Words 488
S.I. = 97.6 %
Central Heating makes you fat?
On the theme of home working I spotted the above headline in the Daily Mail of the 26th January (Kindle Edition). According to the article the central heating present in nearly homes may also be responsible for some of the obesity found in the general population. The effect that central heating has on the body is to make it feel warm and content. There is therefore no reason to move. As the body is up to a more than comfortable temperature natural heat generation by burning calories is not necessary.
This has implications for home workers and their overall health and Wellbeing. The majority of houses have incredibly efficient thermal barriers to insulate their houses. I have a late Victorian House that is in a conservation area. When I was teaching I never quite got round to putting in those double glazing units that would have made the house extremely warm as toast. Now that I am living in the equivalent of a game preserve (I didn't realise I was such an endangered specimen) I am not allowed to have double glazing units under planning regulations.
The consequence of this that I do not have the locally excessive hot spots that may encourage the conditions whereby unintentional torpor occurs. So maybe what I loose in perceived pleasant conditions (with accompanying heating costs) I might make up in the long term with overall health benefits. As we experience more cost cutting in pursuit of headline savings my long term heath costs will also be reduced owing to the fact that I have "shivered" the reserves off . I might also be able to run to the bus quicker when I am unable to afford to run a car as fuel prices take me back 50 years in time to when everybody used Public Transport.
The design of my house is the original design. Some neighbouring properties have had their stair well moved form the centre of the house to the side. The living room and dining room have then been knocked through to form open plan living. I am not a great fan of this as it often is a temptation to turn the TV on during meal times killing the art of conversation (another stressor on Wellbeing). However, the movement of air around the house can be aided by adjusting the radiators so that downstairs they pump out more heat than upstairs. The flow of air up the stairs is naturally encouraged. High ceilings mean that a cloud of hot air develops in each room. The carpets in the bedrooms insulate the downstairs rooms, while the loft insulation keep the heat in the bedrooms upstairs. The same chimney principle is also useful for maintaining a cool house in the summer by opening the appropriate windows. Simples?
More on this theme of energy management for the home worker and the promised plant lore will feature
in the Blog 2pointfiveageofman.net.
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