Do your fingertips often get cold even in warm weather? The reasons can be different: from banal physical inactivity to serious pathologies that require mandatory consultation with a doctor.
If your fingertips are constantly cold, the reason may lie in the peculiarities of your physiology. In particular, the causes of cold fingers can be:
Circulatory disorders. This is the most common cause of cold fingers. There are people who, from birth, have blood circulating slowly in their limbs, which makes them constantly cold. At the same time, poor blood circulation can be associated with certain diseases: high cholesterol, heart disease and others.
Low pressure. If you are hypotensive, then you will have to get used to the problem of cold fingers. Keep your hands warm, and in winter be sure to wear warm gloves. If low blood pressure is caused by some disease (for example, endocrine disorders), then the underlying disease must be treated.
Stress. Don't underestimate the role of stress in human health. When we are stressed, a large amount of the hormone adrenaline is released into the blood, causing our fingers to become cold. As a rule, after the stress passes, the temperature of the fingers returns to normal.
Smoking. Nicotine has a vasoconstrictor effect, and the small vessels of the extremities are the first to respond. Additionally, smoking promotes the formation of plaque in the arteries, which is also a major factor in cold fingers.
If your hands are cold without the above circumstances, then perhaps the reason lies in illness. Here are some diseases that most often cause cold fingers:
Anemia. Cold fingers are a consequence of a lack of red blood cells or low hemoglobin levels in the blood. For this reason, the level of oxygen saturation decreases, which is why your hands get cold. Common causes of anemia include: lack of iron in the diet, poor digestion, blood loss (for example, during menstruation), and cancer.
Hypothyroidism is a decrease in thyroid function. When the activity of the thyroid gland decreases, the concentration of hormones that actively participate in metabolism decreases. For this reason, most body functions slow down, which leads to cold fingers.
Raynaud's syndrome is a narrowing of blood vessels in response to cold or stress. The narrowing is so strong that the limbs may take on a bluish tint. During an attack, a person feels cold, tingling and numbness in the hands.
Autoimmune diseases. The cause of “icy” hands or feet can be systemic autoimmune diseases such as scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus and others.
The extremities become cold (regardless of the weather) for various objective reasons, among which the attention of doctors should be drawn to numbness in the toes (hands) without obvious actual signs. That is, this symptom is not associated with injury, hypothermia, low external temperature, tight shoes or thick gloves, being in an uncomfortable position for a long time, etc. The compressive effect can cause unpleasant sensations, manifested by tingling in the fingers, decreased sensitivity, and limited mobility. As soon as this cause is eliminated, all negative symptoms disappear without a trace. After all, the blood supply to the tissues of the hands and feet is restored, and the nerve endings receive enough nutrition to function normally.
Cold fingers and toes, when there are no external factors, are a “heat” signal indicating a developing pathology. Its localization can be in different places of the body, so a thorough medical diagnosis is necessary. It will allow you to determine not only the place where the disease is “hiding”, but also to find out its nature. Therefore, if you constantly observe:
You should definitely see a doctor. Loss of sensation in the fingers on one or both hands, lasting without obvious reasons for more than three minutes and periodically recurring, signals certain types of diseases of the nerve endings and blood vessels.
But even that is not a fact, because The causes of constantly cold fingers can be:
There are other pathological processes that are signaled by insensitive fingers. Therefore, a thorough medical examination is so necessary. As a rule, a neurologist or traumatologist obliges the patient to take tests (blood, urine), do x-rays, and ultrasound of the blood vessels of the hands and brain. If there is not enough information, magnetic tomography of the head and spinal column is performed.
Conclusion: regularly cold fingers and toes are not just a temporary inconvenience, but also an indicator of an existing disease in the body. Detecting it in time is the key to successful therapeutic treatment.
Surely, many people have encountered a situation where their limbs suffer from cold. Of course, this is a natural reaction of the body to hypothermia, for example, after a walk in the cold. But often feet or hands can freeze not only in winter, but also in summer, and even in a warm room. This problem is more common among older people, but relatively young people and even children can experience it. This phenomenon is more common in men than in women. Why does this happen, and is this symptom not a sign of some serious disease?
Legs are a very important part of the body. And it’s not just that we need them to move. There are many nerve endings concentrated in a person’s feet. There are many small vessels and capillaries in them.
On the other hand, it is worth keeping in mind that the lower part of the legs - feet and toes - is at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the body. After all, the distance from the heart to the legs is much greater than the distance from the heart to other parts of the body. Therefore, blood circulation in the lower legs is not as intense as in the upper torso. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the legs most often receive less blood, and therefore heat, than the rest of the body. It should also be remembered that the legs have relatively little fatty tissue to retain heat.
However, the feeling of cold feet in a warm room should not be experienced by a person whose health does not have weak points. Therefore, feet freezing in the warmth can serve as a kind of diagnostic sign, indicating that not everything is in order in the body.
So, what reasons can cause cold feet? This:
High sensitivity of the feet to cold can also be caused by such circumstances as improper sitting at the table (in which the legs always become numb), sitting on a chair in a position where one leg is crossed over the other, constantly wearing uncomfortable shoes or synthetic socks or tights in which feet are constantly cold or sweaty.
The feeling of coldness in the extremities is in most cases associated with spasm of peripheral vessels. Quite often, a similar condition occurs with vegetative-vascular dystonia. This syndrome most often manifests itself in young and middle age - from 20 to 40 years. With it, there is an inconsistency in the contractions of blood vessels in the limbs and the heart. Thus, blood may have problems entering the capillaries of the legs and feet.
A similar effect is observed with high blood pressure, when vasospasm occurs. On the other hand, low blood pressure can also cause your feet to feel cold. This is due to the low intensity of blood circulation in this condition. Therefore, if your feet are cold, the reasons for this phenomenon may also lie in unstable blood pressure. Therefore, such a condition requires control of this important physiological parameter.
Previous frostbite on the legs can also affect the sensitivity of the legs to cold. Despite the fact that the limbs seem to recover after such an event, in fact this recovery does not occur completely, and its consequences can be felt until the end of life. Therefore, if you cannot understand why your feet are cold, then perhaps the problem lies in the frostbite of your feet that you suffered a long time ago, maybe even in childhood.
Diabetes mellitus significantly affects the condition of the blood and blood vessels. The vessels become more fragile, and blood clots can form in them. With this disease, the properties of blood and blood supply to tissues deteriorate and, as a result, the legs will lack warmth. However, cold feet are far from the most dangerous consequence of diabetes. In many cases, diabetics can develop a dangerous condition called “diabetic foot,” which in turn can lead to tissue gangrene.
Anemia or lack of hemoglobin leads to tissues receiving insufficient oxygen. As a result, metabolic processes in them are disrupted, which, in particular, results in the effect of chilly feet.
Smoking also leads to disturbances in the walls of small capillaries. They become more brittle and pass blood with great difficulty. Often, heavy smokers are susceptible to a disease such as obliterating endarteritis, which leads to inflammation of blood vessels and the formation of blood clots in them.
Sometimes the feeling of coldness in the feet is combined with increased sweating. Most often, this situation indicates the presence of diabetes mellitus, endocrine disorders (insufficient functionality of the thyroid gland).
Most older people also face this problem. This is due to the fact that in old age the blood supply to the tissues deteriorates.
Are there signs that can help you determine if blood flow is efficient enough in your legs? Such signs are well known. The following symptoms indicate that the vessels of the lower extremities are not doing their job:
Well-known folk wisdom recommends keeping your head cold and your feet warm. And this is correct advice, but only if your feet are already cold in the warmth, it may not help.
If the symptom is caused by some disease, then the main attention should be paid to its treatment. And until it is cured, of course, it is necessary to somehow warm the feet. You can also carry out activities to harden the body, contrast showers, physical therapy, and massage. A noticeable effect is provided by folk remedies - rubbing with vinegar and alcohol, baths (warm and contrasting), applying pepper plasters to the feet.
Ethyl alcohol has a good effect in warming the feet. Its use can be combined with the use of warming baths with warm water. For example, if after such a bath you wear thin socks soaked in alcohol, and warm woolen socks on top of them, your feet will quickly warm up. Warm baths with essential oils of coniferous trees and eucalyptus are also effective for warming the feet. The water temperature during this procedure should be 39-40? C. The duration of the procedure is 10 minutes.
It should also be remembered that factors contributing to freezing of the feet are poor nutrition, excess weight and physical inactivity. Therefore, you need to take measures to change your lifestyle to the best of your ability. It makes sense for young people to take up sports - cycling, running, swimming. It is necessary to exclude alcohol and coffee from your diet and drink enough liquid.
There are special exercises for the legs that help eliminate swelling and increase the tone of blood vessels and skin. For example, you can simply shake your legs while lying on your back with your knees bent. Or, lying on your stomach, bend your knees freely, hitting your buttocks with your feet.
Factors such as comfortable shoes, proper sitting at the table, etc. are also of great importance. In winter, shoes should not only be warm (this means both thick soles and high-quality shoe material), but also, which is often ignored, not tight, since tight shoes retain heat worse and compress blood vessels. Women are not recommended to wear high heels for more than 4 hours a day. You should also pay attention to the selection of insoles - they should be warm enough and at the same time allow air to pass freely.
Anyone who has encountered or is facing this problem knows that hands and feet freeze not only on a frosty day, but also at room temperature.
And on a summer day, you can classically begin to feel chilly, covered with goosebumps with a strong desire to quickly crawl under a blanket or a warm blanket.
In winter, even a slight sub-zero temperature causes excruciating aching pain in the fingers and toes; there is no desire to go outside at all, and I want to leave forever for hot countries and stay there forever.
This problem is not serious, but painful, it may have causes that can be eliminated, and also, if there is no specific disease, try to relieve this uncomfortable condition at least half so that the blueness of the nails and aristocratic pallor will disappear. Vitamin D preparations will help.
First of all, when your hands and feet are constantly freezing, this is a violation of capillary circulation.
Often this disease is vegetative-vascular dystonia, the basis of which is low resistance to stressful situations, increased emotionality, physical inactivity from childhood, and the consequences of infectious diseases.
Also, such symptoms appear during hormonal changes in adolescence, with cervical osteochondrosis or personality traits such as anxiety, excessive suspiciousness.
Hands and feet freeze with low hemoglobin and diseases of the female organs.
Doctors also diagnose Raynaud's syndrome or disease, that is, spasm of blood vessels, disruption of the arterial blood supply to the hands and feet, under the influence of cold or emotional overload.
Its origin is unclear, but it is not worth starting, as it tends to progress, up to peeling of the fingertips, loss of skin elasticity, nutritional disorders and all sorts of other troubles may develop.
For such people, the cold becomes an unbearable test; they do not enjoy the freshness of a frosty day, skiing, ice skating, swimming in the sea and river, limiting themselves even to appearing outside.
And this can be understood, since, having frozen, the hands and feet warm up with unpleasant pain, the limbs swell and become very red.
So how to cope with this disease and is it even possible?
1.Train your blood vessels.
This is not entirely easy, but it is necessary.
Start with hot foot baths or contrast ones.
In the first case, several times a week, steam your feet until they turn red under a hot shower or keep them in hot water for about an hour.
In the second case, lower your feet alternately into hot and cold water.
Go to the sauna, bathhouse, steam room once a week, and then jump into a cold pool.
After the steam room it will not seem cold to you, and the blood vessels are strengthened very well.
If you have enough willpower, take a contrast shower, alternating cold and hot water.
2. Even if you are cold and don’t want to move, force yourself to do 10 exercises every day to warm up your whole body, or sign up for aerobics, go to a fitness club, solarium, or swimming pool.
3. Drink hot chicken broth before going outside.
Eliminate coffee and strong drinks from your diet for several months; coffee, alcohol, and smoking cause spasms and constriction of blood vessels, not their dilation.
4. If you have low hemoglobin, then a deficiency of iron in the blood will lead you, if not already, to anemia, in which the body temperature decreases, there is a feeling that the person is slowly cooling down, its deficiency affects the functioning of the thyroid gland, which manages the body’s heating system .
In this case, your regular food should be dried apricots, raisins, pomegranates, almonds, rolled oats, multivitamins, pumpkin, salads, fresh fruits and vegetables.
5. Eat fatty sea fish, mackerel, salmon, pangasius and others in the cold season, this will relieve some pain from vascular spasms when freezing.
6. Drink more vitamin and herbal decoctions, compotes, fruit drinks, increasing blood circulation.
7. When going outside, the most important thing is to keep your head, arms and legs warm.
Wear two pairs of socks, instead of gloves, mittens, in them the fingers receive heat from the palms, the head and neck should be well wrapped so as not to let in the heat.
8. Don’t wrap yourself in bulky clothes, a heavy fur coat or sheepskin coat; it’s better to dress in layers, this way you won’t hinder your movements and will be able to be more mobile.
Don’t think that cotton underwear will warm you up; as it absorbs sweat, it cools down, so buy yourself thermal underwear for the winter, it’s made of special material.
You can put fleece on top of the underwear (a synthetic woven material that accumulates heat, the body breathes well in it), and you can put a sweater on top, or you can do without it, and just get by with a high-quality down jacket.
9. Use folk remedies if your hands and feet are cold.
For one bottle of vodka or 40-proof alcohol you need to take two large red hot peppers, one tablespoon of mustard powder and one tablespoon of rock salt.
Let the mixture brew until it turns red.
At night, wash the frozen parts of your hands and feet with the mixture, but do not wipe them, but let them dry, sleep warm in woolen socks. Do it until you recover.
When making hot foot baths, add clove oil, red pepper tincture, cinnamon, this will normalize blood circulation in the feet.
10. In summer, don’t forget that while it’s warm and even hot, you need to take advantage of the opportunities of summer and strengthen your immunity.
This includes daily sunbathing (by sunbathing, we get vitamin D3), swimming in the sea (sea water is rich in minerals, iodine, magnesium, potassium, iron, plus vascular exercise), fruits and vegetables, and walks in the fresh air.
Proper nutrition, fresh air, physical exercise, procedures to strengthen blood vessels will lift your mood, restore hemoglobin, strengthen the vascular and immune systems, and life will appear before you with a new set of opportunities that you previously had to refuse.
The first and most obvious reason why your feet are cold is the low air temperature indoors or outdoors. In this case, you need to either add heating, if possible, or dress warmer. On the other hand, it is worth keeping in mind that the lower part of the legs, feet and toes are at a disadvantage. Therefore, if you cannot understand why your feet are cold, then perhaps the problem lies in something that happened a long time ago, maybe even in childhood. frostbite of the feet. If you do not periodically stretch your feet, they will freeze for the same reason: tight shoes and insufficient blood flow to the extremities. Reasons why the feet and toes are cold even in summer There is practically no fatty tissue in the foot area, and there is very little muscle. Therefore, in cold weather, feet freeze due to high heat transfer. Some people have cold feet all the time, even in the heat of summer. Why does this happen, and what to do in this case? Why is the left leg freezing: signs and causes of the disease, preventive actions and treatment. In addition to the fact that the leg begins to freeze, additional symptoms may appear: swelling of the leg or both feet. While it is unknown why this happens, it will not be possible to find a truly correct solution. A competent choice of shoes is also becoming a unique method of treating cold feet. If it puts pressure on the foot and impedes blood flow, then the feeling of cold cannot be avoided. Why do my feet get cold? Warming cold feet at home. If your feet are constantly cold, this is due to insufficient peripheral blood circulation, resulting in poor nutrition of small vessels. The reasons why your feet are cold can be due to some diseases. In some cases, the feet may freeze due to the characteristic structural features of the human body. Why do my feet always get cold? You've probably noticed that when it's cold, your extremities are the first to freeze. This is explained simply: the smallest capillaries, when the blood pressure is reduced, the blood pressure weakens and there is simply not enough blood pressure to reach the small capillaries of the foot. Why are my feet cold? Views: 1306. But the surface area of the skin involved in the process of heat transfer is quite large in the feet. Simply put, legs (especially their feet) produce little heat, but release it quickly and in large quantities. Why do your feet get cold? Because the legs have the least muscle mass and subcutaneous fatty tissue, which help conserve heat.
First, the toes and hands get cold, then the feet and hands; it is not uncommon for women to feel cold extremities - this is the norm. How to deal with cold feet? First of all, it is important to ensure proper heating of the feet, both at home and outdoors. See also a video about why feet can freeze. But under the influence of cold, the blood vessels narrow and blood enters the feet and palms in smaller quantities, often insufficient for high-quality heating. However, there are often people whose feet are constantly cold, even in warm weather. Why are my feet cold? The most common causes of constantly cold feet are listed below. Always cold lower extremities can signal that the thyroid gland is not producing enough hormones. Why do healthy people's feet get cold? The legs are the temperature regulator of his entire body. If the feet are frozen, then they will be cold until they are warmed up. Why do healthy people’s feet freeze, concomitant diseases, cold feet with sweating, reasons for constantly cold feet in healthy people.
If a person’s feet are constantly cold, at any time of the year, you need to look for factors that influence cooling. Why are my limbs still cold? My feet are cold: what to do? So, cold feet are not a pleasant phenomenon. Whatever the reason for this, there are a number of tips that you need to follow in addition to the mandatory consultation with your doctor. Why are your feet constantly cold at home?
In winter, frequent freezing of the feet is familiar to everyone. Walking on a cold floor can cause your feet to freeze, even if the temperature inside the room is optimal. Therefore, many people put on woolen socks towards the end of November, and put them away only at the beginning of April. This is typical for the Russian climate.
If your feet regularly freeze, despite warm shoes and socks, it means that one of the body systems is not functioning correctly.
It is worth getting examined if your feet are cold:
Associated symptoms indicating the need for medical examination:
This problem occurs more often in women. This is a protective function of the body, the main purpose of which is to preserve offspring. At the slightest hint of the possibility of freezing, a rush of blood occurs specifically to the reproductive and other organs.
This does not exclude the possibility of freezing of the lower extremities in men. They also face this. Regardless of gender, a constant feeling of coldness in the legs is a symptom of a dysfunction in the body.
Possible causes of freezing feet:
This is a serious illness and can only be treated under the supervision of a doctor.
In the initial stages, massage and the use of creams are suitable. When the disease progresses, surgery is prescribed.
A common disease with a large number of symptoms.
When the disease occurs on a nervous basis, it is enough to take sedatives and vasodilators.
There may be other reasons that are not related to serious diseases:
To choose a method to combat such a disease, you need to know the real reason for its occurrence. If there are accompanying symptoms described above, an experienced specialist will advise further actions. He will prescribe tests, the results of which will make a diagnosis.
If there are no other symptoms, you should follow a few simple rules that will help in the fight against cold feet.
Warming ointments and tinctures give good results. They are easy to make at home with just a few ingredients on hand.
Freezing knees would not surprise anyone during the cold season. But why do your knees get cold when it’s warm or even hot? The constant manifestation of such a symptom simply cannot but be alarming. And in many cases this is justified, since a frequent feeling of coldness in the knee area may indicate the development of serious diseases in the human body.
If you are frequently bothered by cold knees, you should seek medical advice.
There are many reasons why knees can freeze. This could be a sudden cold snap, a sharp change in weather, but one should not exclude the possibility that in this way your body is signaling the presence of some kind of illness.
Coldness in your knee may be caused by the following:
This list is not exhaustive, however, it reflects the most common cases associated with freezing feet and knees. Often, many diseases that cause frozen knees are accompanied by other symptoms. For example, with vascular dystonia, shortness of breath, fatigue and swelling of the feet are observed. Varicose veins are accompanied by swelling of the feet, dilated veins, and the appearance of pain while walking.
Winter and cold are far from the only factors that can cause cold knees
To get rid of the problem of constant freezing of the legs and knees, it is necessary to determine the source of development of this disease. If this is not done, no matter how much you warm up, the unpleasant sensations will return to you again after a while.
For medical advice, you can contact an orthopedist or surgeon. Most likely, the matter will not end with one examination; you will need to take a blood test, undergo an ultrasound examination and a cardiogram. However, if there are additional symptoms, it will be easier for the doctor to navigate and prescribe the necessary research in a particular case.
If freezing knees are not associated with illness, pay attention to the following points:
If your knees are cold, special warming knee pads will help you warm up.
If the knees freeze as a result of problems with blood vessels, which happens most often, they need to be strengthened. Hardening procedures, morning exercises, proper nutrition, and massage treatments will help with this.
Please note that contrast douches should not be started in winter and cold weather. Also, don't start with ice water. This will harm your health. An alternative to dousing can be taking a contrast shower.
Morning exercises are the most important element of the complex for improving the functioning of blood vessels and blood circulation. The following exercises are very useful:
Climbing up and down stairs and riding a bicycle are also very useful. To improve the functioning of blood vessels, such exercises are even much better than running. If a person is elderly and does not have the opportunity for active physical activity, it will be enough to do regular walking in the mornings and evenings, gradually increasing the area covered.
In addition, if you have a “sedentary” job, you need to do exercises for your legs throughout the day (clenching/unclenching your toes, turning your foot to the right and left, bending and straightening the limb at the knee, rubbing the knee and lightly tapping your fist). This helps improve blood circulation, tissue metabolism, and improves vascular and muscle tone.
Regarding nutrition, you should avoid fatty and fried foods. Fish, chicken, dairy products, blueberries, cranberries, rice porridge, rose hips, currants, citrus fruits, liver, bran, beans, peas, onions, garlic, cucumbers must be included in your diet. Confectionery and flour products should be excluded from the menu; it is better to eat honey, candied fruits and nuts instead, and coffee should be replaced with green or herbal tea. The most useful fruits in the fight against vascular diseases are currants, grapefruit, and chokeberry.
And remember that cholesterol is the number one enemy of blood vessels.
Pharmaceutical drugs that improve vascular tone include:
It is also useful to massage with essential oils or using a massage mat.
Vascular diseases very often become the cause of constantly freezing feet and knees
Hypotension is often accompanied by frozen knees. Thus, to get rid of this symptom, it is necessary to treat low blood pressure.
You can increase your blood pressure using the following means:
Iron deficiency in the blood, resulting in a decrease in hemoglobin, is also a fairly common factor in freezing knees.
The following remedies will help increase hemoglobin in the blood:
These products are number one in raising hemoglobin and iron levels in the blood
Diseases of the thyroid gland are very often accompanied by the symptom of cold knees.
In addition, damage to the thyroid is accompanied by the following symptoms:
If you identify such symptoms, you should definitely consult a doctor, since thyroid disease is a fairly serious disease that leads to dysfunction of the entire body and hormonal levels.
Thyroid diseases, along with vascular dysfunctions, are the most common cause of frozen knees