this. Ancient adaptations. I’m Northern European in origin. I definitely prefer cold, temps always well below 70 degrees and lower UV environments. While many Nigerians I’ve met are painfully miserable at even 50-60 degree weather which feels perfect to me. They’ll also shut off the AC at my workplace when no one is looking, which is set to 70. Lol.

 

[Highserotonin90]

Mast cells, histamine, prolactin, prostaglandins

 

[ThinPicking]

Mast cells, histamine, prolactin, prostaglandins

Vasopressin

 

[Jonk]

Never thought I would write this but last couple of days I've been outside in the sun working (digging a ditch), and I've been fine. I usually get almost panicky by direct sunlight, and I'm very intolerant to heat. What I've done differently is eating lots and lots of carbs - big portions of rice or potatoes. Mostly lower-ish fat and lower-ish protein. And large amounts of thiamine, niacinamide, riboflavin (maybe risky I know), and magnesium hydroxide. Also drinking sugar water/coca cola or orange juice with around 10 grams extra salt/day in the liquids. I pray that it continues going in this direction as it would be completely life-changing.

 

[LLight]

I had found this publication about heat tolerance and betaine:

Betaine Supplementation May Improve Heat Tolerance: Potential Mechanisms in Humans

Betaine has been demonstrated to increase tolerance to hypertonic and thermal stressors. At the cellular level, intracellular betaine functions similar to molecular chaperones, thereby reducing the need for inducible heat shock protein expression. In addition to stabilizing protein...

www.mdpi.com

I can't say it worked in my case though.

 

[Jennifer]

I do think ancestry has a large impact on this. Ancient adaptations. I’m Northern European in origin. I definitely prefer cold, temps always well below 70 degrees and lower UV environments. While many Nigerians I’ve met are painfully miserable at even 50-60 degree weather which feels perfect to me. They’ll also shut off the AC at my workplace when no one is looking, which is set to 70. Lol.

This is something I’ve been questioning for some time now. My family is of Northern European and Indigenous Canadian/Altai Siberian ancestry and the only two I know of who didn’t like the colder climate were chronically hypothyroid. Prior to thyroid supplementation, when I was running on adrenaline, I would get uncomfortably hot, but at my sickest, while following a fruitarian diet, I was so desperate for the sun and heat that I planned on moving to the tropics, however, now that I’m healthy again and my temp is high, I recoil at the thought. Dark days no longer have an effect on me, and a perfect temp to me is the upper 60s.

 

[ironfist]

I'm running on adrenaline all the time. I'm constantly in fight or flight mode becasue of my upbringing. I'm terrified regarding this, but that's a different subject.

The only time I'm ever cold is if I avoid eating for a while... days. My body digests food quickly and I get hot after eating. If I drink a smoothie sometimes it makes me a bit cooler, but generally speaking I am always hot no matter what. When looking at my proportions, I am very thin, and if I eat a lot to try some weight gaining, I just get hot.

 

[stoic]

I would suggest exclusively wearing loose, quality, all-linen clothing.

It won't solve the underlying issue, but you should feel much better.

 

[Jonk]

I'm running on adrenaline all the time. I'm constantly in fight or flight mode becasue of my upbringing. I'm terrified regarding this, but that's a different subject.

The only time I'm ever cold is if I avoid eating for a while... days. My body digests food quickly and I get hot after eating. If I drink a smoothie sometimes it makes me a bit cooler, but generally speaking I am always hot no matter what. When looking at my proportions, I am very thin, and if I eat a lot to try some weight gaining, I just get hot.

I'm generally the same way. One aspect of this is I almost don't sweat, which Peat thinks is a common symptom of hypothyroidism. When I manage to keep my digestion under control, and eating a lot of carbs, it feels like this uncomfortable burning hotness goes more and more towards a "moist" hotness with a lot less anxiety. Working on digestion, lots of carbs that are "least offensive" and salt are a few things that comes to mind that helps. B-vitamins can be helpful but they can be tricky dosing correctly

Edit: I also used to deal with this by not eating, probably making the problem a lot worse long term. A better approach is probably keeping the intestine clear with insoluble fibers (wheat bran, bamboo shoots, carrots, white button mushrooms etc), cascara sagrada/rhubarb root tea/emodin etc. I do think however a lot of these things are potential irritants and should be used with some caution. Same thing and probably even more so with antibiotics.

2:nd edit: white vinegar and activated charcoal are two other potential helpful substances that comes to mind.

 

[Nick]

2:nd edit: white vinegar and activated charcoal are two other potential helpful substances that comes to mind.

Be aware that most white vinegar is made from petroleum and therefore contains potentially irritating contaminants. For this reason I get digestive irritation from most non-organic condiments that use the cheap petroleum vinegar. I believe organic vinegar is safe and, while this may no longer be true, at some point the Heinz brand guaranteed that none of their vinegar was made from petroleum.

 

[Jonk]

Be aware that most white vinegar is made from petroleum and therefore contains potentially irritating contaminants. For this reason I get digestive irritation from most non-organic condiments that use the cheap petroleum vinegar. I believe organic vinegar is safe and, while this may no longer be true, at some point the Heinz brand guaranteed that none of their vinegar was made from petroleum.

Thanks, it says "natural vinegar essence" (translated from Swedish), so I guess it should be fine?

 

[Nick]

Thanks, it says "natural vinegar essence" (translated from Swedish), so I guess it should be fine?

It's hard to say. For example, it is legally allowed in the US for citric acid that is manufactured using GMO aspergillus fungus and corn to be labelled as "natural citrus extract" because it is considered to be chemically identical to citric acid derived from citrus fruit, ignoring the difference in contaminants. I figure it's safest to use organic vinegar.