The question of why women get cold more often and more quickly than men is easy to answer: the body composition is responsible. From a purely statistical point of view, men’s bodies consist on average of 40 percent muscle and only 15 percent fat.
Gender-specific perception of cold
In women, the metabolically active body mass, or muscle, is far less pronounced; the female body consists on average of 25 percent muscle and just under 25 percent fat. Fat can insulate heat, but it cannot manufacture it. Muscle is responsible for that.
In the past, this little “injustice” of nature was just about made up for with the equation “less heat production, but better insulation.”
Less fat
In our time, however, there is a slim beauty ideal, women fight against every pound of their fat, and therefore they often have neither enough heat generation nor enough heat insulation.
Women have a different perception of cold
Another reason for women’s stronger cold sensation is their, compared to men’s, relatively thin skin. The male epidermis is 15 percent stronger than the female.
When heat loss is imminent, the vessels constrict and blood flow to the skin is reduced, which is easier with thin skin than with thick skin. A woman’s skin surface then becomes up to three degrees colder than a man’s, resulting in a greater temperature difference between the skin and the inside of the body than in a man. Accordingly, therefore, the woman has an increased sensation of cold.
