When the night is too cold, layer your clothes!

With classes for this year resuming, I finally realized how appropriate dressing for the outdoors is. When I was in college, I never really went out at night except when I had to visit one of my friends so I didn’t have the chance to experience this extreme cold. When I did go out, I only wore pants topped with a sweatshirt. Back then, it was okay, since I only stayed for an hour or so.

Yesterday, I wore the same attire to school. You see, my classes start at 5:30 in the afternoon and end at 8:30. When I got home, I realized I already had a sore throat and slight fever. This is not good since I have tons of work I need to finish. I had no choice but to sleep earlier than usual, and deal with backlog in the morning. Lesson learned: dressing for the outdoors is absolutely necessary.

But I hate layering! There are times I wear two layers of clothes and when I enter an establishment, it gets too hot and I have to remove the top layers. The worst thing is that I have to put them back again when I go out. This is pretty inconvenient for me.

If you live in the US, then you probably have no choice but to layer your clothes especially with the winter in full bloom. For people who love the slopes, layering their garments is the only way they can keep up with the cold, but there are a lot of times when their performance are sacrificed. To help you cope with the weather condition, I will tell you a secret: layering is also a technology. You can remain comfortable and warm while outdoors and there’s a method you can use for this.

In general, there are three layers of clothing you need to wear, especially if you are planning to go out in extreme cold weather: the base layer, mid layer and the outer garment. When choosing the right set of clothes to wear, you need to keep in mind that each layer has different purposes. The base sits next to your skin; it helps keep the sweat away from the body keeping you comfortable. For this layer, it is best that you choose a garment made of cotton. The mid layer is for insulation. You can use fleece, tights and down jacket for this layer. The outer covering is the most important layer and should provide you complete protection from the elements. Make sure you wear a roomy outer layer so that it doesn’t restrict your movement.

Tomorrow, I’m going to be attending my night classes again, and yes, you can bet, I will be dressing for the outdoors!