My friend Julie used to live in New York, a city she adored, all but for one thing – the cold, cold winters.

After five years of enduring the bitter weather, she moved to the other extreme – the long hot days and perma-sunshine of Los Angeles.

Julie and I have known each other since we were 11 and we are alike in many ways – but she loves the heat, and I prefer the cold.

When we went on our first holiday abroad together, she soaked up the rays liberally covered in some kind of oil that sooked in the sun; I turned pink, fled into the shade from the worst heat of the day and came home just a little less pale than I was when I arrived.

I’d much rather be wrapped up on a windy, clear day than melting on a hot one.

Maybe it’s my East Kilbride upbringing – a town with its own weird micro-climate, perfectly demonstrated earlier this week when we were cut off from civilisation by ferocious blizzards, deep snowdrifts and plummeting temperatures that seemed to disappear completely somewhere near junction 2 on the M77.

I used to turn up at university in Glasgow dressed for Arctic exploration, having battled on to the bus through driving downpours and howling gales, to strange looks from my fellow students who had just strolled through a light drizzle to get to class.

It just feels better to be cold than hot. And now scientists have confirmed it IS actually better for you.

A study by the Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands has linked global warming with a rise in type 2 diabetes, and other research over the years suggests artificial heat in our homes and offices could be a contributing factor to obesity as it has caused our metabolisms to slow down.

Apparently, it’s all to do with the two different types of fat in our bodies – white fat (which is bad) and brown fat (which is better, because it actually burns calories.)

When you are cold, brown fat is ‘activated’ so if we don’t get cold often enough, it’s bad for our health.

The health benefits of having a cold shower in the morning have long been championed by sportspeople and doctors, of course – plunging into a cold shower first thing can improve your immunity and circulation, stimulate weight loss, speed up muscle recovery and reduce stress.

This latest study suggests we just don’t get cold enough because we spend most of our time in controlled temperature environments.

Don’t get me wrong, I like being cosy as much as the next person, and I’m not about to take up outdoor swimming any time soon.

But it looks like opening the odd window and turning down the heating a notch or too, might not be a bad idea…..