The "cold" war in the office: Girls are more likely to feel that the air conditioner is too cold

Review expert: Peng Guoqiu, deputy chief physician of the Fourth Medical Center of the General Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army

In the hot summer, you may often see such a contrasting picture in the office: men wearing T-shirts or POLO shirts, walking around the office, while women wearing coats, occasionally saying "it's so cold". This difference in temperature perception also makes the "competition" for air conditioning control a small episode in the summer office.

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In fact, this difference in the perception of air-conditioning temperature is not accidental, but a common phenomenon. If you want to enjoy a comfortable office life in summer, it is very important to adjust the air-conditioning temperature.

Women are more afraid of cold

According to a study published in the journal Nature, a small sample test conducted by Dutch scientists showed that **women feel comfortable in an environment of about 25 degrees Celsius, about 3 degrees Celsius higher than men. **In the same office, men feel more comfortable with the temperature, while women tend to think the air conditioning temperature is too low.

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Compared with men, women are more likely to be afraid of cold, which is mainly related to changes in estrogen, because changes in estrogen can affect blood circulation by affecting vasoconstriction. Therefore, as estrogen changes in women's menstrual cycle, body temperature will also fluctuate. When estrogen levels decrease, it will stimulate vasoconstriction in the body, causing blood circulation to slow down, and the metabolic rate will also slow down, which will lead to a decrease in body heat production, making women more likely to feel cold.

Muscle is also an important factor affecting body temperature. Men eat more, have more muscles, and have faster metabolism. Muscle can generate heat. The more muscles, the more heat is generated. Men generally have more muscles than women, so women generate less heat than men and are more afraid of cold.

A recent study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology stated that genetically, because women have smaller skeletons than men, their skin dissipates heat faster and their ability to resist cold is greatly reduced.

In addition, women are more sensitive to cold than men, and the temperature sensors in men's skin are duller and less able to sense cold and heat.

Raising room temperature can improve efficiency to a certain extent. Research published in the journal PLOS One shows that women perform better when working in warmer indoor spaces.

The researchers asked 543 college students to stay in a room with a temperature of 16 to 32 degrees Celsius and perform three tests of logic, mathematics and language. The researchers found that men performed better in the cooler room, while women answered more questions correctly when the temperature in the room was higher.

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For every 1°C increase in room temperature, women answered nearly 2% more math questions correctly and performed 1% better on verbal tests. Men's performance on the tests declined when the room temperature was raised, but the decline was much smaller than the increase in temperature that women gained.

Perhaps there's no one temperature that pleases everyone, but researchers found that women were more negatively affected by colder temperatures than men.

The office temperature should not be lower than 26℃

If the air conditioner temperature is too low, it will cause resource waste and environmental burden. my country's "Regulations on Indoor Temperature Control of Public Buildings" stipulates that the temperature inside public buildings should not be lower than 26°C in summer. Specifically, setting the air conditioner temperature at 26°C or above has the following benefits:

Energy saving and environmental protection: Higher air conditioning temperature settings can reduce energy consumption. For every 1 °C increase in indoor temperature , energy consumption can be reduced by 6-8% . Therefore, setting the temperature at 26°C can significantly reduce energy consumption while still maintaining indoor comfort. In addition, reducing energy consumption means reducing carbon emissions, which helps alleviate global climate change.

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Health: Too low indoor temperature may cause human immunity to decline, making people more susceptible to colds. Setting the temperature at 26°C can keep the temperature difference between indoor and outdoor moderate, which is beneficial to human health.

Improve work efficiency: A suitable indoor temperature helps improve employee work efficiency. An overly cold or overheated environment may make employees feel uncomfortable, thus affecting work efficiency.

Nowadays, the temperature in many offices is maintained at around 23°C in summer. If the air-conditioning temperature in the office is set at no less than 26°C, it is an energy-saving and environmentally friendly choice, which is also beneficial to the health of employees and improves work efficiency.

Of course, if there is no way to adjust the temperature of the air conditioner in the office, women can wear a coat to work. However, men should not enjoy the cold air while casually complaining that women are being pretentious.