冷知识：为啥女生一到冬天就手脚冰凉，还比男生更怕冷？

Why women feel the cold 

more than men

为什么女生比男生更怕冷

It's not your imagination. Science has proven that yes, females are more sensitive to the cold.

这并不是你的异想天开。科学家们已经证实，是的，女性对寒冷更加敏感。

Ever woken up in the morning to find your other half has thrown the blankets off, as he is too hot, while you're still swaddled in them because you are cold? Or have you gone out for a walk rugged up in a coat, while he makes do with a thin jumper?

你是不是曾经在早晨醒来时发现，你的男盆友因为太热而把毯子扔在一边，而你却因为太冷还裹在被子里？或者你出去散步穿着一件外套，而他就只有一个套头衫？

Well, you're complaining for a reason – it is scientifically proven that women suffer more in the cold than men.

好吧，你的这种抱怨是有原因的——因为科学证明，女性比男性更不耐寒。

According to many researchers, women feel the cold more than males, but their bodies are better at conserving（储存，保护，保藏） heat when the weather turns colder. They are able to do this by shutting off blood flow to the skin and extremities to maintain their core temperature at 37 degrees. 

根据许多研究人员的说法，女性比男性更容易感觉到寒冷，但当天气变凉时，她们的身体却能更好地储存热量。她们可以通过拦截掉流向皮肤和四肢的血液来保持身体的体温在37度。

A drop below 35 degrees can cause hypothermia. As most of our biological temperature sensors（生物温度传感器） are located in the skin, we feel cold if our extremities are cold, however warm our internal organs may be.

要知道，身体温度一旦低于35度就会导致过低体温症。而因为我们大多数生物感受温度的“传感器”都位于皮肤上，所以不管我们的内脏有多么温暖，如果我们的四肢是冷的，我们就会感觉到寒冷。

Associate Professor Nigel Taylor, at the University of Wollongong's School of Health Sciences, is an expert on human temperature regulation（人类体温调节） and has studied the differences between men and women's reactions to the cold.

伍伦贡大学（University of Wollongong）健康科学学院副教授奈杰尔·泰勒是人类体温调节方面的专家，他研究了男性和女性对寒冷的反应差异。

"The main difference is the way we lay down subcutaneous fat（皮下脂肪） [the layer of fat below the skin]," Associate Professor Taylor says. "An average woman will have a more even distribution（分布，分配） of fat just below the skin surface, whereas this is thinner for guys."

“最主要的区别就在于我们储存皮下脂肪的方式，”泰勒副教授说。“一般女性的皮下脂肪分布更均匀，而男性的皮下脂肪分布更薄。”

"This is partly because an average woman might have 20 to 25 per cent body fat, whereas an average guy might have about 15 per cent. When we get cold, we conserve heat by reducing the blood flow to the skin. When a woman reduces the blood flow to the skin, the temperature of the skin drops as the blood has been moved below her layer of fat."

“所以造成这种现象的部分原因是，一般女性体内脂肪含量可能在20%至25%之间，而男性体内脂肪含量可能只有15%左右。当我们感到寒冷时，我们通过减少流向皮肤的血液来保存热量。当女性的身体减少流向皮肤的血液时，皮肤的温度就会下降，因为血液只会留到脂肪层以下。”

"A man will tend not to experience such a big change as a female, because he doesn't have the same distribution of fat. This is why skin temperature is, on average, cooler for a woman than a man."

“而男性的身体不会像女性那样经历如此大的变化，因为他们的脂肪分布不一样。这就是为什么女性的皮肤温度平均比男性低。”

This means women often feel cold before men do. "If we reduce the blood flow to the skin we're going to get more messages from the cold sensors in the skin that we are chilly," Associate Professor Taylor says. "So when a woman says she is cold, she really means her skin is cold."

这就意味着女性通常比男性先感受到寒冷。“如果我们减少流向皮肤的血流量，我们就会从皮肤上的冷传感器那里得到更多告诉自己很冷的信息”泰勒副教授说。“所以当一个女人说她很冷时，她的意思是她的皮肤很冷。”

Women's hands and feet are also colder than men's when the air temperature is cold. Research published in The Lancet medical journal in 1998 reported that women's hand temperatures were, on average, 2.8 degrees lower than men's.

当空气温度较低时，女性的手脚也比男性的冷。1998年发表在《柳叶刀》医学杂志上的一项研究报告称，女性的手部温度平均比男性低2.8度。

Associate Professor Taylor says, "The blood flow to the hands and feet changes very rapidly so that we can lose or conserve heat. The blood vessels（血管） to the hands and feet are the first to constrict when we feel cold. So a woman will constrict（收缩，压紧） the blood flow to the feet and hands before a man will, and this is why she feels colder."

泰勒副教授解释说:“流向手和脚的血液变化地非常迅速，让我们可以失去或保存热量。当我们感到寒冷时，通往手脚的血管会首先收缩起来（这样就限制了流向手脚的温暖血液）。所以一个女性的身体比男性先将手脚血管收紧，这就是为什么她会比这个男性更觉得冷。”

Despite this, The Lancet study also showed that women's core body temperatures are, on average, 0.4 degrees higher than men's – meaning they literally have cold hands, but a warm heart.

尽管如此，《柳叶刀》杂志的研究还显示，女性的核心体温平均比男性高0.4度——这意味着她们的手确实很冷，但心脏却很温暖。

Mark Newton, an environmental physiology researcher at the University of Portsmouth in the UK, says it isn't clear why women and men are different, but one possible theory as to why women have this system is that it enables them to survive freezing temperatures. As females have less muscle mass than men, they need a more efficient technique of protecting their core（核心，要点，果核） body temperature.

英国朴茨茅斯大学（University of Portsmouth）的环境生理学研究员马克•牛顿(Mark Newton)表示，目前还不清楚为什么女性和男性会有这种不同，但有一种假设理论认为，女性之所以有这种系统，是因为这个系统能让她们在寒冷的气温下生存下来。由于女性的肌肉比男性少，她们就需要一种更有效的技术来保护她们的核心体温。

A woman's core temperature also fluctuates throughout her menstrual cycle（月经周期）. It goes from 36.9 degrees to a peak of 37.4 degrees, so she will feel the cold more acutely depending on which point she is at in her cycle.

女性的核心体温在整个月经周期中也会波动。温度从36.9度上升到37.4度的峰值，所以她在这个阶段会更怕冷，而她们对寒冷的敏锐程度取决于她在月经周期的哪个阶段。

In contrast, a man's core temperature remains fairly steady（相当平稳，非常稳定） at about 37 degrees.

相比之下，男性的核心体温在37度左右，相当稳定。

（图源：pexels）