by Jordan Ross
Editor’s Note:
Seeing as how I personally don’t enjoy the cold, I decided to refer to students, staff, and a ridiculous amount of online help articles to bring you the easiest ways to stay warm this winter. Stay warm!
- take a sip
As it turns out, hot beverages such as tea or hot cocoa may not actually be as effective at warming you as say, adding an extra layer of clothing to your outfit would. Furthermore, studies show that the warm effect you feel after drinking your chai tea may actually be just a placebo effect. On the other hand, foods such as black coffee, ginger, cold water, brown rice, coconut oil, cayenne pepper and peanuts have proven to be surprisingly effective in keeping one warm.
source: tastemade.com
- grab a hat
For some time people have believed that you need to wear a hat because, “You lose more heat through your head than the rest of your body.” Now, while it’s true that an exposed body part might cause one to feel cold, there is no actual evidence that supports the claim that an exposed noggin would give off the most the heat. As Beth Holloway from the University of Rochester stated, “There’s nothing special about your head.” With that in mind, go ahead and grab your toboggan because every little bit helps. (Also, sorry that we have literally been living a lie for about- our entire lives.) But yes, go ahead and grab a hat, it’ll help.
source: urmc.rochester.edu, thewashingtonpost.com
- bake a cookie
Not only will taking the time to bake some cookies allow you to stop thinking about how Frosty has come to town but you’d be pleasantly surprised just how toasty and open oven can make a room (or a kitchen!). (Also, if you share your cookies a friend might provide you with a hug thus providing more warmth.)
source: mentalfloss.com
- grab a hand
Unlike the other remedies, there’s no catch regarding the warming of hand warmers. This is a perfectly viable way to help yourself stay warm this winter. Since the outer extremities (hands, feet, head) are the first to lose heat you’ll find yourself a lot warmer if you go ahead and cover up your digits. Thanks to our own Dr. Olson, we’ve found that there are plenty of ways to create your own hand warmers with the help science (or rather a chemical reaction). Surprisingly you can find most of the ingredients among your common household items.
The ingredients are as follows:
- White vinegar
- Baking soda
- Glass jar
- Parchment paper
- Clear vinyl
- Alligator clip
*the full recipe can be found at popsci.com
Other remedies include:
- Rubbing your hands together and hopping in place
- Backing up to a heater or fireplace
- Getting busy working on something (you’ll forget the cold)
source: Dr. Jeremy Olson & popsci.com
Thank you to Dr. Olson and Mrs. Drake for providing us with such interesting ways to stay warm.