Why do women freeze more easily?

The question of why women get cold more often and faster than men is easy to answer: Body composition is responsible for this. Statistically speaking, the average male body is made up of 40 percent muscle and only 15 percent fat.

Gender-specific cold sensation

In women, the metabolically active body mass, i.e. the musculature, is far less pronounced; on average, the female body consists of 25 percent muscle and almost 25 percent fat. Fat can insulate heat, but cannot produce it. Muscle work is responsible for this.

In the past, this small “injustice” of nature was roughly compensated for with the equation “less heat production, but better insulation”.

Less fat

However, in our day and age there is a slender ideal of beauty, women are fighting every pound of their fat and as a result they often lack sufficient heat generation and insulation.

Women have a different sensitivity to cold

Another reason why women are more sensitive to cold is their relatively thin skin compared to that of men. The male epidermis is 15 percent stronger than the female.

When there is a risk of heat loss, the vessels constrict and the blood flow to the skin is reduced, which works more easily with thin skin than with thick skin. The surface of a woman’s skin is then up to three degrees colder than that of a man, which means that the temperature difference between the skin and the inside of the body is greater than that of a man. Accordingly, the woman has an increased sensitivity to cold.