Why do people always feel differently about warmth?

Question

I know that there is always an argument about everyone having different comfort levels when it comes to warmth. Personally, i like to be warm, and normally that means i like the temp in a room to be around 70-75 and a lot of my co-workers feel the same. Then there is other people who feel that 60-65 is warm enough. I normally wind up wearing a sweatshirt or jacket while at work b/c of this, even when its 90 degrees outside. Is there a reason to why our bodies feel so differently? If i could feel warm at 65 i totally would but its just not possible, i shiver and my hands get cold and such. I know its not b/c of body weight b/c im at 200 pounds and 6'1" and some of my heavier co-workers also feel cold, but then the same goes for some skinnier and heavy set people all feel warm at 60 even. So it is pretty much impossible for us all to feel comfortable while at work with the heat. So again, my question is, why are our bodies like this? (forgot this, i live in ND where we actually have each season unlike most areas)

Answer 1

Well outside extreme ranges which are potentially hypothermic, the comfort zone is more to do with individual psychology and nervous systems which translate ambient temps to the brains thermal regulatory centers and of course physically it's about individual core temps IMO.

Psychology does have a lot to do with it, if hot and somebody concentrates a mental image of ice burgs etc, this will help cool them and if cool, concentrating on tropical islands in the sun will help to feel warmer, if cool and one is busy doing something either physically or more relevantly, a mental exercise or whatever, the cold will hardly be noticed.

No two people are actually alike unless identical twins and as such we all have very different tolerances to most things and temp is one main one.

So the variances you notice are more to do with mind over matter factors of the individual in my opinion but that's opinion as this is not an area of expertise in my ranges.

I do consider there is a genetic factor, such as i am Irish, West Ireland, Mayo is where my family are from for centuries and centuries back and i find though i live in the milder South of England, i much prefer temps which are more like the county Mayo have as ambient weather patterns, but then, others from the same area will prefer their homes to be as hot as a furnace, so again, psychology is indicated as an over riding factor to physical tolerances and genetic predisposition.

Answer 2

It just depends what you are used to.  But, if you change, your body adapts.  For example, I lived in South America and moved to Canada in the middle of winter.  Although it didn't occur immediately, I came to find that the really warm periods of the summer were uncomfortable but I endured the extreme cold.  Then I moved to the southern US and my body adjusted to the extreme heat.

Answer 3

You have got many brilliant answers here .They show that many factors influence attitude & tolerance to heat/warmth & cold etc.

Also a person's hyper-active thyroid will make them feel warm or  hot when others feel cold.

Plus a person with low thyroid function -hypothyroid will feel  the heat quite earlier than others-