Climatic Preferences: Genetic vs Cultural (climate, hot, warm, temperatures)

[Trimac20]

Humans look different to each other because we've adapted to survive and thrive in certain climates. So the stocky Eskimo has a flat face, small eyes and more body fat, the East African desert/scrub dweller is thin, tall and dark, the Northern European is pale etc, Middle Easterners have deep-seat eyes and long noses for dry air, vs flatter noses in Africa and SE Asia. There are some peculiarities: like Arabs and Southern Europeans being hairier than northern Europeans, but overall people seem to fit their native environment.

I wonder how this affects climatic preferences for heat/cold? I truly believe it has some effect. One of the reason why I believe Europeans sweat a lot is because they are simply living in climates that are too hot for them. One of my colleagues was quite short and stout (not really fat) and tended to sweat a lot. He didn't like heat at all and had a strong preference for cooler/cold weather. I wonder if people who sweat more are like this?

Thin people definitely do get colder easily, and some peoples are naturally thinner than others. Africans and Indians being the most obviously example. In India, partly due to malnourishment but also because of extreme thinness, homeless people die at night in temperatures as high as 8C.

It's why blacks living in Detroit or Leeds have vitamin D deficiency. They just weren't adapted living in such a climate. That's why pale Irish people get skin cancer in Australia, sometimes even if they never go to the beach but just go about their daily business. Again, not an ideal climate for them.

I think I'm fairly lucky in that I'm more 'in the middle'. I have olive skin, typical body shape (BMI etc) so I could probably adapt to most climates. Like there wouldn't be a climate I would have problems living in.

I know it's popular to like warm weather, but the thread about the South and AC made me wonder if most White Americans really do prefer the cold vs other peoples.

[deneb78]

For me I know I actually do sweat a lot in warmer weather mainly due to my body type.. I'm a bit stocky but not fat for sure.. Anyway, I feel refreshed when I sweat and I really enjoy it... it often means more deodorant when I go outside on hot days but that's something I can certainly live with

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by deneb78

For me I know I actually do sweat a lot in warmer weather mainly due to my body type.. I'm a bit stocky but not fat for sure.. Anyway, I feel refreshed when I sweat and I really enjoy it... it often means more deodorant when I go outside on hot days but that's something I can certainly live with

In my experience, big, stocky white guys tend to tolerate the cold more than say a slim, dark Indian girl. Of course this is subjective observation and there are plenty of exceptions.

[JetsNHL]

My body really tends to adapt to whatever weather I am in. In the winter I can go outside in -5 c weather and only weather a sweat shirt. In the summer when temps in the 30s with higher humidity I do not feel very hot while everyone around me is sweating profusely from being outside. I tent to also adjust to the sun strength and what not and not be bothered by it in the summer, ( uv index max is 8 here ). Some people adapt differently to the temperatures, while others struggle with it.

[Patricius Maximus]

There may be different racial, ancestral, or regional trends when it comes to climatic preferences, but there are so many exceptions, as a practical tool for gauging what a random person's climatic preference would be, weaker racial/regional trends would be useless.

In my experience body shape or what kind of "build" a person has is a much stronger determinant, with body fat also being a factor. For instance a heavier, larger, stockier man will probably prefer colder conditions than a man that is light, small, and skinny. The larger build is much more abundant on the North Slope of Alaska than in the contiguous United States, perhaps because that environment weeds out the unsuitable builds. Of course there are exceptions, and there are plenty of skinny people who like cold, and vice versa, it's just that there's a large proportion one way or the other.

Other than that, I've noticed no outward trait that dictates preferences. It just seems that some people create more body heat than others and they just "like" different things. Whether that is genetic or environmental is unknown. However preferences only weakly run in families, and given the huge numbers of people who are unsuited for their home (even ancestral) environment it can't be environmental. Available data, such as it is, suggests it's in-born but can change over time, much like one's MBTI (personality).

[Nivalis]

There has been a thread on this topic already, IIRC.

As for genetic influence, there may be some, but I don't think it's enough to overpower external factors like acclimation and media influence. Cultural, too, because blacks down South love A/C too. It's a southern thing, not a racial one.

I'm mostly black, tall, and a bit on the thin side. I sweat a lot and I hate the heat because of it. I grew up in Detroit but had to move down South. I never got used to the heat, so as soon as I was able to I left the region. Plenty of my family in Metro Detroit don't have any desire to move down South either. The only things that might possibly have any connection with your theory are that I get cold easily and that I don't have any problem with the sun (with the caveat that the temperature is below 70F/22C).

[ColdCanadian]

I don't sweat easily and get cold easily. Dunno why. Probably genes.

I don't burn easily so getting out in the sun is a great way for me to regulate my comfort.

That said, I'm definitely more heat tolerant than UV tolerant,
so I usually need to be carefull with exposure times.
(why am I not naturally brown or black? )

[Flight Simmer]

I tolerate cold pretty easily, but ofcourse when I'm sweating, that means the weather actually resembles summer.

[vaughanwilliams]

I don't know about the body type having much to do with temp. preferences- I work with plenty of white, "stocky"(I'm being polite) men who find anything below the high 60s to be freezing and cry like it's the end of the world.

[theunbrainwashed]

As far as genetics go, I'm suited for almost everything except the poles thanks to me being mixed with Arab/Berber, German, Spanish, and Caribbean Natives. As far as preferences go, I prefer the wet tropics, the wetter the better, and that's where my recent ancestors have spent the last (AFAIK) 180 years