VUB professor Bart Roelands heads the Human Physiology and Sports Physiotherapy research group. One of his specialisations is thermoregulation.
The heater is a lot lower, at home and at work. Some don't even turn on the heating. How should you dress?
That is not difficult. The first important thing: layers. Each layer insulates. In itself, these don't even have to be thick clothes, it's all about the layers and the space between them. This is how you create a cocoon around your body.
The second important thing: the layers should be quality. Thermal underwear helps you stay warm better. In one study, scientists had people work at a desk where it was 23 degrees one day and 18 the next. On the second day, they wore thermal clothing. The outcome was that participants had the same wind chill on both days. So comfort was the same with as much as five degrees difference.
How does that clothing keep you warm?
The heat produced by your body is better retained by clothes. You can easily see how this works with thermal clothing. It is designed to retain a layer of air around your skin. This has an insulating effect, so the heat produced by your body is less likely to be given off to the environment, allowing your body to stay warmer. Good thermal clothing should be ventilated and wick away moisture, though, so you don't bathe in sweat.
And what about your feet?
Thick socks, slippers. The ground is colder. Bare feet give off more heat and therefore cool down faster. This goes for all bare naked spots on your body. Put a hat on your head if you have little or no hair.
Can you also work on your physique to cope better with the cold?
Your body provides warmth, not clothing. Just putting on warm clothes will not suffice. You need to be in motion. When I have cycled home from football practice in the evening, I experience it like a sauna at home. My body has been warmed by the exertion. As soon as I sit passively on the seat and the body temperature has dropped, it feels colder again. The message is very clear: if you want to keep warm, keep moving. It triggers your metabolism to produce heat.
But some people are naturally cold.
True. Women, for example, are often colder. This is because women have less muscle mass. Muscle mass gives you a higher metabolism which makes you warm. Often the basic body temperature is also slightly lower in men than in women, making men slightly less susceptible to cold. There is also the aspect of how much fat a person has. Fat insulates.
Of course, one person's body also works differently from another's. One body handles heat more effectively than the other. Also, if you suffer from fatigue, you are more susceptible to cold.
What measures have you taken at home?
You have to make a trade-off at some point between comfort and the bill you have to pay. We did turn on the heating, because walking around indoors with a scarf and hat is not something I like. We did wait longer than usual. Fortunately, the weather was cooperative, with high temperatures until early November. We also put the heater on a lower setting. In the morning, it's fresher now, but then you put on a jumper instead of a t-shirt. It is also cosy: in the evening the blankets and hot drinks appear.
What measures have you taken at work?
You depend on your employer. At the VUB, the heating is set to 19 degrees on 1 December. Totally ok. The consequence is that we have to dress better. That will be thermal underwear. And we can move around a bit more, a lap around campus before heading to a new meeting. Out of that easy chair.