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Urban myth or not.


Glyn44
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Just for home having walked the dogs with fairly cold hands. As I was washing them in lovely hot water they soon warmed up nicely. This provoked a memory of snowballing days as a kid. I would come home freezing and as we had a coal fire I would sit in front of it, hands outstretched to thaw my digits.

When my Mother saw me she would say not to use the fire but to put my cold hands in hot water (don't think we ever had any, only on bath nights when the immersion would be switched on) Her reasoning was I would get chilblains from the fire but not from the water. Anyone know if this is true or just an old mums tale?

Roll,on summer!

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When the skin is cold, blood vessels near the surface get narrower. If the skin is then exposed to heat, the blood vessels become wider.

If this happens too quickly, blood vessels near the surface of the skin can't always handle the increased blood flow. This can cause blood to leak into the surrounding tissue, which may cause the swelling and itchiness associated with chilblains.

Your mum was right
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Ah, so it sounds, to me, that I could have used the fire, but slowly, as it is the early intensity of excess heat that is the problem. Just to put your minds at rest, I never did get chilblains.

Right here's a second query. If you have cold hand, and immerse them into a bowl of water, warm to hot, if you keep them stationary in the water, the temperature you feel becomes constant. But if you the wriggle them about you feel a considerable heat increase. It's true, go try it.

Sorry for this but weather too miserable to go out.

Have fun, Glyn.

Edited By Pete B - Moderator on 11/02/2017 17:41:54

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When I did my sailing instructors course many years ago we had a talk on first aid and hypothermia treatment was part of it as you'd expect. I think everyone remembered that an approved treatment was to get in a sleeping bag, naked, with someone who wasn't suffering. Even better, it claimed the treatment worked best when the other bag occupant was a member of the opposite sex.

The chilblains story was the same when I was a child. Then it was not only cold hands but cold knees, too, because none us lads had long trousers and always had our socks turned over the top of our wellingtons to stop our calves chaffing. Like most, the only heating in the house was a coal fire in our living kitchen but it had a big fire guard all round it which had a brass rail. The brass rail never needed polishing because there was always a fight as to who would rest their backsides on it and heat the 'whole' of their bodies.

Geoff

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Posted by Cuban8 on 11/02/2017 10:52:26:

Snowing here, so will put my coat on in our nice warm kitchen for about ten minutes and will then go out and stand in the middle of garden for five minutes. Will report back.................................

11:30 gone and he's not reported, someone go round his house with an ice pick please.................

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Inconclusive results, I'm afraid. Spent a further ten minutes outside, standing still, follwed by light excercise, but accumulation of snow on outer clothing was probably skewing results.

Wife just called me in, saying that our neighbour had knocked and asked her if I was OK. Will try again in early April laugh

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Posted by Martin Harris on 11/02/2017 10:45:22:

I don't know about that but I can't get it through to my wife that if she takes her coat off when she comes in from the cold that she'll warm up faster...

????????????????

Flying weather here, but for a few weekends a year, rugby comes first.

Edited By Donald Fry on 11/02/2017 12:44:45

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An immersion water heater, my you were the posh folk we heard about in stories. Metal buckets on the gas rings on Sunday bath night for the tin bath(had to share the water as well) or weekdays it was often just cold water with the occasional hot water from the kettle. Queue a flood of Monty Python tales.

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That tale regarding chilblains was just one of the many pronouncements my late, unlamented mother used to come out with. If she believed it then it must be nonsense as this was the woman who said neither the Beatles nor the Rolling Stones would be more than one hit wonders, there was no future for computers as no one would be able to afford one, and the relative who in 1981 bought shares in a computer company named after a fruit was an idiot...

Edited By Pete B - Moderator on 11/02/2017 17:40:56

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Glynn,

Water is not a great heat conductor, when you put your hands in water and keep them still you take the heat from the water that is closest to your hands. This acts as barrier to the heat from the rest of the water. Once you move you are constantly coming into contact with all the hot water in the bowl and so take the heat for more of the water. So yes, moving your hands in water works better.

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Posted by Glyn44 on 11/02/2017 09:15:19:

Just for home having walked the dogs with fairly cold hands. As I was washing them in lovely hot water they soon warmed up nicely. This provoked a memory of snowballing days as a kid. I would come home freezing and as we had a coal fire I would sit in front of it, hands outstretched to thaw my digits.

We were too poor to wash our dog dog

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Posted by J D 8 on 11/02/2017 13:39:54:

In our old farmhouse the "ty bach" as the toilet is called in Wales was a long walk down the dark back garden[for a little one] to the earth closet, but at least you could have company as it was a two seater !

Starting to wonder about Mrs H (who is a variety of Celt) - she keeps on about putting me installing ty bachs (didn't realise that was the spelling) close to the living room window!

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Posted by Martin Harris on 11/02/2017 10:45:22:

I don't know about that but I can't get it through to my wife that if she takes her coat off when she comes in from the cold that she'll warm up faster...

Hmmm, I share your wife's reservations on that one. Whilst the skin and extremities may be below room temperature and so might warm up more quickly if exposed, core body temperature will still be well above room temp and will only rise by retaining body heat more effectively so insulation will help even though the environment is now warmer than before.

And yes, I wouldn't be responding to this if the weather was better. . . !

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Interesting - and no doubt absolutely correct when it comes to clinical hypothermia but I've always found that letting warm air get past the chilled outer layer of a typically well insulated jacket when coming in from the cold warms my skin faster. She tends to stand in front of a fire complaining that she can't feel the benefit...

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I agree. If your coat is soaking wet or frozen solid then evaporative cooling is not going to help the situation. And certainly if you are going to stand in front of a fire or lean on a radiator then removing the heat barrier makes sense.

Right - back to the building board. . .

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