Baby it’s cold outside

Baby it’s cold outside

By Maria Doogan, CBD worker

One thing led to another and then another and I found myself reading an article about the recent discovery of the coldest known object in the universe. 

An “ultra-cold” (great description right? – very unscientific!) nebula – colder than the natural background temperature of empty space, with a temperature of absolute zero.

By international agreement, absolute zero is defined as precisely 0 K on the Kelvin scale, which is a thermodynamic (absolute) temperature scale, and -273.15 degrees Celsius on the Celsius scale. Amazing, right?

To put it in perspective, this is colder than the space Sigourney Weaver launched the alien into in the first (and second best) Alien film, colder than the cold that freezes the faces of anyone silly enough to venture out of the space ship in any space film. Colder even than the space in Red Dwarf when they would cut to those shots showing the ship hanging in space which were surprisingly atmospheric and a bit creepy.

But back to the nebula … According to scientists, it has a minus temperature. That’s below absolute zero where atoms cease to move at all and are absolutely still.

Which got me to ponder … if cold makes atoms move less, laws of thermodynamics etc, etc, why wouldn’t this apply to humans also. It’s cold outside. We like to move less. Makes sense.  And it would explain why activity of any sort is abhorrent to me.

This may include, or exclude, taking the dog for a quick round the block walk (500 metres), walking from the car to the tram stop (100 metres tops), walking from the bed to the bathroom (six to seven metres, give or take, depending on what obstacles are in the way – dog is often one of them). Given the science behind it, it’s not abhorrent. It’s unnatural to move in the winter.

It’s atomic, baby. Hence the reason for why my body is getting increasingly creakier and crankier.  It’s got to stop.

So here’s the thing. If you can’t move long distances because of low motivation, creaky joints, laws of thermodynamics, etc, then why not do your exercise in micro-hits. Like, 15 minutes here, 10 minutes there. Even half an hour when the sun is out? Seems plausible. Possible even.

So instead of scoffing at the thought of seeing getting off the tram a stop earlier remotely as exercise, I’ve been embracing it. I can get to 10,000 steps easy peasy doing my steps in micro hits, without fear of my nose freezing solid and falling off.

So that’s what I’ve been trying. So far so good (at two days in). Movement is happening. I’m challenging the laws of the universe. One micro-step at a time.

Since Labor has been in power …

Since Labor has been in power …

March 20th, 2024 - Evan Mulholland
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