My partner certainly feels the cold more than I, and from my experience I think its generally the case.
What's strange is, women, (not all), have a greater percentage of body fat than men, and that is usually thought of as an insulator. It may be something to do with blood vessel distribution in males v females. Or men prepared to rough it, by just adding more clothes, and prioritising elsewhere.

I'm not convinced that fat is an insulator; overweight people have a higher surface area to volume ratio so should cool down more slowly, but I'm not motivated to think that fat has a superb insulator value.

I think it's more likely that through a combination of survival-of-the-fittest, and traditional gender roles, men have adapted to a role where they were outside more (think hunting/gathering vs tending the fire by the cave mouth) had more active tasks/higher metabolic rates, and are generally more hairy/have larger hairs thus can establish a thicker envelope of immobilised air around their skin. Women as a generally more traditionally inactive/lower metabolic rate and a smaller mass are essentially burning a smaller internal fire heating a larger surface air ratio. If you get a woman who is exhibiting a period of intense activity, running in the snow, doing hard work/gym etc they are as unlikely to complain about the cold as men. IMHO 350,000 years of hunter gathering still has intrinsic effects..

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: djh</cite><blockquote><cite>Posted By: cjard</cite>I'm not convinced that fat is an insulator</blockquote>
Err, think seals, whales, polar bears etc.
</blockquote>

I was thinking the same thing but for opposite reasons. Fat layer helps you in cold water (whales,seals)
Bears have fur which is slightly different.

Fat layer is not necessarily a good way to keep warm and possibly hinders blood supply etc. I think men are generally physically hardier and are wiling to put up with more discomfort and it might well be testosterone which is largely responsible.

There's been quite a lot of research work done on this; broadly speaking the sexes do feel and perceive comfort in different ways.

Having done some research on this in response to my Other Half telling me to Put More Jumpers On (I'm already wearing 3, why can't we put the heating on).

Oestrogen contributes to feeling the cold, controls blood vessel dilation to some extent.

Men tend to have more muscle (which generates heat), whereas women tend to have more fat- keeping their core body warm but their extremities colder.

Posted By: CharliHaving done some research on this in response to my Other Half telling me to Put More Jumpers On (I'm already wearing 3, why can't we put the heating on).

Oestrogen contributes to feeling the cold, controls blood vessel dilation to some extent.

Men tend to have more muscle (which generates heat), whereas women tend to have more fat- keeping their core body warm but their extremities colder.

You can; I'm sure your input to the relationship is significant, so if you want the heating on, insist!

Classically, many of my female friends have worn several layers though not necessarily the best insulators. They've also worn gloves (for example) that were probably too small - as I found to my detriment one snowy winters day, snowball fight time and the only gloves I could find were a slightly snug pair of marigolds with a fuzzy lining. By the third ball I couldn't move my fingers, I ditched the gloves and all was fine after that; it's amazing how just a slight pressure can reduce the circulation, cutting off the vital circulation of warmth in terms of blood flow

You make a good point about internal heat generation; I touched on it in terms of metabolism, but I dare say it's quite evolutionarily advantageous to have the baby ovens arranged so they're warm at the core.

On the point of fats being an insulator I don't think it's necessarily the case that animal fat has a much lower lambda than muscle etc, and certainly we use it to facilitate heat transfer from a pan to a cooking item of food, but when one considers all the things a seal needs to store inside its skin, fat is a dense energy store that has few other purposes beyond cushioning some tissues. It's not a good design to arrange the useless fat to be at the core and the muscles around the perimeter, because the muscle has a heat generation role and putting it nearer to the environment that saps it of heat is unwise when the fat could go there, increasing the volume:surface area ratio and distancing the heat generators from the heat drains. Fur is an insulant and, you'll note, employed by seal pups (lower volume:SA, lower body fat content) though not by the adults.

I don't know if adding more jumpers will necessarily help; it might not be that part of the body that is reporting "I'm cold" - I've a coworker who is always cold (Turkish) though I work in shorts, Tagore and sandals, maybe trainers if it's single digit temps and I'll be outside for long. She came in in 4 jumpers and a dressing gown, no avail- shivered all day. I got her some thick, loose fitting socks and some ugg boots, complaints stopped. It's not a warm floor, being beam and block above a car park, but improving the insulative value of her footwear improved things no end. Physical activity would too, but there is limited scope in an office job

so, would you rather be cold or hungry? :)

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: cjard</cite><blockquote><cite>Posted By: bot de paille</cite>I think men are generally physically hardier and are wiling to put up with more discomfort and it might well be testosterone which is largely responsible.</blockquote>

Never share this opinion with women who have borne children, will you?</blockquote>

Women will choose almost exclusively to have an epidural And Pain during labour is not a choice that women make.

Many men I know including myself will seek out discomfort/pain when taking part in various activities. Pushing themselves to the limits and beyond as way to test themselves both mentally and physically.

Does it not make a difference how close the vain/capillary system is to the epidermis rather than the amount of fat.

My neighbour is like me, does not use the heating (though I have it on now as house was damp after a few weeks way in Canada), she is out of the house a lot and works odd shifts.
She hates the cold and is from a warmer country than the UK.
When it is really cold, like today, and she is in the house all day, she does use a fan heater for single room heating, juts like I do.
She uses less energy than me, and about 2/3rd of the amount of water that I use.
So on this sample of 2, the above is bollocks

I wonder why you omitted the bit of text just before your quote:

"Polar bears aren't deep hibernators, but enter a state of carnivore lethargy. Their body temperatures do not drop substantially, and other body functions continue. Scientists, however, use the term "hibernation" in a general sense when referring to carnivore lethargy and the term is used in this booklet as well."

I suspect that scientists who care about hibernation don't use the word in a general sense when referring to a species that doesn't enter torpor. Note that hibernating animals regularly come out of hibernation during winter in order to sleep, for example. So the notion of sleeping whilst 'hibernating' is nonsense. I think your article is for the general population and has oversimplified things too much.

See for example:

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/nature-environment/natural-history/animals-the-extremes-hibernation-and-torpor/content-section-1

https://www.une.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/32627/KoertnerGeiserChronbiol2000.pdf

Oh really.
I would have thought it was right up your street at a climate change denier.

Rowing involves a lot of leg work too. Did they compare legs.