Raise your glass ( AG: Watch your ankles)
 

For your reference, records indicate that
dgk wrote:

Now that is an interesting approach. I'm not sure that I want to drink
any alcohol and drive down NYC streets, but a fine suggestion.

Keep in mind, the purpose is not to get drunk or impaired in any way. I
don’t know if that is easier for me to do because I don’t do much drinking
in the first place, or if the reverse is the case since I’m a
“lightweight�. All I know is that if I take a half-drink worth of alcohol
15-30 minutes before I go into the cold, and continue to consume
1 drink/hour (roughly matching the rate it metabolizes) when I’m active,
it seems to normalize my body heat distribution. If you think trying it
out when biking is too risky, give it a shot (ha!) when you have other
outdoor activities like shoveling to do.

--
"Also . . . I can kill you with my brain."
River Tam, Trash, Firefly

Raise your glass ( AG: Watch your ankles)
 

On Tue, 06 Jan 2015 20:21:28 +0000, Phil W Lee
wrote:

Doc O'Leary considered Mon, 5 Jan
2015 17:38:06 +0000 (UTC) the perfect time to write:

For your reference, records indicate that
dgk wrote:

All interesting points. I complained about having cold toes and
fingers on bike forums and get told that I need to keep the core warm.
The core is warm and even sweating but the hands and toes freeze. So I
just figure that I have crappy circulation there, but maybe keeping
the ankles warmer would help.

No, you have to address the fundamental circulation issue. I, too, find
it relatively easy (especially with modern clothing) to keep my core warm
enough to get sweaty, but the circulation to my extremities is still cut
off. The solution is to combat the vasoconstrictor effect directly.

My method: alcohol. I’m a non-drinker in general, but I *will* drink when
I go exercising in cold weather. Not enough to get drunk, of course, but
enough to get my circulation into the “warm” phase. I *want* to lose
extra heat at the extremities.

It’s -7F (-22C) in Minneapolis right now (worse with wind chill), and I’m
biking today. It’s not as fun as it is in warmer weather, but it was far
more miserable before I realized how alcohol could improve things.

A slightly less controversial alternative to alcohol might be a mild
blood thinner, like aspirin 75mg (best taken with a snack, to avoid
stomach irritation).
Of course, if you prefer natural products, you could achieve the same
thing by chewing a bit of willow bark (which is what aspirin was
originally derived from), but it's VERY bitter, and controlling the
dose would be difficult.

I always kind of wondered about that. I knew that asprin came from
bark, but how many people went around chewing bark from various trees
until they found one that had the desired effect? And since it takes a
while to work, they could only chew one tree at a time until
sufficient time had passed to know whether it worked or not.

Raise your glass ( AG: Watch your ankles)
 

On Wed, 07 Jan 2015 10:00:49 -0500, dgk wrote:

On Tue, 06 Jan 2015 20:21:28 +0000, Phil W Lee
wrote:

Doc O'Leary considered Mon, 5 Jan
2015 17:38:06 +0000 (UTC) the perfect time to write:

For your reference, records indicate that
dgk wrote:

All interesting points. I complained about having cold toes and
fingers on bike forums and get told that I need to keep the core warm.
The core is warm and even sweating but the hands and toes freeze. So I
just figure that I have crappy circulation there, but maybe keeping
the ankles warmer would help.

No, you have to address the fundamental circulation issue. I, too, find
it relatively easy (especially with modern clothing) to keep my core warm
enough to get sweaty, but the circulation to my extremities is still cut
off. The solution is to combat the vasoconstrictor effect directly.

My method: alcohol. I’m a non-drinker in general, but I *will* drink when
I go exercising in cold weather. Not enough to get drunk, of course, but
enough to get my circulation into the “warm” phase. I *want* to lose
extra heat at the extremities.

It’s -7F (-22C) in Minneapolis right now (worse with wind chill), and I’m
biking today. It’s not as fun as it is in warmer weather, but it was far
more miserable before I realized how alcohol could improve things.

A slightly less controversial alternative to alcohol might be a mild
blood thinner, like aspirin 75mg (best taken with a snack, to avoid
stomach irritation).
Of course, if you prefer natural products, you could achieve the same
thing by chewing a bit of willow bark (which is what aspirin was
originally derived from), but it's VERY bitter, and controlling the
dose would be difficult.

I always kind of wondered about that. I knew that asprin came from
bark, but how many people went around chewing bark from various trees
until they found one that had the desired effect? And since it takes a
while to work, they could only chew one tree at a time until
sufficient time had passed to know whether it worked or not.

I've seen "dried willow bark" for sale in a Chinese apothecary shop. I
believe it is used as a "tea".
--
Cheers,

John B.

Raise your glass ( AG: Watch your ankles)
 

On Thu, 08 Jan 2015 06:58:20 +0000, Phil W Lee
wrote:

John B. Slocomb considered Thu, 08 Jan 2015
07:47:25 +0700 the perfect time to write:

On Wed, 07 Jan 2015 10:00:49 -0500, dgk wrote:

On Tue, 06 Jan 2015 20:21:28 +0000, Phil W Lee
wrote:

Doc O'Leary considered Mon, 5 Jan
2015 17:38:06 +0000 (UTC) the perfect time to write:

For your reference, records indicate that
dgk wrote:

All interesting points. I complained about having cold toes and
fingers on bike forums and get told that I need to keep the core warm.
The core is warm and even sweating but the hands and toes freeze. So I
just figure that I have crappy circulation there, but maybe keeping
the ankles warmer would help.

No, you have to address the fundamental circulation issue. I, too, find
it relatively easy (especially with modern clothing) to keep my core warm
enough to get sweaty, but the circulation to my extremities is still cut
off. The solution is to combat the vasoconstrictor effect directly.

My method: alcohol. I’m a non-drinker in general, but I *will* drink when
I go exercising in cold weather. Not enough to get drunk, of course, but
enough to get my circulation into the “warm” phase. I *want* to lose
extra heat at the extremities.

It’s -7F (-22C) in Minneapolis right now (worse with wind chill), and I’m
biking today. It’s not as fun as it is in warmer weather, but it was far
more miserable before I realized how alcohol could improve things.

A slightly less controversial alternative to alcohol might be a mild
blood thinner, like aspirin 75mg (best taken with a snack, to avoid
stomach irritation).
Of course, if you prefer natural products, you could achieve the same
thing by chewing a bit of willow bark (which is what aspirin was
originally derived from), but it's VERY bitter, and controlling the
dose would be difficult.

I always kind of wondered about that. I knew that asprin came from
bark, but how many people went around chewing bark from various trees
until they found one that had the desired effect? And since it takes a
while to work, they could only chew one tree at a time until
sufficient time had passed to know whether it worked or not.

I've seen "dried willow bark" for sale in a Chinese apothecary shop. I
believe it is used as a "tea".

And once things like that are in regular use, people tend to notice
the effects.

I'm sure that in pre-history, some knowledge of that kind was actively
sought though. The real shame is how little of it we've retained.

I've seen willow bark tea mentioned in different countries so I'd
guess that it was pretty well known. But why bother with collecting
bark, carefully drying it and making tea when Bayer made all the
preparation redundant :-) But many herbal remedies were synthesized
and are use today. Foxglove, for example, (digitalis) was used in the
1700's to treat heart problems. Plain old charcoal was used for upset
stomachs, probably since pre-historic times, in fact I use it
occasionally, but I buy it in the store rather than chopping up my
wife's cooking fuel.
--
Cheers,

John B.

Raise your glass ( AG: Watch your ankles)
 

For your reference, records indicate that
John B. Slocomb wrote:

On Thu, 08 Jan 2015 06:58:20 +0000, Phil W Lee
wrote:

I'm sure that in pre-history, some knowledge of that kind was actively
sought though. The real shame is how little of it we've retained.

I've seen willow bark tea mentioned in different countries so I'd
guess that it was pretty well known. But why bother with collecting
bark, carefully drying it and making tea when Bayer made all the
preparation redundant

Not just redundant, but inherently *scientific*. A lot of the reason why
we haven’t retained past “knowledge� is that it got rigorously tested
and was found to be bunk. Some less educated people still believe some
of the past non-sense, though, and you’ll still see things like rhino
horn being used for something a more worldly person would know to buy
Viagra for.

Regardless, in the cold weather biking/exertion front, I will continue
to consume moderate, measured amounts of alcohol when it dips below a
tolerable temperature (around 20F/-7C for me). I may add aspirin to
the process, but I don’t know how much a blood thinner actually does to
improve circulation. I mean, I *feel* the flush that is brought on by
alcohol; I have never felt that after taking an aspirin.

--
"Also . . . I can kill you with my brain."
River Tam, Trash, Firefly

Raise your glass ( AG: Watch your ankles)
 

On the subject of bark teas, anyone heard of quinine as muscle cramp
preventitive?

Raise your glass ( AG: Watch your ankles)
 

On 1/8/2015 5:15 PM, mac wrote:
On the subject of bark teas, anyone heard of quinine as muscle cramp
preventitive?

Heard of it. Haven't tried it.


--
- Frank Krygowski

Raise your glass ( AG: Watch your ankles)
 

On Thu, 8 Jan 2015 22:15:29 +0000 (UTC), mac
wrote:

On the subject of bark teas, anyone heard of quinine as muscle cramp
preventitive?

Quinine is a muscle relaxer and yes, can be used to prevent muscle
cramps however it may have serious side effects.For night muscle
cramps you might try magnesium tablets which work for some people and
doesn't seem to have severe side effects.
--
Cheers,

John B.

Raise your glass ( AG: Watch your ankles)
 

On Thu, 8 Jan 2015 16:17:18 +0000 (UTC), Doc O'Leary
wrote:

For your reference, records indicate that
John B. Slocomb wrote:

On Thu, 08 Jan 2015 06:58:20 +0000, Phil W Lee
wrote:

I'm sure that in pre-history, some knowledge of that kind was actively
sought though. The real shame is how little of it we've retained.

I've seen willow bark tea mentioned in different countries so I'd
guess that it was pretty well known. But why bother with collecting
bark, carefully drying it and making tea when Bayer made all the
preparation redundant

Not just redundant, but inherently *scientific*. A lot of the reason why
we haven’t retained past “knowledge” is that it got rigorously tested
and was found to be bunk. Some less educated people still believe some
of the past non-sense, though, and you’ll still see things like rhino
horn being used for something a more worldly person would know to buy
Viagra for.

You are saying that the Chinese have been taking powdered rhino horn
for at least two thousand years and no one has discovered that it
doesn't work?

--
Cheers,

John B.

Raise your glass ( AG: Watch your ankles)
 

For your reference, records indicate that
John B. Slocomb wrote:

You are saying that the Chinese have been taking powdered rhino horn
for at least two thousand years and no one has discovered that it
doesn't work?

Actually, it turns out that my suggested use is a misconception:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoce..._trade_and_use

Regardless, *many* people have discovered that it doesn’t work as a
medicine. Just not the ones who take it, I assume, who may themselves be
ignorant of the placebo effect. If only they were homeopaths, too, the
rhinos would be doing a lot better in the wild.

--
"Also . . . I can kill you with my brain."
River Tam, Trash, Firefly