Study shows whether women actually feel the cold more than men

A study has been conducted to investigate whether men or women feel the cold the most – and the findings might just surprise you.

While it’s been assumed by some people that women naturally feel the cold more than men, the findings researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) found no difference between men and women in how they handled colder temperatures.

It’s a relatively small study, so more evidence is needed to establish the facts in future, but the research points to results that experts weren’t necessarily expecting [via Science Alert].

A group of 28 men and women spent a total of five hours in the same conditions inside a temperature-controlled room. They were physically monitored and observed as the temperatures changed between 17ºC and 31 ºC.

The researchers from NIH found that it was the women involved in the study who had higher core body temperature in colder temperatures than the men.

Women in general have higher body fat levels than men, which the experts found counteracted the fact that the female participants were physically smaller than males in the test.

The researchers state in the study, which is published in PNAS: "The principal contributors to individual differences in human thermoregulation are physical attributes, including body size and composition, which may be partly mediated by sex.

"These findings should be replicated in larger, more diverse study samples to enhance generalizability."

In fact, their findings suggested that women’s bodies have a lowest body comfort zone of around 22°C, which is around one degree lower than men. Therefore, as it gets cold, women don’t have to expend as much energy as men to keep warm.

However, as things got even colder, the researchers found no difference in women and men in how comfortable they felt.

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