Are you almost always cold? Or are you the type who still walks in a T-shirt with -10 degrees, while your partner is shivering in a thick sweater? Cold is relative. How cold a person experiences the temperature differs from person to person. And that difference leads to many discussions and disagreements in the office and in the household.
Sometimes you can do more about the cold you feel than just raise the temperature in the house and put on thick layers of clothing. It is therefore useful to know how your body regulates the temperature and so that one person gets cold much faster than the other.
How does the body keep you warm?
Before reading about why some people get cold faster than others, you might want to know how the body actually keeps you warm. Or try to keep. It all starts with skin, hormones, brain and outside temperature.
When it is cold, the nerves send signals about this to the hypothalamus – the part of the brain that plays an important role in temperature regulation. The brain then sends a signal to the veins, which then constrict to slow blood flow. This keeps the body warmer inside because less heat escapes through the skin. The consequence of this is that you get colder hands and feet faster, because the skin cools down.
Always cold
You have hardly any influence on some factors that influence how hot or how cold you are. Think of gender, age, height and origin. You can change some or all of other factors, such as muscle and fat mass, health, stress and certain deficiencies. What causes influence the feeling of cold?
Poor circulation
Body temperature and blood flow go hand in hand. In the cold, the blood vessels constrict, reducing blood flow in the skin to prevent heat loss. Consequence? A body core that cools down less quickly, but colder hands and feet. The blood circulation plays a major role in many of the points below.
Little muscle mass
Muscle mass keeps you warm. Muscles that are put to work generate heat. This happens during sports, but also simply when burning nutrients. Muscles burn a lot of sugars and fats, and this releases heat. If you have little muscle mass, exercise can help. Not only because of muscle development, but also because the effort ensures that your metabolism (metabolism) goes faster. This also makes you feel warm.
Little fat
Fat provides an insulation layer under the skin, but creates little heat. It just keeps your body warmer. The insulation layer keeps your blood warm, so your organs stay warmer. On the other hand, limbs get cold more quickly because the heat produced by muscles does not flow properly to the extremities of the body. People with little fat have a less good insulation layer and therefore lose heat more quickly.
Being a woman
The stereotype has been scientifically confirmed: women feel cold more quickly than men. This is due to the naturally higher fat percentage of women. Just like the 20 to 30 percent lower muscle mass, because muscles create heat. And then there’s the hormonal issue: the menstrual cycle, taking the pill, and pregnancy all affect body temperature. Did you know that the body temperature during ovulation is about half a degree higher? The circulation of women is also somewhat slower and the female body ensures that heat is better stored in the core. This is accompanied by continuous blood flow to the most important organs. The result is that the blood flow to hands and feet is less and they are colder.
Being of age
Older people often feel cold more quickly. This is partly because the blood vessels adapt less well and sensors in the body respond more slowly. As a result, heat is less well retained during colder periods and the body reacts more slowly. Muscle mass also decreases over the years, and it is precisely those muscles that generate heat.
Being small in stature
Small people have a larger body surface (skin) in relation to their body volume. That means they lose more heat than taller people. So nothing to do.
Coming from a warm country
Ethnicity also affects how well the body copes with cold (and heat). If you are originally from a warm country, the body gives off heat more quickly to prevent overheating. This does not work to your advantage in a colder country. People who originated in a cold country are naturally better developed to retain heat. Feeling cold more quickly, or staying warm, is therefore in the genes.
Not drinking enough
If you don’t drink enough water, the body has more trouble keeping warm. Enough moisture ensures that you retain heat and release it in a gradual manner. This keeps the body at a pleasant temperature. If you do not drink enough, the body has difficulty with cold or very warm temperatures.
Slow metabolism
Do you have a fast metabolism? Then you will feel hot more often and faster. The nutrients you take in are processed at a rapid pace and heat is released during combustion. People with a slow metabolism burn the nutrients less quickly, which means that less heat is released. On the other hand, people with a fast metabolism are often slimmer and have a lesser fat layer for insulation, so that you get cold again faster. Every disadvantage has, or has, its advantage.
Slow thyroid
Your health has a lot of influence on the heat regulation of the body. This also applies to the functioning of the thyroid gland. This keeps the metabolism going and is thus an indirect thermostat. When the thyroid gland is slow, food digests less quickly and blood circulation slows down. A poorer digestion and slower blood flow both cause cold hands and feet.
To smoke
Nicotine narrows blood vessels, causing cold hands and feet. Not nice, not at all because smokers often have to go outside to smoke.
Sleep deprivation
Do you sleep too little and are you tired? In response, your body prepares for sleep. One of these preparatory actions is to speed up blood flow. The result is warmer skin, heat loss and a lower core temperature. In nature, warm-blooded creatures look for a warm place for the night, because that way the body has less trouble staying warm. Nowadays we crawl under a warm blanket, so that you retain more heat. You don’t (usually) do that during the day, so it’s colder.
Stress
When you are under stress, the blood vessels in the skin constrict. So exactly the same thing happens as when it is cold. During stressful situations, blood is pumped to the important organs, so that the most important parts of the body are protected. As a result, you get cold hands and feet faster from stress.
Deficiency of certain nutrients
If you feel cold quickly, it may just be that you are deficient in certain nutrients. Think of vitamin B12, iron and protein. Vitamin B12 and iron are required to make red blood cells. These blood cells provide transport of oxygen in the blood and a properly functioning nervous system. If parts of the body get too little oxygen, you can get cold hands and feet. A protein deficiency also affects how hot you are. A lot of heat is released during the digestion and absorption of protein-rich products. If you don’t get enough protein, there is less to burn and it can also be the case that you lose muscle mass. And by now you probably know that muscle mass creates heat.
Also read [Gezondheid&Co] Vitamin B12 deficiency: what are the symptoms and how does such a deficiency arise?
Habituation
If you are used to heat, a cold environment will quickly feel colder. Your body is not used to it and reacts differently to the cold. Those who go outside more often or are used to lower temperatures are better able to speed up the metabolism when the body temperature drops. When your body gets used to the cold, it can also handle it better at some point. Tip: do not set the temperature in the house too high if it is very cold outside. For example, the transition from the heat inside to the cold outside is slightly less and your body does not only get used to the heat inside. A nice side effect is that you also save energy.
Loneliness and happiness
People who are happy have a warmer feeling inside. Emotions actually affect body temperature. If you are not happy or if you feel left out, the body can respond by constricting blood vessels in order to keep the core temperature good. This, again, gives you colder hands and feet faster.
–
