The Psychology of the Cold-Weather Shorts Guy

When Tom Holland, a 54-year-old exercise physiologist, shovels snow at home in Connecticut, someone always starts shouting at him. A neighbor—lots of neighbors, actually—will drive by, roll down the window, and ask: “Really? You’re in shorts?” Holland is, in fact, in shorts, as he is 364 other days of the year. He’s been wearing them in all temperatures since he was a kid—maybe for attention at first, he admits, but now because he runs hot and is simply more comfortable pantsless. He’s in shorts when he walks his two dogs, goes for a run in below-freezing temps, or cleans his at-home outdoor ice rink in the dead of night. He wears them to his kids’ wintertime ice-hockey games—a sharp juxtaposition to his wife, who stays warm with a battery-operated heated vest. Holland almost always forgoes jackets, too. “I’d rather be a little bit cold most of the time than hot all the time,” he says. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Everyone seems to know a cold-weather shorts guy. He stands out on sidewalks otherwise populated by people in parkas. He’s parading around every college campus and taking a lap around every snow-covered cul de sac. There’s even one in the Senate. So as Holland’s neighbors want to know: Why does their wardrobe stay the same when the seasons change? And aren’t they cold? A flurry of psychological forces There’s no single reason ...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news