[Freak_NL]

At 21°C I can work normally at home (21.5°C to 25°C means absolute comfort to me), sitting behind a desk. At 20°C I am uncomfortable. Extra clothing doesn't help: anything beyond the thick jumper and fluffy slippers annoys me just as much as the lower temperature. I usually have to stop and take a hot shower in the middle of the day to get back to some semblance of comfort (not really conserving energy there then). At 19°C and lower I am miserable. Something to do with being tall and slim I guess. In summer heat my range of comfortable temperatures lies a few degrees higher too, so that evens out.

19°C is fine if I'm remodelling, hoovering, doing the dishes, or anything else that involves not sitting behind a desk, and I don't mind being out in freezing cold as long as I'm moving and have very, very good gloves on, but working behind a desk with my brain requires my body to be comfortable, relaxed, and not annoyed by stiff fingers hitting the wrong keys.

[andai]

When the gas prices went up a few months ago I decided to turn off the heating in my apartment completely and see how far I could get. In the beginning it was about 16-17C which felt unpleasant, but by the time the indoor temp dropped to 12-13C a few weeks later, my metabolism had adjusted and it felt quite comfortable.

[Freak_NL]

Great! My body doesn't adjust to that. It's only a minor hindrance in the grand scheme of things, but it sometimes does annoy me (and others whose comfort zone starts at a slightly higher temperature than the majority) when people think the problem is purely one of lack of acclimatization or grit.

I can adjust to higher temperatures just fine, but not sitting still (even with regular active breaks) at anything below 21°C. Our company used to rent office space when we were a startup in a place that didn't turn on the heating until temperatures outside dropped below a certain threshold. Sometimes this meant 19°C or 20°C for weeks: I don't get used to it; it just stops me being productive (and nice).

[HWR_14]

> when people think the problem is purely one of lack of acclimatization or grit.

In most situations, I feel like people talking extensively about grit assume the difficulty level is the same for everyone. And they tend to be antagonistic towards people who try to explain why some things are more difficult and instead double down on pushing grit.

[Riseed]

I'm much the same. Coworkers and roommates tell me to add layers and drink tea, but layers and hot tea make no difference if it's consistently 20ºC or below. My brain just does not work for anything more demanding than deleting junk mail. Thank goodness for space heaters.

[lucb1e]

> At 20°C I am uncomfortable. Extra clothing doesn't help [...] I usually have to stop and take a hot shower in the middle of the day to get back to some semblance of comfort

I wonder how many people feel that way. I've never heard of anyone having to take a hot shower to keep warm in a 20°C room no matter the clothing. I wonder if it's just a taboo, something that simply doesn't come up, or if this happens to one in a thousand.

As for tall and slim, I'm also Dutch so I imagine I'd have heard of this more than zero times before if that were the main cause.