Poles and the temperatures they heat their homes

Seems to me its an absolute home essential for the average Polish family to have ambient room temperature up around 27 degrees.

Which is one of the main reasons why I won't stay with relatives in Poland - only air conditioned hotels for me :D

absolutely true. part of the reason Polish children are always sick. we haven't even turned our furnace on yet- but everybody in my husbands office has it on. I can't breath or sleep or even function when it is that hot.

Wait 27 degrees F or C.... I saw this and thought BRRRRR below freezing!
But 27 c is quite cozy. I keep mine at 75f because bill :(

I dont even use AC cold in FL. I am always cold and moving back to AZ asap! Honey will love it there, but better keep cover and sunscreen in Valley.

We have NEVER put the heat on in apartment in 5 years. Last year it was minus 20 outside and we had to open the window!!!! Utter madness the heat people have houses at here in the winter. Same for offices and shops too.

maybe it's a regional thing. My family's spread all over Śląsk and it's just the opposite with them.
If I was there now I'd probably be layered for dinner! lol
But they do own the best comforters, pierzyna, I've ever slept under in my life :)

I have found myself sleeping on a hammock on our terrace as the wife gets cold very easily. We have a sensor system in my home where if the temperature drops below 16 degrees the radiators come on. I cant seem to remove this function.

I think we can safely agree its a throw back to the communist era of essential communal heating, once they start paying the gas/electric bills on a use only basis things will change and drastically too. Almost overnight.

It's that ridiculous Polish idea that you have to do certain things "bo zmarzniesz" - like being forced to wear a jumper in June, when all your mates are out in T-shirts :)


Furnace??? :D

I used to live with a Canadian - some of the words she used made me laugh, too ;)

Slippers, slippers, and, I say again ... Slippers.

I once went on a little trip to a lake with lots of Polish family, in two cars. We got there. Even though we were in the UK, it was unusually, genuinely hot - about 32 degrees. I thought the smallest member of la famille, who was not yet 1, was not with us - because he wasn't anywhere to be seen. After half an hour or so of strolling round in the roast, eating a couple of ice lollies, etc, suddenly he was produced, from inside ... a locked people carrier. He was as purple as a beetroot, and clad in ... TIGHTS. Tights. Blimey. That says it all, for me.

Bonkers.

don't even get me started about tights!!

On Tuesday I went around the corner from work for lunch. It was a nice day and not at all cold so I went wearing a shirt, no sweater. People on the street, all wrapped up in coats and a few in hats, were gawping at me. It's mid-October so it must be cold, right? I also get strange looks when I wear sunglasses on bright winter days.

I'm always asked here am I not cold. It was 19 degrees in Lodz yesterday. People here dress by the calendar, not the weather.

I love tights, and I wear them all winter. Yeah, under trousers as well. The one time I didn't, figuring UK winters are mild, I got a terrible case of chilblains I won't easily forget... And I wear a hat from October to April approximately. And gloves. :-)

I think many people in England underestimate the weather and have no clue about dressing appropriately. The number of times I have seen half-naked girls shivering in a clammy, December wind in London... They didn't look happy. But the worst I have seen (and I have seen this many times) is parents with a tiny baby, the parents wrapped up, and the baby blue from the cold, no shoes, no socks even, no hat, with a flimsy jacket on (probably because the midwife told them not to "overheat" the child).

Funny though, this was in London - where I live now, on the coast, people seem to understand that a cold wind from the sea coupled with freezing rain call for sturdy boots, hats, and winter coats. I don't feel out of place with my "Polish winter dress sense" here. ;-)

I understand what you are saying but seriously, the weather is not to be feared. dressing appropriately is key. I am from a city in Canada where it goes from -45 with windchill in the winter to +45 in the summer with humidex. Yes this is celcius. A good jacket and warm boots makes all the difference.

Putting children in tights from September to June does not let their bodies adapt to the weather. It doesn't prevent them from getting sick--it makes them sick- their bodies can't adjust.

I don't need to tell the ridiculous stories about Poles and the cold----everybody on here probably has one or more to share.

When I was in my late teens, early twenties I was one of those girls that didn't dress appropriately---but it usually involved a night of clubbing.

Funny thing is we as a family don't get sick. We eat healthy, dress for the weather- not overdress- but properly dress and regular colds and flus don't hit us. I have never put two layers of clothing on either one of my kids. Never. They always wore regular clothes and if it is cold out they wear snow suits, etc. no tights underneath and no 3 layers of shirts.

Depends on the actual weather, I would say. In a cold year, I wear tights from late September to April, I guess - and it doesn't seem to do me any harm. In fact, I am wearing tights right now! ;-)

But I also often wore a sweater in India (as a child) - to my parent's horror. I seem to be one of the people who crave warmth and never have enough of it. I soak it up like a cat on a radiator! ;-)

About layering - once you have really warm outer clothes for winter, you don't need to layer as much. I remember freezing all winter throughout the seventies and eighties, and bundling up like a maniac to compensate; and then the absolute revelation of my first real down jacket bought in 1992 or whereabouts. The same goes for winter boots.

I have warm boots and warm jackets. maybe this is why I don't understand the layers. If you don't dress warmly in my part of Canada- you can get frostbite or hypothermia. I prefer the warm jacket.

I do, too. The problem was (sometimes still is) the availability of the warm jacket. If you don't have a really snug overcoat / jacket / whatever, if your boots leak or are poorly insulated, you add layers and extra socks and whatever seems to help. It's a natural reaction. It's quite hard to find really warm clothes or boots in the UK, at least not for the price I am prepared to pay, so I usually layer... I managed to buy a military winter jacket recently though, so I'm looking forward to winter this year! :-) And I think I might be able to buy a pair of warm boots as well (made in China and cheap as chips, in a small shop in a small town nearby). Already tried and tested by a trustworthy person :-)

It's just a reflection of the warmth of their hearts.

Either that or they want to make it so hot that everyone has to take their clothes off :)

But seriously, I think it ties in with the hypochondriac problem.

Living room temperatures

18-21C - comfortable temperature
9-12 or 24+C: Risk of stroke and heart attack
21-24C or 16-18C - some discomfort
12-16C - risk of respiratory disease
Less than 9C - risk of hypothermia.

I'm pretty sure by law it should be 19 in offices. Some of the offices here require sun tan lotion in the winter. You would actually sweat in them.

Spot on.

I know people here who won't even let their kids eat ice cream in case their throats get cold!

And the rutinoscorbin thing in winter too. I get stared at for not wearing hats, gloves, or layer upon layer of over warm clothes, but almost never get ill, whereas friends who dress up like Eskimos, neck those pointless rutinoscorbin things and wear slippers, pyjamas etc are przeziebiony throughout the winter.

me too. I get the dirty looks from the grandmother who know everything, how my kids don't have hats or mitts on when it is 2 C but yet they haven't had any sickness for years. I don't mean a runny nose- this is not a sickness in my world.....yet I know if Polish kids have the sniffles they have to stay in bed and drink only hot liquids while Babcia soothes them.

Honestly, I almost think that Poles (grandmother and grandmother in law) prefer to have the children ill- it gives them purpose and something to gossip about.

Anecdotal evidence to the opposite: I used to work (in Poland) with a tough-looking guy from Minnesota. He kept joking how the Polish "cold weather" was beach-going time in MN, never wore a hat or zipped his jacket. Guess what? Within several days he had caught the most vicious respiratory infection ever and could not shake it. He was terribly surprised! BTW, eating ice cream or drinking iced drinks CAN give you a sore throat. It depends on the individual. I almost never indulge in either because for me, it's a recipe for disaster, even in summer. The cold plays havoc with those mucous membranes in the throat and nose that are supposed to be the first line of defence against respiratory tract infections.

the only way drinking cold or eating cold would make you sick is if the food had bacteria or virus on it. that is it. colds, sore throats and other respiratory infections are caused by viruses that have been transmitted via human contact.

drinking cold does not give you a sore throat but your already existing sore throat can me aggravated by drinking high acidic drinks like orange juice.

so your friend didn't get sick from being a smart arse.

This part I agree with. Nevertheless, if the blood vessels in your throat / nose are constricted due to the cold, and you encounter viruses or bacteria, your immunity is seriously compromised, so it becomes more probable that you will get seriously ill.

I almost always get a sore throat after having an iced drink. I am not ill prior to that, but get a fever, lose my voice etc. about a day after. In winter, in summer - doesn't matter. I might be totally alone having that iced drink so it's nor really about human to human transmission.

I have never ever in my life ever had a sore throat from drinking an iced drink. Never. There is no medical proof to say that this happens. Sore throats are passed from viruses and bacteria. And that is it. There must be a logical explanation to the reason.


there is another reason. you do not get sick from drinking a cold drink. it just isn't physically possible.

many people not used to air conditioning can have respiratory problems when exposed. With some AC rooms its like walking into a bloody freezer.

If people think they are going to get sick from drinking cold liquids, they probably will. In Turkey some (most, actually) people think that sitting in a draught will make them ill. Yes, of course it'll give you a stiff back if you sit with the wind on your back, but a lot of people extrapolate to a ridiculous extent. I've been on buses that were like tandoors but with windows secured shut with jubilee clips. And everyone chain-smoking. Perhaps things have changed since I was there, but I remember stern advice against using fans.

My local cafe turns the fridge off in September. When I once complained that the drinks were warm I was told, "It's winter!" with the unspoken implication, "you fool."

Warm Fanta, mnyam.

Thing is that in many cities (also here in Warsaw) the central heating is regulated centrally from an "elektrociepłownia". So it is switched on / off for about everybody on the same time. We are sleeping with open windows throughout winter because it is simply to warm at home. Heating cost is calculated per m2 and invoiced in your monthly fixed costs.