This past week I heard a lot of complaining about how cold it was in Southwest Florida. Of course our temps were nothing compared our northern neighbors who saw recording-breaking lows, some nearly 100 degrees colder than SWFL.
As I was getting my car washed this week and complaining how cold it was, I had someone say to me what I’ve heard many times since moving to Florida “well you know, our blood really does get thinner when we move to Florida.”
I wondered, is that truth or is that a trick? Does moving to a warmer climate make your blood thin so you can’t stand the cold?
At the Culbertson Agency, we want you to always know the truth, so I did a little research on Professor Google.
Turns out thin blood making us cold is only a myth. Our blood can only get thinner by taking blood-thinning medicines (ie Aspirine, warfarin, etc). And even then, our thinner blood does not make us any more susceptible to the cold.
So why are we Floridians so cold when the temps drop below 70? Why do we see our northern friends at the beach in Bikini’s when it’s 50?
Acclimation. We humans are mammals, our body naturally regulates its temperature and acclimates to it’s climate. If we were one of our local Alligators, that wouldn’t be the case. Reptiles don’t have that same ability. They’d die in a different climate. But we mammals, as we move to warm climates or cold climates, our bodies naturally acclimate.
In other words … we just get used to it. Scientist say this can take a few weeks or up to a month.
So while it’s not true that our blood gets thinner when we move to warm Southwest Florida, it is true that our perception changes causing us to have much less tolerance for those frigid sub 70-degree temps.
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