Bare Necessities
by Steve Sharp
It was a surprise to read the results of an Ipsos Mori poll suggesting that half of young British adults identify as naturists or nudists, and that one in seven of all Britons enjoy nudist activities in their spare time.
Around 2500 people aged between 16 to 75 were surveyed prompting the president of British Naturalism to say “It turns out there is a huge, hidden enthusiasm for nude recreation. Attitudes to nudity are changing, with the taboos and stigma being eroded”.
I suspect one reason for the huge jump in enthusiasm reported by the survey is that this time it was online and anonymous rather than by doorstep interviews. I imagine it would be difficult to elicit an honest response from someone confronted by a bloke with a clipboard at the front door asking if you are partial to stripping off in public.
Also, it appears have been conducted during the hottest year in living memory when we were all sat around in our underpants.
Naturism is of course nothing new, and for many early Baby Boomer men the first sight of a discreetly naked woman was Health and Efficiency magazine.
In the sixties , when everything changed, along came The Summer of Love in 1967 and festivals such as Glastonbury and The Isle of Wight, where public nudity became de riguer. In reality though, it was just a few people getting their kit off, but it created the impression that we were all at it.
Contrast the specter of half the young population wandering around in the buff with advice we are being offered to keep warm during what promises to be a difficult winter.
Soaring fuel bills, the prospect of power cuts, and meteorologists predicting that La Nina may mean a colder than usual early winter, have the experts out in force delivering handy tips.
I’ll be honest, I hate the cold.
It may have something to do with growing up in Yorkshire in a house which had ice on the inside of my bedroom windows in winter.
Embrace it, suggests Dr Boris Kingma, a thermal physiologist. “Over the past 100 years we have managed to outsource our body temperature regulation from ourselves to the building”. Fair point.
“That costs a lot of energy, and the bill for that energy becomes too high. We need to adjust.” We need to insulate ourselves with layers he says, “heat the human not the home.”
John Eric Smith, an exercise physiologist, recommends a base layer of sports polyester, then a layer of fleece topped off with down, to stop the heat escaping. All very reasonable I suppose if the going gets tough.
I thought I should check out how the newly naked younger generation might approach the problem, so I went in search of Instagram influencers.
Lots of advice on food, drink and exercise, and when it came to clothing the answer is this little beauty:
A wearable sleeping bag suit with zip-on booties for indoor use.
“Choose freedom” says their website blurb which lists its uses as indoor lounging, gaming and……. working from home!
Steve
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