Living in Season

I'm not a zealot who thinks we should get rid of ACs, nor am I one of those people who refuses to turn the heat on in the wintertime.  But I do think about the implications of modern conveniences.  People who argue that ACs contribute to having warmer air outdoors definitely make a valid point.  According to thermodynamics, the thermal energy from the cooling process needs to go somewhere, and it ends up outside.  Walk by the outside of any window unit and you'll get blasted with heat.  I do dislike that, by using AC, we're making the problem worse, not better.   The environmental piece is troubling but is improving steadily as technology improves.  At least new ACs don't require CFCs, which are terrible for the ozone layer.

But to me, there is a much more compelling reason for why I like to rely less heavily on air conditioning.  It knocks out my natural rhythms and my body's ability to adjust to the season.

In the summertime, I tend to eat different kinds of food, and a little bit less.  I tend to crave smoothies over big bowls of cereal in the afternoon.  I tend to crave a big salad instead of a pile of potato and eggs.  I tend to want some guacamole and chips instead of..., well, you see where I'm going with this.  In addition, I tend to get a little bit less exercise because of how super-hot it is.  Over the years, I've come to appreciate and like how my body naturally regulates itself.  The number of calories in and calories out overall reduce a little, not by my effort, but just by my body's natural reaction to being in the heat for long periods of time.

Plop me in the middle of an over-airconditioned environment (say, 60 degrees -- office standard for men in suits), and that all changes.  Bring on the huge plate of fries.  And suddenly I feel like I can move around again.  I zing around with the energy and the appetite that I experience when it's 60 out... not 90.  Then I get back outside and feel out of whack, disconnected, and kinda gross.  Now, it's not such a problem in short bursts -- sometimes it's AWESOME to get into AC when you've been in a superhot environment and experience the relief and the hunger and the satiation and the energy to move.  But longterm poses a problem for me.  When I was working and I was in 60-degree air-conditioning day-in-day-out, I felt really out of sync.  I craved the same foods that I craved in the middle of November.  Every single day.  It just felt wrong.

The point I'm trying to get across is that air conditioning interrupts my natural rhythms. And, even if those natural rhythms are adaptations that my body has made to make myself less miserable and more comfortable, I like to experience my natural rhythms.  I like craving smoothies in the summer just like I like craving potatoes and eggs in the fall.  I like feeling like doing nothing but lying around reading in the summer just like I love it when I want to go for a hike once the weather has cooled down.  I like how my body adapts, and I want to experience that.

Before I make my next unfair leap of logic, let me state this caveat: I know that ability to deal with heat varies greatly by person -- even for those who didn't grow up with air-conditioning.  Access to AC is a public health issue for a lot of populations, and heat exhaustion is real.  That said, follow me along for a thought experiment, if you feel like having your buttons pushed.  The next sentence is not an evidence-based or popular statement.

To push the point a little further, I think it's good for me to deal with being uncomfortable.  We all can't be comfortable all the time, and I think it's a good, easy lesson.  I don't know, but I have the sense that it might make for a heartier or happier person capable of dealing with life's discomforts with aplomb.  There's a part of me that likes to be challenged a little bit. To be put out of my comfort zone. I think adults get too used to being in comfort zones, and AC is another form of that. It's OK to be uncomfortable sometimes.

But I recognize that the current expectations of formal, adult life don't mesh well with no AC.  When I hear people say, "I can't deal with the heat," part of me thinks that what they're really saying is, "I can't deal with what is expected of me in the heat.  All I wanna do is lie around."  And I think our bodies are telling us that we should be lying around, taking it a little slower.  As this Boston Globe article, "How to Survive Without Air Conditioning" suggests, a lot would have to change about our society's expectations if we were to go without or with less AC.

So I go with AC in moderation.  We use the AC when we're sleeping.  On really hot days, we keep the bedroom cool so we have a place for respite. We don't have a lake handy, so the AC's a good option for temporary relief.  But we won't be leaving it on 24-7, inoculating Calvin against an opportunity for him to deal with discomfort.  Maybe.  But the biggest deal is that I want to experience my body's resilience.