Sedentary indoor cold wear

[Fish]

@jacob - There are entire textbooks devoted to the subject of thermal comfort (of which clothing insulation is just one factor). Make sure to account for your chair -- a standard office chair adds 0.10 clo units to your ensemble -- but this is only valid for standing clo values between 0.5 and 1.2. There's also a handy calculator for this: http://comfort.cbe.berkeley.edu/

The "do science" aspect is interesting but simultaneously feels somewhat "over-scienced", i.e. mom can intuitively suggest a comfortable solution within 0.3 clo for any situation (however, her suggestions are always on the warm side ).

[7Wannabe5]

@halfmoon:

The brain's specific energy need is roughly 16 times that of skeletal muscles, and the human brain claims 20-25% of resting metabolic energy, compared to 8-10% in other primates and just 3-5% in other mammals.- "Energy and Civilization: A History"- Vaclav Smil

So, I would assume that is why most heat loss is from the head when you are sedentary. Some other book I was reading recently suggested that the layer of warm air maintained around the human body, as opposed to the skin, is really our natural boundary.

My calves are quite cold-tolerant. Unless it is extremely cold, I barely notice if I have a gap between my socks and my leggings.

[jennypenny]

Compression socks and gloves. You should be wearing them anyway if you sit/type for long periods. Search for Reynauds gloves on Amazon. I prefer truform socks.

[Riggerjack]

Well, if keeping your hands warm at the PC is the problem, I would address this with a blanket on my desk, under the keyboard and mouse pad, wrapped back up and over the same. This would allow free movement of the hands, and insulation, without adding additional layers, which would bug me.

[Riggerjack]

Bonus points for ducting the PC cooling fans to under the blanket...

[Jean]

at 6°C, I had the same cloth as you wear now, but i was wearing a hat. Not wearing it, and I was feeling cold in a matter of minutes.
Wear something on your head, it will make a huge difference.

[bryan]

Since most heat is lost through respiration and brain exertion and lower legs are pretty impervious to cold, I think maybe a design that would be sort of like a light-weight insulated astronaut's helmet with a very wide neck attached to an open bottom caftan combined with leather bottom woolen knit booties would work best.

I had never even considered the brain giving off heat (so obvious now!)! Man it would be cool to attend/teach a "Thermal Engineering of the Human Body" course.

I like your idea of a caftan. Instead of a helmet, I would settle for a ski mask (holes for eyes only) that perhaps is engineered specifically for the transportation of warm breath to your ears (though it would obviously extend down to/over your shoulders)? Maybe another product could be a sort of catheter/ostomy* tubes/bags to recapture your excrement's heat?

[*] I mentioned it before.. but man I would love the ability to just jettison a bag of poo instead of pooping.

I used to go to elementary/middle/high school wearing shorts during the winter (in AL). I would even wear a winter coat but shorts on the bottom. Probably the only kid in my grade doing that.. I liked shorts better than pants and honestly my legs were never cold.

[Jean]

I'll repeat for pedagogical purpose: "wear a hat".
In quebec they say :"If your feet are cold, put on your hat"
Having spent extended amount of time sitting in the cold in front of a computer, I can't say enough how true it is.
Also, I wouldn't build a complicated device to transport heat from brain to rest of your body, because If you avoid losing it right away (By wearing a hat), humans have a build in system that moves a very efficient heat transporting fluid around the whole body.

[bryan]

Good point Jean.

My PC has a thermal vent at the very top. There's no fan on it and all my other fans are controllable, so I can reduce the RPMs (or tape over the vent..) of the rear outgoing air fan and end up with a nice breeze of heat coming up where I can quite easily prop up my feet. If you have a PC you may consider cutting a vent on the top..

[Loner]

Fluffy dressing gown: https://i2.cdscdn.com/pdt2/4/2/0/1/700x ... douill.jpg
Add slippers if your feet are cold: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com ... UY523_.jpg

Such a kit will make you unarguably, instantaneously hot

[CS]

@jp
Why the compression socks and gloves when sitting? Is that to help the heart?

[jennypenny]

They greatly improve circulation which helps with temperature regulation. It's also important if a person is in the same position all day (whether sitting or standing). My vascular surgeon swears by them and he and all his staff wear them every day.

I always wear fingerless gloves (under something else for warmth), and despite decades of typing I've never had any carpal tunnel or arthritis problems. I started wearing them for Reynauds but like wearing them all the time because they limit the fatigue in my hands and wrists. I used to wear old socks over them but last year bought a pair of fingerless mittens from cmonkey's wife.

[CS]

@jp
Thanks for the info. That is really useful! One of the reasons I left programming years ago was... carpel tunnel pain. This would be good to head off with the desired writing career.

[J_]

@Jacob Here you see me playing with lower room temperature:
(2 pairs of half gloves for €1.5 at Action shops)
I find it rather difficult to train myself and DW to be comfortable at home with lower temperature than usual. At the moment I am at 17 C (62 F). When we get visitors they wonder why we do it. It is not only that we have less heating costs, it is also less use of natural, finite fuel (here natural gas). And I want to find out when/how my body can adapt.

You said that you want to go to a further stage of lower room-temperature (now 14 C, 57F) : on which moment do you want to go further?

[jacob]

I got another set of long underwear over xmas. I don't feel any magic "sum of the parts+"-effect by wearing two sets of long underwear on top of each other, but it does reduce bulk relative to random shirts and pants. I suppose measured by weight or volume, it does work marginally better. However, I'm not tempted to toss existing clothes and go out buy 6 sets of longjohns.

[jacob]

I scored one of these for $104: https://www.refrigiwear.com/product/men ... 344rnavlar

With longjohns and tshirt underneath, I guesstimate it's worth 1.5 clo units on its own. If I had to do it again, I think I'd get a less insulated one. This is really on the warm-to-hot side of 57F. I am now tempted to toss my previously existing solutions mentioned above.

[Jean]

Also, I think using clo is kinda taking the problem backwards. What matters ain't where you keep heat, but where you lose it. If there is a hole in youre bucket, it doesn't matter how tick it is.

[enigmaT120]

Oh Jacob, I have several sets of insulated coveralls from Goodwill Surplus, 2.99/pound. They are why I don't bother to heat my shop.

[brighteye]

I can recommend anything from natural fibers (wool, fur, sheepskin...) for clothing.
And two other suggestions:
Paul Wheaton talks about incandescent light bulbs for spot heating (f. ex. feet, hands, upper body).
In Japan they use a kotatsu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotatsu, basically a thick blanket around the low table, with electrical heating or traditionally, charcoal.

[Stahlmann]

Preety deep analysis from you guys, as always

If we speak about about sedentary low temperature solutions - I don't get this problem. Here I prefer impromptou solutions.

Sleeping in colder room (especially on the floor) is bigger challenge. I observed, the more clothes, the better sleep.