When you’re out in the cold for awhile and finally come inside to warm up, why does it actually feel like you’re thawing out?

Question

I was snowboarding the other day but when getting into my car with the heater on, it took awhile for me to feel fully warm again and felt like I was actually thawing out a bit. I know we don’t actually freeze but is our body temp dropping? If so, how much and how much can the human body handle?

In: Biology

Answer 1

The body tries to keep the core temperature around 36°C and when it goes too low (25 or 30°C maybe) you die of cold (called hypothermia).

However the limbs always have a lower temperature than core. I measured 31°C for my fingers at home. When you are outside in the cold and finger, toe or ear gets below 0°C its cells may get damaged, because ice forms in there.

And it takes a while to warm this up again.