If you’re often shivering at your desk, wishing you had a space heater and a blanket while your male coworkers are shedding layers, you’re certainly not alone. And these are some of the actual scientific reasons women are colder than men.

Women have higher core body temperatures than men – According to one study, while body temperature does vary from person to person and day to day, research shows women’s body temperatures were consistently higher than men’s. And you might think that would make us warmer, but it turns out when your body is used to being warm, colder air feels even colder.

Women on birth control have even higher core body temperatures – And if you’re taking hormonal birth control – which affects female hormones – it can raise your body temperature even more, so you’re more sensitive to cold.

Women have colder extremities than men – If you feel like your hands and feet are always cold, science says you’re right. A study from U.K. medical journal “The Lancet,” found that women’s hands and feet ARE colder than men’s by a couple of degrees.

Women have slower metabolic rates than men – Metabolism is the rate you burn food to fuel the body and as a result of that process, your body heats up. And according to an article in the “Journal of Applied Physiology,” men have a metabolic rate that’s 23% higher than women’s. So they’re warmer because their metabolisms are faster and that’s also why they can eat more ice cream than us without gaining weight. Womp-womp!

Building temperatures are set according to male metabolic rates – Research published in the journal “Nature” shows that most workplace thermostats are set based on a system developed in the 1960s that only takes into account men’s metabolic rates. Seems like it’s about time to update those, right fellas?

Source: Glamour