Lol, Lisap and smittie! I have become famous in every place I've ever worked for my wearing of The Puffy...

LOL, delurked, I totally agree! Glad the hot flashes are over.

I've said this before on the forum, but the hubby has anemia so he runs cold. During 10+ years of peri-menopause I ran hot and flashy. Very often in the winter at night I'd have the window open AND the bedside "hotflash" fan running AND be sleeping in barely nothing, no sheets... while the hubby was in his flannels, a hoodie, thick socks, robe, and cocoon-rolled in a down comforter plus bedspread....which is basically how he sleeps year round, even if the AC is off and it's 80 degrees and humid...

Now that things seem to be winding up in the menopausal department, I still like it colder at night, but not quite that cold. Something about lower temps seems to help me fall asleep faster. And now I no longer wake up with the sheets drenched, my face and chest beet red, needing to run outside into the snow to cool off.

Is it just me but do colder temps make you sleepy? They make me sleepy. If I'm in a hotel room and I can't fall asleep, I just turn down the thermostat (while putting on warm socks and curling up in the comforter) and once it hits 68-70 range I fall asleep easily.

I've sat through a few meetings in chilly offices/hotel rooms this past summer, with thermostat set at 68, and last summer I'd have been fine in short sleeve dress / bare legs/ sandals. This year, I'm not only freezing cold, but I am very very sleepy... it's like my brain freezes.

ahahah. This conversation is making me very happy! (nerd meteorologist)

A few nerd notes, if anyone is interested in random curiosities:

- One of the reasons some people feel so hot or so cold is metabolism. Some people produce more heat than others. And when it comes to women, higher levels of estrogen indirectly lead to lower metabolic rates (that is one of the reasons women usually feel colder than men). Some women feel colder as they age because they used to have a higher metabolism and with age, it drops. Other women never had so much of a metabolic heat production due to higher levels of estrogen, so they feel hotter after menopause as estrogen production decreases (and have hot flashes during the transition). Or so I read (I'm not a physician).

- Translating Celsius and Fahrenheit degrees feel odd because these two scales have an odd relationship. Fahr. = Celsius *9/5 - 32. We can't just multiply by some factor like we do with other conversions, like inches and centimeters. I personally find Celsius more intuitive since freezing point = 0C/32F and boiling point =100C/212F, but I'm sure Fahrenheit had a very good reason to choose such weird numbers.

- It actually does make sense covering up in dry hot weather and not covering in hot moist weather. Covering in a light layer won't make you feel a lot hotter in dry conditions than not covering (and it will protect you from potential dehydration). Covering in moist conditions is like wearing a personal sauna. Think about desert nomads in 40C Saara and South American Indigenous people in 40C Amazon.

Marina, those are great points. I always cover up in dry heat to feel cooler. I just don't get the tank tops and shorts when the sun is beating down upon you.

Thank you, too, Marina! I confess I've felt guilty for wanting my shorts or my sleeveless dresses in the 100F heat... but this is Texas, and Texas is never a dry heat. Now I don't feel bad.

shiny, I also get very sleepy in chilly temperatures, particularly in meetings and classes. I start yawning my head off and simply can't stop. I feel like I'm going into hibernation.

Don't feel bad, Ginger In São Paulo we have 33C/91F with 70% or more relative humidity in summer and 33C/91F with 12% relative humidity in winter. I can handle using a tunic or even a shirt and pants in dry 33C, but using more than a light sleeveless dress or tank top and shorts in this sort of temperature in moist conditions is some sort of masochism (I believe Texas is even hotter than this).

Thank you, Marina! The Houston area sounds very similar, and yes, hotter. I'm further north, away from the ocean, so not quite as humid... which means it gets hotter. It was 99F today! That said, humidity was 28% at that point. But it's not desert here; it's humid enough to make both the heat and cold extra intense, and dry enough to allow huge daily/yearly temperature swings. At 10 PM it was still 87F with 50% humidity.

In addition to Marina's fun facts, I also know that most a/c calculations for cooling offices were created in the 1960's, when offices were mostly men, who run warmer, and wore full suits. Since the calculations haven't changed, it helps explain why women in offices (many of whom aren't in suits these days) freeze.

I used to run cold, but now May-September is my unhappy time. I like winter. Can't wait for that first morning when the air turns crisp.

Marina, you are from São Paulo? That's my hometown! But I haven't lived there in a long time (I'm in the US).

I run Hot. I always have. It’s a real style challenge to look good in summer, when I tend to be, no joke, soaking wet unless I’m in AC or directly beneath a fan. I find humidity particularly tough. Since I’m sensitive to sun, I’m always looking for loathing that can protect my fair skin, but not show heavy perspiration and keep me relatively cool: no easy feat! Most July and August, I just cower indoors...

I guess I run exaggerated! Like Kerlyn, I have a pretty narrow comfort zone--say 65 to 75 degrees F. When it's colder than that my shoulders hunch up and my neck and ankles feel drafty. That feeling is easily dealt with by adding woolen socks, a sweater, and a scarf, even indoors. Summers are much more uncomfortable for me, because one can only remove so much clothing in public. Temps in the high 80s & 90s, with humidity to match, is my idea of misery. The tropics hold no allure for me.

My temperature threshold varies throughout the year. In winter, I'm freezing if its below 55. In spring, anything below 75 might warrant a sweater. In summer, I try not to wear shorts until its 100F, and I'm a meat popsicle if its below 78

You know, I’m not so sure anymore. Maybe I’m running more average. I used to run cold when I was younger, and then warm flashes made me feel like I was running warmer than normal. But my days of warm flashes seem to be waning (not complaining!).

Humidity (prevalent in my home climate) generally seems to exaggerate temperature feel to me — hot and humid feels more uncomfortable than hot and dry. Cold and damp feels more chilling than cold and dry. But here’s something weird: I get goosebumps with big temperature changes, even if I’m going from normal to hot — I get goosebumps getting into a hot car all the time! I didn’t know this was weird until I had friends notice and remark on it.

These days I like it much cooler at night for sleeping than I used to. I’ve gotten rid of all heavy and flannel pj’s. Our thermostat is at 63 at night in the cold months, and my husband complains sometimes that I keep the house too cold for him (I prefer it around 68-70 and put on a sweater if I feel cold).

In the summer, however, I don’t like overly air conditioned places and I end up keeping our thermostat around 75 or even a little higher, just enough to run the AC to take the humidity out of the house.

I have Reynaud’s too, so I will get numb fingertips even in 60 degree weather sometimes, especially after a run or bike ride if I don’t get inside and warm quickly. But the rest of my body can feel fine.

I’m generally happier in cooler temps than warm — my philosophy is that you can always put on more layers to warm up, whereas once you’re down to shorts and a tee, you really can’t take anything more off to cool down without getting arrested.

Always cold. Hate AC with passion

I am generally the coldest person in the room. I hate ceiling fans and the like.