As temperatures shift between chilly days and surprisingly warm afternoons in the 60s, it’s hard not to notice that some UVA students continue wearing T-shirts and shorts. How do they pull it off? Why do some people seem unfazed by the cold while others bundle up at the slightest drop in temperature? And is there any way to delay the return of frat flops until the snow melts? It’s worth taking a closer look.
“Cold ResistaNT”
My journey into the idea of cold resistance started about a week ago. The wind felt colder than expected, making me shiver and raising goosebumps on my arms. I had decided wearing a light top was a good idea that night, a decision I quickly began to regret as the cold seemed to paralyze my entire body. My friend, standing beside me, completely unbothered, barely reacted. When I complained, he shrugged and said he was “resistant to the cold.” Resistant? That didn’t make sense to me. Cold was cold. Theoretically, it should affect everyone the same way. Or at least, that’s what I had always thought. The disagreement stuck with me long after my fingers went numb, pushing me to question whether being “resistant” was real or just confidence in disguise.
Research
I was determined to figure out the truth behind the idea of cold resistance. My research led me to the work of François Haman, a scientist at the University of Ottawa who studies how the body responds to harsh environments. I was shocked to learn, as Dr. Haman explains, that over time the body can acclimate to the cold. It’s through repeated exposure that the body can be trained to produce heat more efficiently through processes such as non-shivering thermogenesis (the body generates warmth without physical shaking). The body may even alter how it perceives discomfort, and blood vessels may contract more smoothly. What Dr. Haman conveys is that cold tolerance doesn’t mean a person becomes immune to the cold; rather, it means they have adapted. Even people who live in colder climates may feel shocked by low temperatures, but the longer they live there, the more their bodies will learn to respond in ways that make those conditions more tolerable.
experimenting
This curiosity did not sit passively in my mind; rather, I took it into my own hands to test if what I was learning was true. If what Dr. Haman had explained, that cold resistance was something the body could develop, was true, then I wanted to see whether I could train myself to build it. I started small, ending my showers with thirty seconds of cold water. The first time I tried, the shock was paralyzing. My muscles tightened, and even my instincts told me to warm the water again. But I did not. Over the next couple of times that I did it, I was able to go longer and longer. What surprised me was not that the water had started to feel warmer, because I can assure you it did not, but my reaction had started to change. My breathing had returned to normal, and panic had subsided. While it was still uncomfortable, it felt much more manageable. I had not defeated the cold; rather, I had started to respond to it differently. Through those small daily experiments, I realized that resistance is not about eliminating discomfort, but about training the body and the mind to tolerate it.
What i’ve learned
What started as a simple disagreement about the weather ultimately changed the way I understand the human body. I thought the cold affected everyone the same, and that the frat brothers that walked proudly in their flip flops as snow peppered the ground were just freezing in silence. I thought “resistance” was an exaggeration. However, both the research from Dr. Haman and my own little experiment proved otherwise. No one is immune to the cold, but our bodies are far more adaptable than I had realized. Through gradual exposure and repetition, they learn to respond differently. Cold resistance is not a superpower, but rather a reminder that the body is constantly trying to adjust and adapt to the challenges we throw ourselves into. This argument turned into something much more meaningful: proof that adaptation is one of our greatest strengths.