每到夏天，办公室的空调温度常常引发男女职员之间的纷争。女士觉得空调温度合适时，男士往往觉得太热；男士觉得神清气爽了，女士却冷得发抖。女性是否天生比男性怕冷呢？
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普遍存在的刻板印象是，女性在室温下一定要备一件外套。但这是科学事实吗？
It's a stereotype universally acknowledged that a woman at room temperature must be in want of a coat. But is it a scientific truth?
除了纯观察之外，很少有对照研究调查了男性和女性身体如何抵御寒冷。
Sheer observations aside, very few controlled studies have investigated how male and female bodies withstand cold temperatures.
美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）的研究人员在开展一项新研究时惊讶地发现，男女在寒冷房间中的感知没有性别差异，并且男女对寒冷的生理反应也几乎没有性别差异。
A new study has surprised researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), finding no sex difference in the perception of a cold room, and very few sex differences in our physiological response to it.
在试验期间，一组28名男性和女性在温度可控制的房间里待了五个小时，他们穿着研究人员提供的衣服，包括衬衫、短裤或裙子，还有袜子。每天，随着温度在17摄氏度到31摄氏度之间变化，研究人员会对参与者的身体进行监测，并对他们的舒适度进行调查。
During the trial, a group of 28 men and women spent five hours in a temperature-controlled room, wearing provided shirts, shorts or skirts, and socks. Each day, participants were physically monitored and surveyed on their comfortability as the temperature ranged between 17 ºC to 31 ºC.
与NIH研究人员预期的相反，参加研究的女性在较低的温度下，核心体温略高于男性。
Contrary to what NIH researchers were expecting to find, women in the study had a slightly higher core body temperature in colder temperatures than men.
此外，参与者在葡萄糖摄取、肌肉电活动、皮肤温度或寒冷诱发的热生成方面没有性别差异。
There were no sex differences in glucose uptake, muscle electrical activity, skin temperature, or cold-induced thermogenesis.
尽管女性参与者体积较男性小，总体上产生的热量较少，但她们相对较高比例的体脂帮助平衡了热量的不足。
It seems that even though female participants were physically smaller than males, producing less body heat overall, their relatively higher body fat helped balance the scales.
基于研究结果，NIH研究人员表示，女性身体对温度的舒适区下限大约是22摄氏度——比男性参与者的平均值低一度。
Based on their results, researchers at NIH say the female body's comfort zone for temperature bottoms out at roughly 22 °C – a degree lower than the average for male participants.
这表明随着温度下降，女性身体不必像男性那样立即为保暖而消耗能量，使女性拥有更能适应严寒气候的热特性。
This suggests that as temperatures drop, the female body doesn't have to expend energy for warmth as soon as the male body, giving women a more "arctic" thermal profile.
但是，尽管这种性别差异是显著的，但它提供的优势很小。当温度降至17摄氏度时，研究人员发现参与者在开始发抖的时间或在房间里感到舒适或不舒适的程度上没有性别差异。

But that sex difference, while it is significant, offers little advantage. As temperatures lower to 17 ºC, researchers found no sex differences in the onset of shivering or how comfortable or uncomfortable participants said they felt in the room.
这项研究发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上。
The study was published in PNAS.
编辑：陈丹妮
审校：齐磊、董静
英文来源：Science Aler
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