6 ms·

I Swore Off Air-Conditioning, and You Can, Too

11 points by joak 2y ago

joak 2y ago
If you dress lightly temperatures below 100°F(36°C) feel good if you take the time to adapt. The problem is at night, a mattress is a very thick cloth covering half your body. The solution is to sleep without a mattress. Sleeping on the floor or other hard surface can be harsh though. My solution is to sleep in a hammock. In tropical America millions of people comfortably sleep in hammocks every night.
- WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
  > If you dress lightly temperatures below 100°F(36°C) feel good if you take the time to adapt. In >90%RH, adaption = sweat fully soaking your clothes. source: 30yr in America's Hellhole, FL
  - nullc 2y ago
    I grew up in broward without air conditioning. You get used to it. A couple days in the summer you hang out in the bathtub or escape to the library, otherwise its fine.
    - WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
      > I grew up in broward without air conditioning. You get used to it. I've been on the gulf coast since 1992. How much longer until I get used to it? Because not wringing out clothes after the nightly walk sounds pretty sweet.
howard941 2y ago
Not setting the temperature to 69 can help. I'm in Florida, I keep it at 82 when I'm alone. Wife prefers it colder - 80. It feels cold.
- WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
  I set it to 68 at night to reduce insomnia. I did years of no A/C, of high settings, of medium settings. Every alt means less rest for me. Less sleep means less health.
- trillic 2y ago
  Dry feels cold in Florida
  - WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
    Maybe you are a native? I'm a long time transplant and can't recall the last time I felt cold in FL. Maybe back when winters routinely got below 30°, early aughts. Our winter lows are higher every decade I'm here.
fsagx 2y ago
https://archive.is/lxKBc https://archive.is/lxKBc
Algemarin 2y ago
Silly clickbait headline. > If you live in Miami or Phoenix, you need air-conditioning to survive the summer. But if you live in the middle of the country, try leaving the air-conditioning off when it’s hot but not too hot. The more accurate description of this opinion piece is therefore "if you live in areas where it's not too hot [Kansas, where the author is situated, seems like it has average upper temps of mid 80s right now], you don't really need AC much". ....Well, no kidding?
nothercastle 2y ago
I mean you can but unless it are extremely poor you probably shouldn’t
HocusLocus 2y ago
It's easy to swear off AC if you just don't have one. Sometimes there is a bit of extra swearing involved. And sleep deprivation, 3 showers a night and laying dripping in front of the fan, 5 minutes until dry. (GA)
pseudosaid 2y ago
Yall need to cut back on the avocado toast mkay?
Perenti 2y ago
With increasing global temperatures, increasing numbers of people are vulnerable to heat related illness. In my case, whenever it's above 36C I have a significantly higher chance of sudden death (Brugada Syndrome), so I hide from heatwaves in air-con. Since we've had 3 days above 30C this week, and winter is officially over today, I think it's a good air-con summer ahead.
BrainInAJar 2y ago
did an oil industry write this?
tsol 2y ago
The a/c in my apartment in Chicago is broken. It's a custom size so it's taking a while to fix. The heat is bearable, but challenging. I can see how much more efficient they make things. Just falling asleep takes much longer now. When it gets too hot it can get distracting, it makes it hard to think. I don't want to get up and walk around, I plant myself in front of a fan. I think the level of heat adaptation the human body is capable is limited. You can bear it but it'll affect performance. Even when I maintain a sauna habit, I never adapt to the point that I'm unbothered by the heat. As much energy as cooling homes consumes, it's pretty damn worth it considering you gain comfort and performance benefits
big-green-man 2y ago
I lived without AC til I was 30. Worked outside, no car AC, windows open in the summer. I never once remember thinking about the weather before going to live life, and I lived in a place with 110° summers, no problem. Then around that time I started working in an office and got accustomed to it. I feel weaker and less healthy. I think AC (and canned air in general) is bad for you and I try not to use it and to spend more time outside, probably the only reason I haven't gone cold turkey on it is my family like the comfort.

11 points by joak 2y ago

joak 2y ago

If you dress lightly temperatures below 100°F(36°C) feel good if you take the time to adapt. The problem is at night, a mattress is a very thick cloth covering half your body. The solution is to sleep without a mattress. Sleeping on the floor or other hard surface can be harsh though. My solution is to sleep in a hammock. In tropical America millions of people comfortably sleep in hammocks every night.

WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
> If you dress lightly temperatures below 100°F(36°C) feel good if you take the time to adapt. In >90%RH, adaption = sweat fully soaking your clothes. source: 30yr in America's Hellhole, FL
- nullc 2y ago
  I grew up in broward without air conditioning. You get used to it. A couple days in the summer you hang out in the bathtub or escape to the library, otherwise its fine.
  - WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
    > I grew up in broward without air conditioning. You get used to it. I've been on the gulf coast since 1992. How much longer until I get used to it? Because not wringing out clothes after the nightly walk sounds pretty sweet.

howard941 2y ago

Not setting the temperature to 69 can help. I'm in Florida, I keep it at 82 when I'm alone. Wife prefers it colder - 80. It feels cold.

WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
I set it to 68 at night to reduce insomnia. I did years of no A/C, of high settings, of medium settings. Every alt means less rest for me. Less sleep means less health.
trillic 2y ago
Dry feels cold in Florida
- WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
  Maybe you are a native? I'm a long time transplant and can't recall the last time I felt cold in FL. Maybe back when winters routinely got below 30°, early aughts. Our winter lows are higher every decade I'm here.

fsagx 2y ago

https://archive.is/lxKBc https://archive.is/lxKBc

Algemarin 2y ago

Silly clickbait headline. > If you live in Miami or Phoenix, you need air-conditioning to survive the summer. But if you live in the middle of the country, try leaving the air-conditioning off when it’s hot but not too hot. The more accurate description of this opinion piece is therefore "if you live in areas where it's not too hot [Kansas, where the author is situated, seems like it has average upper temps of mid 80s right now], you don't really need AC much". ....Well, no kidding?

nothercastle 2y ago

I mean you can but unless it are extremely poor you probably shouldn’t

HocusLocus 2y ago

It's easy to swear off AC if you just don't have one. Sometimes there is a bit of extra swearing involved. And sleep deprivation, 3 showers a night and laying dripping in front of the fan, 5 minutes until dry. (GA)

pseudosaid 2y ago

Yall need to cut back on the avocado toast mkay?

Perenti 2y ago

With increasing global temperatures, increasing numbers of people are vulnerable to heat related illness. In my case, whenever it's above 36C I have a significantly higher chance of sudden death (Brugada Syndrome), so I hide from heatwaves in air-con. Since we've had 3 days above 30C this week, and winter is officially over today, I think it's a good air-con summer ahead.

BrainInAJar 2y ago

did an oil industry write this?

tsol 2y ago

The a/c in my apartment in Chicago is broken. It's a custom size so it's taking a while to fix. The heat is bearable, but challenging. I can see how much more efficient they make things. Just falling asleep takes much longer now. When it gets too hot it can get distracting, it makes it hard to think. I don't want to get up and walk around, I plant myself in front of a fan. I think the level of heat adaptation the human body is capable is limited. You can bear it but it'll affect performance. Even when I maintain a sauna habit, I never adapt to the point that I'm unbothered by the heat. As much energy as cooling homes consumes, it's pretty damn worth it considering you gain comfort and performance benefits

big-green-man 2y ago

I lived without AC til I was 30. Worked outside, no car AC, windows open in the summer. I never once remember thinking about the weather before going to live life, and I lived in a place with 110° summers, no problem. Then around that time I started working in an office and got accustomed to it. I feel weaker and less healthy. I think AC (and canned air in general) is bad for you and I try not to use it and to spend more time outside, probably the only reason I haven't gone cold turkey on it is my family like the comfort.