Is “Men Run Hot” Outdated? 5ch Debates the Rise of “Secretly Cold” Men in the Office

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The story

Contrary to the image that “men run hot,” a growing number of men reportedly can’t bring themselves to say they’re cold in air-conditioned offices — a news report on this sparked a lively debate about perceived temperature on 5ch’s News Express+ board. The discussion ranged from the relationship between muscle mass, body fat, and feeling hot or cold, to the psychology of younger employees too embarrassed to put on a layer, all the way to the perennial question of “who actually controls the office AC, anyway.” Sightings were also reported of a “thermostat guardian” who secretly resets the AC back up, with opinions split between those who blame body type for cold sensitivity and those who call it a gendered assumption.

Have you ever heard the term “secretly cold-sensitive men”?

While the image of “men running hot” remains deeply entrenched, it’s said that quite a few men struggle with feeling “cold” from air conditioning during summer or other warm periods.

(details omitted)

Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here

What people said

3AnonymousSep 17, 2026 19:55
With that attitude you'll never cut it as a blue-collar worker
111AnonymousSep 17, 2026 21:36
Re: #3
Bet he'd collapse the second he became a blue-collar worker lol
5AnonymousSep 17, 2026 19:57
Fat = runs hot

That's why
if you're average weight or thin, you get cold
13AnonymousSep 17, 2026 20:00
Re: #5
Actually fat people are surprisingly cold-sensitive too
Muscular people are more likely to run hot
130AnonymousSep 17, 2026 21:55
Re: #5
Heard that fat itself gets cold, so that's why they feel cold
27AnonymousSep 17, 2026 20:06
More muscle means you radiate more heat, so you run hot
Going forward, being ripped just isn't eco-friendly
28AnonymousSep 17, 2026 20:08
Re: #27
But they're also more resistant to cold, so it evens out
41AnonymousSep 17, 2026 20:15
If both the guys and the girls think it's cold, then who's actually in charge of the thermostat?
Some okama? (dated, often derogatory slang for effeminate or cross-dressing men)
50AnonymousSep 17, 2026 20:21
Re: #41
The women at my workplace apparently like the room itself kept cold
then they use spot cold-proofing gear for specific body parts
43AnonymousSep 17, 2026 20:16
Are there even fat people with poor circulation (hiesho, chronic cold sensitivity)?
51AnonymousSep 17, 2026 20:22
Re: #43
A muscular heavyweight like a sumo wrestler definitely runs hot
But if it's just plain fat with zero exercise, it wouldn't be strange for them to feel cold
Basically it comes down to muscle mass
46AnonymousSep 17, 2026 20:18
Summer AC chill is way more uncomfortable than actual winter cold
But the women at my office are the ones controlling the thermostat
63AnonymousSep 17, 2026 20:29
Re: #50
I get that — I don't want my hands and feet cold, but I like my face cold enough to sting a little
79AnonymousSep 17, 2026 20:37
Re: #63
"Cool head, warm feet" is the ideal
But hot air rises and cold air sinks, so it never works out that way
It'd be fine if the air actually circulated well, but it rarely does
68AnonymousSep 17, 2026 20:30
"Male cold sensitivity"
somehow that phrase really creeps up on you.
76AnonymousSep 17, 2026 20:34
Re: #68
Even men get cold sensitivity if they do desk work with zero exercise — I know a guy like that
Guess it really comes down to keeping your body in shape
71AnonymousSep 17, 2026 20:31
Pathetic for a man to be cold-sensitive
Foreign tourists walk around outside in just a T-shirt even in winter
117AnonymousSep 17, 2026 21:38
Not long ago everyone was saying "set the AC higher for the environment," but nobody says that anymore
Even though things keep getting more serious
122AnonymousSep 17, 2026 21:43
Re: #117
Thinking puny human activity can change the global environment, or that humans can control it, is a bit arrogant lol

Humans are powerless in the grand scheme.
124AnonymousSep 17, 2026 21:45
Re: #117
It worked too well — now we've got a whole generation of old folks who refuse to turn on the AC
147AnonymousSep 17, 2026 22:07
The image of men running hot only applies when they work outdoors
My boss, who got promoted from fieldwork to a desk job,
kept complaining about being cold
So basically, white-collar workers are unhealthy
149AnonymousSep 17, 2026 22:11
Re: #147
I do fieldwork, but I wear an air-conditioned jacket plus a dry-ice vest
It's less "cold" and more just "freezing"
148AnonymousSep 17, 2026 22:11
My scalp area is cold, what should I do about that?
154AnonymousSep 17, 2026 22:16
Re: #148
Dye your bald head red
and the Red Team will give you props
162AnonymousSep 17, 2026 22:27
When I got a seat near the AC controller
no matter how many times I lowered the temperature, it kept mysteriously resetting to 28°C (82°F)

Because whenever someone dropped it below 27°C, someone else promptly bumped it right back up to 28°C
173AnonymousSep 17, 2026 22:52
Re: #162
28°C (82°F) is scorching hot
Are you out of your mind?
168AnonymousSep 17, 2026 22:37
Men are just turning more feminine these days

Background and Key Points of This Debate

When it comes to office room temperature, the Ministry of the Environment’s long-recommended “28°C for cooling” guideline often gets cited, but perceived temperature varies enormously from person to person, and the thread repeatedly pointed out that a single set temperature can’t guarantee comfort for everyone. Many commenters attributed cold sensitivity to differences in muscle mass or body fat, but this isn’t a medically established explanation — it’s more of a folk theory — so that premise should be treated with caution when reporting on it. The stereotype that “men run hot” itself seems to be based on an image of outdoor fieldwork, and as desk-based work becomes more common, it may be increasingly out of step with reality. Meanwhile, the question of “who actually controls the office AC” is a recurring theme on these threads, often treated as a microcosm of workplace power dynamics around gender and status.

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “[Health] Men Who Can’t Say “I’m Cold” — Is “Men Run Hot” Outdated? The Reality of the Rising Number of “Secretly Cold-Sensitive Men” in the Office.”

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