Elderly OStylers please keep warm

SpikyHedgehog

dandy-candy, I hope he's been doing better with the intensive care.

lostinrates

Sigh.

Just found out there is going to be a delay in my heating being installed now. . I was so looking forward to that and giving it its test run and even setting up timers etc.

Dandy candy I hope your fil is returning to health.

Justamum

bluebag wrote: »

Quite often I have found older folks don't feel the cold despite body temperature and room temperature being very low.

It could be because the cold creeps up slowly so they don't notice it. An experiment was done on frogs (I don't in any way as a vegan support animal testing :eek:) where they were put in hot water, and immediately jumped out. Put in cold water and the water slowly heated up they didn't notice so didn't jump out. I should imagine the same would happen with the cold and people. In fact when people get hypothermia I believe they feel warm!

Justamum

annie123 wrote: »

Next time, remind the health visitor that the human race survived and multiplied without GCH for thousands of years. It was only in the 60's that GCH started to become common place.

So true. We grew up in houses where there was no central heating and no double glazing. In the Little House on the Prairie books they lived in wooden houses, and I remember in one of them the snow came in through the roof and ended up on their beds at night! :eek:

lostinrates

bluebag wrote: »

Quite often I have found older folks don't feel the cold despite body temperature and room temperature being very low.

Often I have visited the elderly to find no heating on and the place stone cold. When asked why they have no heating on they reply ' I don't feel cold '

A room thermometer showing a 'safe zone' is good as they can check if the room is warm enough rather than relying on their poor internal thermostat.

I am not elderly . But I did find I acclimatised to cooler temps quite quickly. I find what I feel as 'very warm rooms' distinctly uncomfortable, and they make an unheated home feel colder by comparison.

A shocker for me was actually on the coldest nights, when I left a plug in heater on in the kitchen, so the pipes did not freeze, and stacked the wood burner up. I felt the warmth as I came down the stairs and when I slipped into the sitting room I got excited as the plu in heater did a better job than the wood burner does, and when I opened the kitchen door the warm air rushed at me and I pulled my jumper off as I crossed the room to check the themometre and it said.......3celcius. Obviously though I felt warm I put my jumper back on!


Safe temp themometres would be an excellent idea IMO.

Fwiw, a Gp advised me to turn off my ch quite a few years ago. Dh's psoriasis improved dramatically without ch, and my hair and skin improved, though we never kept a place overly warm.

I don't think I would want to keep a baby too cold, ( I don't have children) but I understood over warm houses were also bad for babies, with a risK of cot death or SIDS increased outside an ideal of, I think, 16-20 degrees. Very many people now consider sixteen degrees 'glacial' because for most it's not comfortable in a vest or t shirt in that weather.

I tend to equate it with how I feel gardening in the spring, and t sixteen the horses have no rugs on and I am gardening in a t shirt in spring (in autumn I am probably back in a longsleeved top in that temp, in comparison to warm summe days it feels cooler)

lostinrates

Justamum wrote: »

So true. We grew up in houses where there was no central heating and no double glazing. In the Little House on the Prairie books they lived in wooden houses, and I remember in one of them the snow came in through the roof and ended up on their beds at night! :eek:

Ahh, yes, but that was nearly the end of them, remember? They had to wake up and move around a lot, even though they felt warm and snug they were drifting off I to something very bad then.

Mojisola

bluebag wrote: »

Quite often I have found older folks don't feel the cold despite body temperature and room temperature being very low.

Often I have visited the elderly to find no heating on and the place stone cold. When asked why they have no heating on they reply ' I don't feel cold'

A room thermometer showing a 'safe zone' is good as they can check if the room is warm enough rather than relying on their poor internal thermostat.

I can't find a link now but I've seen research that showed that older people were less able to judge temperatures - it's one of the abilities that we lose as we age.

My parents had a couple of paper thermometers like this one - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Energy-Saving-Room-Thermometer-White/dp/B001R4XE1U - although theirs were free from Age Concern.

Byatt

Dandy, I hope all goes well for your FIL. It's quite scary that he suffered from hyporthermia at a time when it doesn't seem dire yet in terms of awful weather.

I know in the winter of 2010 my thermometer was often on a warning of hypothermia. This year my LL allowed me to change from a key meter to a credit meter and so I can afford to have the heating on more as balanced over the year. I am currently paying £34 per month direct debit, but with a key meter I had to pay over a £100 per month in the winter.

LameWolf

OP, I hope your FIL is OK.

I must admit, I first read the thread title as "Elderly Oysters" - I wonder if I'm due a trip to the optician.:rotfl:

Molly41 wrote: »

I agree - I have posted on the "Is your heat on thread" every year that the young, ill, old etc should always heat their houses and no way it should be a competition.

Well said, Molly. I haven't read the thread you mention, deliberately - I feel guilty enough having to have the heating on due to my health issues, without being made to feel any more of a failure because I can't hold out til I can see my breath in the air in the lounge.

Scrapaholic

I remember in the 50's , no CH , the bedroom window panes , small glass panes ,set in metal ( ? proper name ) were iced up on the inside . We had a coal fire in the sitting room but everywhere else was cold . We survived somehow ! Now I'm at an age where I have my own flashes of heat and don't mind a cool bedroom . Hope your FIL picks up soon, Dandy .