TikTok Star Dr Karan Rajan Explains Why Women Enjoy Hot Showers

On his shared TikTok account, app user Micah – from the couple’s channel Micah & Sarah – shows himself standing over a stove, cracking his neck like a nervous boxer.

Wincing, he eventually psyches himself up to dip a hand into the pan of water burning before him. “Training so that I can one day take a shower with my wife,” the video’s text overlay reads.

Differences in bath (or shower) heat tolerances between men and women are commonly joked about. But are they real – and if so, why?

Thankfully, NHS surgeon, author, and lecturer Dr Karan Rajan has answers.

On TikTok, Dr Rajan explained: “On average, women have a higher core body temperature than men.”

You might think that would keep women toastier, as a rule.

But the doctor explains that “when your core is warm, anything cold, like a chilly room, feels even colder by comparison.”

That might explain why some studies have found that men typically like a room temperature of 22.2°C, while the average woman’s ideal is 25°C.

“Now add hormones into the mix – oestrogen can actually reduce blood flow to your extremities. Your hands, your feet, and even your earlobes,” Dr Rajan said.

This is worse during ovulation when oestrogen levels are at their highest.

Hormonal birth control can complicate this relationship further because it keeps your oestrogen levels consistently high.

That’s not all, the doctor says.

“This scientific misery has one more ‘gift’ – on average, women tend to have a lower metabolic rate than men, so your body produces less heat overall.”

One paper says that women’s sedentary metabolic rate might be 5-10% lower than that of men’s after adjusting for age, body composition, and activity levels.

“So,” Dr Rajan ends, “those geothermal showers are less of a preference and more of a biological necessity and survival tactic.”