Smart balaclava that would help athletes avoid chest infections in the depths of winter makes mask wearing look good!

[AussieNeil]

'If you don't mind looking a bit like a Mortal Kombat character, a new electric balaclava would let you keep training like a champ in the cold while lowering the risk of contracting chest infections.' : newatlas.com/stoll-balaclav...

I'm dubious about how heating inhaled cold air could reduce the risk of chest infections, given there needs to be pathogens present to cause infections, but perhaps preventing cold air from damaging cells lining our airways makes it harder for any pathogens to invade our respiratory system? It's rarely below 0/32 degrees where I live, but many many years ago, I did make the mistake one very cold day (barely below zero C) of riding to work and subsequently suffered from painful raw sinuses for a few days. For the record I didn't get a chest infection.

Neil

Photo: Frosty fence post

[Ernest2]

I loved the bit about a knitted power socket. It is also getting frosty now over here. . .

Ernest

[sandybeaches]

Neil, you may laugh at this, but 0 degrees is balmy where I grew up in the middle of a Canadian winter on the prairies. Months at a time during the winter it is so cold your skin would freeze if uncovered in a matter of minutes. And yes, keeping the airway passages warm helps to hydrate the mucous membranes and keeps the cilia moving in our nasal passages and lungs. So bravo to this new device for people who live in extremely cold climates and wish to continue athletic training, such as cross country runners and skiers. And now you know why I live on the west coast of Canada. So, bundle up and keep warm.

Sandy Beaches

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator in reply to sandybeaches]

I know your summers can be warm, but here we regularly have temperatures in the high 30's and well into the 40's (approaching 120F for those from the couple of countries still not metric). I don't like our extreme high temperatures, but think I'd prefer them to your extreme cold temperatures...

[cllady01 Former Volunteer]

As a teen, I walked to school one winter day when just me and one other from my neighborhood did so. At a half-way point where there was a small market, we stopped to warm up. Our nose hairs were as frosted as that fence post (fantastic picture, Neil). That was the coldest i have ever been. It was that same winter (in the mid-1950's) that my younger brother got frost-bite on an ear--again, walking to school....

[Newdawn Administrator]

They'd never let me in the Bank wearing one of those!

Newdawn

[lexie]

I am more than ready for one of these as long as it doesn't fog up my glasses. I do a ton of winter cross country skiing and the days the snow conditions are the best are the days it is the most frigid.

[PaulaS Volunteer]

I love the photo, Neil. The frosty patterns on the tree are fantastic! At first I thought it was a pic of the balaclava and was trying to work out what angle it had been taken from.

keep snapping,

Best wishes,

Paula