The cold. I hate, hate the heat. Our summers are hot and humid and it drives me crazy.

I would rather be cold, definitely. Especially if there is humidity in the picture. I can deal with heat but humidity kills me.

Oh I will take the heat any day over the freezing cold. I just can't move in the cold, my arthritis, my joints lock up. I have bad asthma attacks brought on by cold air. I am used to the heat having been born and raised in South Louisiana, many of those early years we didn't have any type of air conditioning. We had fans occasionally. We would find ways to evade the heat. Swimming, getting sprayed with the hose, slip n slide, making crushed ice snow cones. We worked long hard hours on the farm in the heat and humidity we all lived through it. I darn near froze to death in a white out when I lived in Denver, I vowed never to be in that kind of situation again, scariest thing I have been through, alone in the blinding snow not able to see my hand in front of my eyes!

So yes definitely hot over freezing.

I'm another one who doesn't do well in high heat and humidity. At least in cold weather it's relatively easy to keep warm (most of the time).

Heat for me. I think our bodies are better suited to handle heat better than cold. Neither extreme is good but I'd prefer heat.

This might be genetic. Most of my ancestors are from Scotland and the French alps. I feel better with cold than heat, although the naked human being can't survive cold as well as heat. (And we all started out in Africa, eh?)

I would rather take the cold

Heat....don't like the cold because it hurts...heat and humidity don't necessarily go together...it depends on where you live...

I think I rather have the heat...

I don't want to choose!
I dislike both,
but since I hurt in cold,
I guess, I take heat.
At least, my joints won't hurt.

Used to handle cold better, but now I can't seem to handle the cold. I can stay cool with the AC.

Heat without humidity is a lot different than heat with humidity. I would much rather have heat than cold. I live in Arizona, and the heat does not bother me. I have been to places with heat and humidity, and that's not for me.

Heat for sure, cold hurts and my teeth chatter

This Native Californian hates extreme weather. I dislike both cold weather and oppressively humid summer days that are common in so much of the US and elsewhere. Dry heat I can take to no limit. I've been to Arizona many times in the summer (and the hot inland parts of my state too) and I have no problem with it.

I just spent a week in subfreezing weather in the Southeast and I was happy to get back home. Yuck.

Heat!! Preferbly on a beach with a sexy hunk of a cabana boy. But if at home.....still like the heat. Cold hurts my body and inevitably makes me sick.

I could deal with the heat better. I'm very cold-natured. My hands and feet get so cold sometimes even in summer air conditioning that they hurt.

Cold. I can always put on a sweater to warm up. When it's too hot, I can only take off so much clothing...... ;)

I don't mind the cold, I'm used to it, have to be outside everyday whether is blizzarding or chinooking. But I LOVE the heat. I swear I am part lizard cause I thrive in it. Bring summer on!!

I realized my question would be kind of hard to answer, because we tend to think in terms of whether it would be easier to change things in order to make ourselves warm enough for comfort or cool enough for comfort. But if I truly could not change the situation and just had to tolerate being either really hot or really cold, I think I'd take the heat.

I have been in a few situations over the years where I foolishly didn't prepare as well as I should have for extreme temperatures. Much as I detest oppressive heat, especially with high humidity, I just can't handle feeling chilled to the bone and shivering. I guess with no way to alter the situation, I feel I could possibly psych myself into feeling less hot, easier than I would be able to psych myself into feeling less cold, lol!

I'm not a fan of extremes but I really don't do well with excessive heat. I've had more than my share of heat exhaustion. I can bundle up when it's cold. I'd like to live somewhere it was always between 65º-75º.

Heat.

Cold hurts. Putting more clothing on doesn't help because I don't generate much of my own body heat when I'm cold.

I am not as tolerant of extreme heat with humidity as I once was but it is far easier for me to cool off than it is to get warm.

Below 75 degrees and I am in layers. When other people wear sweaters I am in a winter coat.

I hate the cold, which I've been suffering with for 2 months now. (I'm in Long Island NY, East Coast US) . We have a couple feet of ice outdoors. Our poor dog has a 4 feet square area I shovelled out for a potty. I fell on the ice last week and sprained my knee. If it was hot out, I'd put on light clothing, pour myself an ice tea or lemonade and relax on a lawn chair.

1. Give me the cold. Sitting around at 65degrees is too hot. In the winter I burn calories and eat like a teenager to keep warm. Also to keep from losing too much weight. (Don't hate me)

Heat for me-I hate to be cold.

I thought that pickyshopper said...with no way to change the situation (no adding or removing clothing, no
added heat or cool fans or drinking hot or cold beverages etc.)

I could tolerate neither, but the heat wouldn't kill me.

I too will take the cold, any day!! I refer to myself as "amphibian", I am downright miserable in the dead of summer when the humidity peaks, my skin is literally moist, ALL THE TIME!! My friends & family just shake their head, they don't get it...not one of them understands when I douse myself in baby powder, lol. I am a strange sight I can tell ya!

Heat. Cold hurts and once I'm cold, it takes me forever to warm up. If I'm cold when I crawl into bed, even with flannel sheets and a heating pad, it'll take 2 hours for me to thaw enough to sleep. Splash a little water on me in the summer and put me in a breeze and I'll be freezing cold in no time!

Give me the heat. I can't stand being cold and stiff and hurting all over.

PKponder, I was indeed trying to convey a scenario in which one couldn't use or alter anything material, that would allow them to feel warmer or cooler. They would be exposed to a temperature that either made them uncomfortably hot or cold and have to bear with it as is. I'd personally rather suffer through feeling overly hot, than overly cold. But in real life situations, as long as we are provided with water, one's body would last longer exposed to stifling heat than it would exposed to sub-zero temperatures.

I've read many books about climbing expeditions to Mt. Everest, and unfortunately, a number of climbers never make it back down the mountain. But oddly enough, some survivors who were at that brink of death when they were rescued, were found with their parkas and gloves beside them, in the snow. They eventually told rescuers that in the minutes before they lost consciousness, they felt so hot and stifled that they were compelled to remove their outer clothing. Scientists think it's perhaps an odd physiological illusion that occurs so a body is able to succumb gently, without feeling freezing in their last moments of consciousness.

pickyshopper - I believe you are referring to hypothermia

I suffer with the cold, and I live in North Dakota. But still, the heat is 100 times harder for me to deal with.

Give me cold any day. I have many set of thermal underwear, both light weight and super duty. I have three levels of insulated coats. I have insulated and wind-proof caps, hats, hoods, helmets, and gloves. I have insulated shoes and boots. Cold? Bring it. Heat? Keep it.

lisa, yes the situation I was referring to is caused by moderate to severe hypothermia, although a higher percentage of people who recover from hypothermia supposedly don't report having experienced it. I learned that the condition is called 'paradoxical undressing' and is commonly found during rescues in mountain climbing expeditions, where the person is either found unconscious, with clothing beside them, or sadly found dead that way. I should have said that "some scientists believe..." as others believe it is purely a physical malfunction that causes it.

I prefer cold, can't take heat/humidity. I have good boots and gloves/hat. But then I don't go out as much as I did.

Marie from ND.

Even 24 below I can take because I don't stay out (without the wind)

Give me the heat.

If you allowed us to alter our clothing situation, I'd layer in cold. I've sometimes said that when we travel lightly clad in November ... the extreme cold in February won't hit us as hard.

Without being able to alter our situation - heat ... as extreme cold can kill you a lot more quickly.

o j

I've lived in both climates and would do better in the dry heat of the desert than outside in the cold where I live now. I'd still rather have warm humidity, over frozen toes!

Give me heat! Cold weather triggers asthma problems for me.

When we visited Ireland 3 years ago, we wore our spring jackets, as the weather was pretty chilly for May, in comparison to Ontario. One weekend we went to the seashore on the west coast, and could not believe that families, including very young children, were spending time together actually swimming in the Atlantic Ocean!

We had our jackets done up to our necks, as we watched the locals gleefully swimming and splashing about in the water for at least the half hour that we spent there. A large thermometer on the top of a building near the boardwalk read 11C, (about 51F) and here they were, enjoying the ocean, while we stood on the boardwalk, shivering!

I wonder if these delusional climbers thought their skin was on fire because of burning sensation of freezing?

Maybe so jeff. Another theory is that the lack of oxygen (most of them had been found with either a very small amount left in their oxygen tanks, or none at all) caused them to hallucinate that they were overly warm, despite their actual hypothermic body temperatures.

Makes you wonder how the first lunatics made it with no 02 tanks. Some of them anyway.

I live in Colorado, right now it's too cold....but visiting relatives in the humid south made me feel like I was cooking to death, that's no good either...being I'm still here after 30 years I guess I prefer the cold.

I'll take the heat any day over cold any day even with my hot flashes. I.HATE.COLD!!!!!!!!

jeff, I read the book 'The Lonely Victory' written about the first successful summit of Everest by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler, in 1978, without supplemental oxygen. I literally started feeling short of breath just reading about their final approach to the summit, because the passage was so vividly described. "Lunatics" isn't a bad description, in my mind either, lol!

Looks like only a couple actually read the question! LOL Uncomfortable is uncomfortable. If I was allowed to do something to offset the issue then fine but as the question is put, I'd have to pass on both options.

Pickyshopper , if I made it to the top , I'd have to light a cigarette. Oh wait, a cigarette burn that high up. To climb a mountain 'just because it's there' reminds me of people today with a camera saying "hey y'all, watch this. If you want to prove your metal, go shopping on black Friday. Lol