As the winter months approach and the Hill at Gustavus gets colder and colder, students find themselves searching for ways to stay warm. As a perpetually cold person, I would like to consider myself an expert in keeping warm. Here are a few tips for staying toasty.
1. Tuck your pants into your socks.
Eliminate any exposed skin by doing this simple trick.
2. Use a hot water bottle or heating pad.
Cuddling up with one of these before you go to bed or while studying is an easy way to warm up quickly. If you’re feeling confident about your social perception, put the hot water bottle or heating pad under your shirt. It looks weird, but it feels so cozy.
3. Keep your curtains open in the day and shut and night.
Whenever the sun is out, use its natural warmth to heat up the room. Conversely, nighttime is the best time to close them. The curtains act as an insulator to keep heat from escaping.
4. Take a tip from Cosmo Kramer and wear your clothes straight from the dryer.
When it’s bitterly cold, try popping your clothes in the dryer for a bit to heat them up. Nothing feels better than warm socks on cold feet.
5. Wear a scarf or turtleneck.
When wearing a scarf, make sure it is directly up against your neck. It doesn’t do much good to have it on the outside of your coat. Scarfs and turtlenecks will keep you warm and trendy in the winter months.
6. Wear outerwear inside.
No hats in the building? Not today, it’s negative 30.
7. Get some running gear.
Running tops and tights are the best for staying warm. With these as a base layer, add a fleece top, sweatshirt, and coat for extra warmth.
8. Actually tuck yourself in bed.
Another Seinfeld reference, but tuck or no tuck? If you want to stay warm, you should tuck your bed sheets in. If you tuck your sheets in there’s less of an opportunity for heat to escape.
9. Move around.
This may sound like the annoying suggestion your elementary school teacher would give you at recess, but it’s true. Exercising is a good way to raise your core temperature. Even if it seems like staying in bed all day is the best way to stay warm, there are other more productive ways to be warm.
10. Have a warm beverage.
Tea, hot chocolate, coffee, steamers, or whatever your favorite hot beverage is, keep it in a thermos to have during the day.
11. Get a cuddle buddy.
Using other people’s body heat to stay warm is highly effective, so find your cuddle buddy and maybe watch some TV. Perhaps Seinfeld so you can understand these references.
12. Learn how to layer.
Start with the thinnest layer and continue to add up to the thickest layer. Starting with a thin layer makes it easier to add more clothes and not feel restricted by copious amounts of sweaters.
13. Put your clothes over the heater in your room.
Be sure not to start a fire, but this is very effective in warming up clothes in the morning.
14. Think warm thoughts.
Really, think about sunshine. In a study done with meditators, it was shown that those who were able to visualize a warm situation sustained a high body temperature.
Use these tips to stay warm and toasty all winter on The Hill!