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Surviving The Cold

by Peter Geiger | Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 | From: Farmers' Almanac Blog

Here is  advise on what to do to survive the cold:
 
1. To improve comfort, dress in layers. Putting on several thin layers of clothing is better than one heavy coat. Fleece and wool are nice but they don’t block the wind chill. So, include wind-blocking fabrics whenever possible.
 
2.. Cover your head – 50% of heat goes out the head and neck, so wear a hat and scarf.  Wind blocking fabrics for hats and gloves is important as well.
 
3. If you are outdoors, cover your mouth with a scarf or full face mask. Your breath will warm the air and add to your comfort.
 
4.. Indoors, with the cost of fuel, keep your thermostat around 65 degrees. Leave the doors under sinks open so air travels around pipes. 65 degrees should keep the pipes in walls warm enough so they won’t freeze.  but wear a sweater, wool socks and if you have a fireplace or space heater, warm the parts of the home  used most.
 
5. Use a humidifier – moist air heats better than dry air.
 
Frostbite is a severe reaction to cold exposure that can permanently damage its victims. A loss of feeling and a white/ pale appearance in fingers, nose, ear lobes or toes are symptoms of frostbite. Never give frostbite victims something with caffeine in it (coffee, tea, etc.) or alcohol. Caffeine is a stimulant and causes the heart to beat faster and worsens the effect on the body. Alcohol is a depressant and can slow the heart and hasten the ill effects of cold body temperatures.
 
Using common sense will help get you through the coldest part of winter.
 
 
 

2 comments

1 carol { 02.05.09 at 7:28 pm }

Robert,
Talk about wood is work, it warms you up at least 7 times, cutting splitting and stacking! You handle each piece of wood at least 7 times before it’s all stacked and covered for the winter! Sometimes I used to remember an individual piece of wood that would hit me in the shin or pinched my finger, and I still had to handle it a few more times.
Peace & Blessed Be…

2 Robert Stanhope { 01.20.09 at 6:40 pm }

Burning wood is allot of work and can be vary dirty but their is a major gratification to seeing that low heating bill and knowing that your house is as warm as you want it with out turning up that thermostat. I recently took the grate out of my fireplace and replaced it with a grate heater and now I’m heating my whole house with my fireplace. A fireplace is about 5% heat efficient and this they claim makes it a 120,000 BTU per hour furnace and I believe it you can’t make to big of a fire or you will run you’re self out. I bought the grate heater on ebay it was called insertafurnace it was the only one with a screen. I also found the website http://www.insertafurnace.com/

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