Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Well, I have heard that until the advent of a/c, the death rates in the south were higher than in the north and this has been attributed, at least, to a/c making the difference.
Location: Georgia, on the Florida line, right above Tallahassee
10,471 posts, read 15,830,626 times
Reputation: 6438
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShouldIMoveOrStayPut...?
I placed this under Great Debates over Green Living due to the broader spectrum it may encompass regarding other forms of climate control and general conveniences that could pose the same query.
Assuming a person's health is good in general, and they do not need Air Conditioning for health and/or age related reasons, I pose the following theories...
A. Under the "Use It Or Lose It" theory, air conditioning takes the place of our body in regulating temperature and cooling us, when our body does not have to perform this function or performs it to a lesser degree it's ability to do so when needed may be lessened.
This reminds me of an episode of the "Simpsons" when Homer sneaks into a Nursing Home/Care Facility and takes advantage of all the care including Kidney Dialisis...The punch line he delivers is "And here all these years Iv'e been using my own kidney like a sucker!"
B. Air conditioning reduces stress on the body to keep itself cool thereby it does not have to work as hard. The lack of additional stress and burden this task would normally take is healthy for us.
You could broaden this debate to heating and other elements and conveniences of our modern society that may or may not make us more or less capable or healthy. We no longer need the appendix, what present organs will become obsolete for our bodies in the future? Is this harmful, beneficial, or non-consequential?
Come to Iraq. I live in a metal can shaped room - about the size of a "cheap Walmart portable shed" .... and it was 121 degrees last Tuesday. If the power cuts off, you wake up in about an hour, sweating like a beast, fighting your way through the sleep blossoms to the door, so at least you can sit in the shade and get a breeze.
Yeah, we lost power. It sucked man. 4 hours of that heat. Ugh.
/soldiers have to fight in it. And drive in it. In armored cars.
Your quite welcome, seems so far there are more votes in favor of A.C.
Boy are we ever having a heat wave here in the Northeast, I was watching the Kilborn File on Fox last night and he delvered a few good punchlines, going on memory here are two:
"It's so hot in New York people are ratting themselves out to the mob just to get hung in a refrigerated meat locker"
"Its so hot in New York the Brooklyn Bridge asked the Statue Of Liberty to lower her arm"
Just looking at what I observed when in the military it is a good thng even amoung the young. It prevents many deaths esepcaily when their is a lack of mositure i the air. he military calls this the wet bulb when it is very dangerous for human to do much activity that can lead to heat fatigue or heat stroke.
Air conditioning was used in WW2 Submarines not so much for comfort cooling of the Sailors, but, to keep the wet bulb (dew point) temperature down inside the vessel so alot of condensation wouldnt form on the walls of the Sub thereby offering a breading ground for mold and bacteria to form ; not good to breathe when youre in a Sub for weeks on end.
Interesting subject, I've often thought, "what did people do before AC?" as many can't go 10 minutes without it.
I know what I did... I sweated my ass off. I'm 55 and never lived in an air conditioned house until I bought this one back in 2004. 90% of my first 12 years of school were spent without as well.
One benefit that came of that is a higher tolerance for heat. It's currently 93° outside and all I'm using for cooling is a floor fan.
I couldn't live down here without A/C. As it is now I've got an undersized unit trying to keep my apartment cool, high's get to the low 90's with an average humidity of 65% in the apartment. Without that undersized unit it would be mid to high 90's with an average humidity of 80%. If the apartment has any insulation left I'd be surprised.
The heat, especially with our humidity, drives me mad.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fontucky
One benefit that came of that is a higher tolerance for heat. It's currently 93° outside and all I'm using for cooling is a floor fan.
Any idea what the temp. is inside your home? With good enough insulation it could be in the 80's inside while it's in the 90's outside.
I don't doubt acclimation occurs for heat/cold but I had always assumed it was mainly a mental thing as opposed to believing when people say things like thinner blood from climate. I don't think humans have seasonal physiological transformations like our body hair getting thicker. Again I'm just assuming here I'm certainly no expert.
Regarding the mental thing, when the wife and I are traveling we often stay at really budget accommodations where you've just got a fan that has airflow limited by a mosquito net. We're talking summer in SE Asia, but because we know going in and it's part of the adventure it isn't as bad. Sure it's still hot as hell but it is totally different from our AC going out in Phoenix. Since that is unexpected it is a crisis that must be dealt with using massive quantities of fans and beer.
Also = when the AC breaks in Phoenix summertime we've seen the thermostat read 97 inside the house, I didn't know cats were capable of panting until that happened.
Then you get that weird stage at night where it is far nicer outside on the patio.
I know what I did... I sweated my ass off. I'm 55 and never lived in an air conditioned house until I bought this one back in 2004. 90% of my first 12 years of school were spent without as well.
One benefit that came of that is a higher tolerance for heat. It's currently 93° outside and all I'm using for cooling is a floor fan.
I still do not have A.C. in the house, and like you have gone without the majority of my life. I live near the water so bay breezes keep things pretty tolerable on all but the hottest days with still winds. I have a window unit that I hardly ever install let alone use.
My heat tolerance seems considerably higher than many people, I have A.C. in the car but drive open windowed with it off most of the time, most everyone else is rolled up with the A.C. on. When my relatives ride with me they can be in a panic to get the A.C. on sometimes, scalding me in a not so pleasant manner sometimes as in "For god's sake put the air conditioning on, what's the matter with you"....
Is air conditioning "good" for you? If it makes you feel comfortable on a hot, humid day then yes, it's good. If you turn it up so high that you have to walk around your own home wearing a sweater in the middle of July then no, it's not good. But in that case, the problem is yours, not the air conditioner's.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
