How Does Thermal Underwear Work?

If you’ve benefited from the seemingly surprising warmth that comes with sporting thermal underwear, you’ve probably been a little confused about how something so thin can keep you so comfy. Let’s take a look at how these garments work to keep you toasty.

How Do You Get Cold?

Before delving into this topic in particular, let’s take a look at how heat functions in general. Heat operates based on the principles of thermodynamics. But you won’t need a physics degree to understand this. Heat naturally moves from objects that are hot to objects that are cold. This is the second law of thermodynamics.

Additionally, if one object is a lot hotter than another, this heat flow moves more rapidly than when there is very little temperature difference between the two objects. Thus, when you are outside in moderate weather, you lose heat less rapidly than on a cold day. You begin to get cold when heat leaves your body for the outside air at a faster rate than your body produces heat.

Thermals Explained

Thermal underwear helps to keep you warm through two processes. First, they work to fight the effect mentioned above. Despite being thin, thermals are typically made from more than one layer of fabric. Thus, they are able to be both lightweight in nature and effective in keeping you warm.

Thermals hold air tightly against your body. This allows your body to heat the air while also preventing it from being lost, helping to conserve your body heat by fighting the second law of thermodynamics. In a way, you could say that this underwear is effective in holding physics hostage.

However, this is not the only thing way in which these undergarments serve to maintain your warmth. They also work by channeling moisture away from your body. Water accelerates heat loss by extracting more heat from your skin during evaporation.

Thermal underwear is made of materials that excel in wicking moisture away from the body. By moving moisture away from your skin, the doubly excel at keeping you nice and warm. By combining these two principles into their design, these undergarments are both comfortable and very effective.

Final Thoughts

Thermals are great at keeping you warm while providing a comfortable, light clothing option. Stay warm without bulky layers while also choosing between a wide variety of available styles and colors, knowing that you will stay comfortable in winter weather.