When we get sick, the feeling of chills is natural. Warm clothes and even a few blankets do not become salvation until the body temperature begins to rise. As it grows, pathogenic bacteria die, and a person begins to throw in the heat. Everything is clear here. And if a healthy person looks to the doctor and asks to explain what is happening to him. "Help, I'm constantly freezing." There may be more than one reason, so today we decided to dwell on this issue in more detail.
Gender features
Let's recall from whom most often you can hear such complaints? Right, from the elderly. Everyone saw grandmothers in warm sweatshirts or even coats in hot weather outside. This does not surprise anyone, because you can often hear from them: "I am constantly freezing." The reason lies in the violation of blood circulation, which under itself has age-related causes. However, even among young women, this phenomenon is much more common than among men. Moreover, this condition is often attributed to the individual characteristics of the body, and the only recommendation that is given is to dress warmer. However, the roots can lie much deeper, and we will deal with them today.
Wake up call
You can laugh at a man who says: "I am constantly freezing." The reason for this, however, may not be at all the desire to show your pampering and attract attention. At the same time, it can be noted that very rarely such a symptom is an independent manifestation of the disease. Most often, this is a symptom of some kind of disturbance in the body. And here you have to spend a lot of time to find the true cause.
Tea, a warm bath and wool socks
Have you come home from the cold for a long time to feel cold in your limbs? As if the blood stopped circulating through them. This phenomenon is considered a variant of the norm. In some cases, it is enough to take a hot bath, drink tea and put on warm clothes, and the condition returns to normal. It turns out to be much more interesting if, being in a warm room, you still cannot get rid of the feeling of chilliness. In this case, it is definitely worth visiting the doctor and telling him: "I am constantly freezing." The reason may lie in the work of internal organs, metabolic disorders and even an improper diet. But this should be understood by a specialist.
Vegetative-vascular dystonia
A mysterious disease whose cause is psychosomatic. That is, stresses lead to disturbances in the functioning of the autonomic nervous system, and it, in turn, triggers a number of physiological processes, which we ultimately try to treat. In particular, if your feet are constantly freezing, then pay attention to the situations in which this happens. If you have an important meeting, a trip to the director or a significant event, and you observe a strange cooling in your body, then it is quite possible that this is your reaction to stress. A person with VVD may also complain of low blood pressure or heart problems, his hands constantly freeze, but in fact the root of the trouble lies in instability to stressful situations.
Iron deficiency or anemia
Usually an adult knows well if he has a similar problem. However, if until now blood tests were normal, but lately feet have been constantly freezing, it is recommended to go to the laboratory again. A biochemical blood test will show the hemoglobin content. Acute iron deficiency is the most common cause of limbs freezing. This is easy to explain, tissues suffer from a lack of oxygen and muscle cramps occur. Accordingly, blood supply is deteriorating. Even mechanical grinding and hot baths give only a temporary effect of the expansion of blood vessels and filling them with blood.
Hypothyroidism or thyroid dysfunction
And we continue to talk about why a person is constantly freezing. The reasons may lie in the activity of the endocrine glands. In particular, doctors are well aware that with a shortage of hormones produced by the thyroid gland, a number of processes in the body are triggered that seriously change its work. In particular, there is weakness, a decrease in blood pressure, a lowered body temperature and a significant decrease in heart rate.
As a result of this, excessive sweating of the extremities develops, but at the same time the body is constantly freezing, and the hands and feet generally never get warm. Disorders in the thyroid gland are diagnosed by an endocrinologist based on blood tests and ultrasound of the gland.
Allergic reaction to cold
At first glance, this sounds strange, but such a phenomenon does occur. The mechanisms here start up slightly different, but in general it is the same allergy, only its cause is the lowered air temperature. It is usually difficult for a suffering person to keep warm, no matter how many layers of clothing they are wearing. How can one understand that this is precisely the reason? If, in addition to limbs, your back is constantly freezing, then this is probably your case. In parallel, redness of the skin, cracking of the lips and the appearance of edema under the eyes are observed.
Errors in Diet
The heat transfer of our body is highly dependent on body weight. If your weight is normal, then there is a thin layer of fat under the skin that perfectly retains heat. However, today girls are fond of losing weight, very often bring themselves almost to exhaustion. Having resorted to strict diets and loading themselves with training, they try to achieve ideal parameters without thinking about the consequences. As a result, they come to the doctor with complaints: "I am constantly freezing, what's wrong with me?" And everything is quite simple. Lack of body weight, lack of iron and iodine - this leads to such consequences.
Raynaud's disease
It occurs infrequently, but this does not mean that it can be ignored. The fact is that in this case the hands and feet are freezing due to spasms that occur in the small capillaries of the limbs. The origin of this disease is unknown, and many times the researchers refused to isolate it as a separate disease, considering this manifestation as a symptom of some other ailment. But with the development of medicine, enough empirical material has accumulated to understand that this is a truly independent disease that has its own clinical picture.
Raynaud's disease leads to very serious consequences. It can be peeling of fingers and loss of skin elasticity, but the main thing is cold intolerance. A person does not experience the pleasure of walking in the fresh air, skiing, swimming in the sea. This is not surprising, not only that he is very cold on the street. So also the process of warming is accompanied by severe pain. Hands and feet swell and blush.
What can be done
As we found out, whatever the underlying cause of this phenomenon is the problem with capillaries and blood vessels. Violation of the blood supply to tissues can be corrected to a certain extent. The procedure is not too simple, but useful. In order not to expose the body to severe stress, you should first do the foot baths: hot or contrasting.
To strengthen the vessels, it is recommended to go to the sauna or bath. After the steam room you can swim in a cold pool, it is also very good for health. Contrast shower is a procedure from the same opera. But you need to remember that any such event is stress for the body and you need to approach it carefully.
We give up bad habits
And first of all, it's smoking. It becomes the reason that the arms and legs are constantly chilled. And all because nicotine causes vasospasm. The sooner you break this habit, the better. But that is not all. Try to limit the use of coffee and spirits, as well as soda. This will only add health to your body, and also seriously improve your well-being. And before going out, it is recommended to drink chicken or beef broth.
Nutrition and physical activity
Your diet should be complete, then you will not have a deficiency of iron and vitamin B12. So, on the table should always be dried apricots and raisins, nuts, pomegranates and oatmeal porridge, pumpkin and vegetable salads, fresh fruits. Do not forget about red meat and legumes, they are also rich in iron. But special attention should be paid to seafood. For your nutrition, red varieties of fish - salmon and mackerel, herring and trout are perfect. Rich in iodine, they normalize the thyroid gland. Vitamin and herbal decoctions, compotes and fruit drinks increase blood circulation. That is why they need to be drunk every day. And the last component is physical activity. You need charging every day, this is an indispensable element of treatment.