I Feel Cold Easily, Is There Any Way To Change That?

[Joe Zhou]

Hi, I feel cold quite easily, and I often get more sluggish while feeling cold. I live in Canada, so there are at least 4 month of cold weather. In harsh time I was even afraid to go out for grocery. I don't want to be so affected by weather conditions, but I don't know how to change.

I am quite skinny for my whole life, people around me said I had too little body fat so I feel cold easily. I don't know if that was true or not. I need to admit I don't exercise, so that might be a contributor. Not sure though. Besides exercise, Is there any diet tip or other suggestions to improve my condition? Thank you.

[Siim Land]

Although I don't know how skinny you are or what's your overall health condition, I'm going to hypothesize that you have indeed to less body fat. It's only the most likeliest of causes. Not because of fat helping you to feel warmer, it's just that you may have some hormonal imbalances because of your low body fat, which makes your body more conservative, if that makes sense. Eat a bit more and see how you feel, but don't randomly binge on junk because it will not benefit your endocrine system at all. Whole foods.

Also, the second part may be that you're simply too unconditioned for the cold. That means only one thing - get used to it. I start my mornings with a cold shower and have taken them for almost 2 years straight. I also take cold water immersions and take ice baths at winter. Basically, you can condition your body to handling freezing temperatures through sheer exposure and learning how to regulate your own core temperature through conscious breathing. 

Check out the video, in which I explain how to start doing cold water immersion

 

[Joe Zhou]

Thank you. That was very inspiring. I think the body fat is a factor but fear of cold plays the center role.

May I ask, if my immune system is not functioning well(due to long term unhealthy lifestyle), would exposure to cold temperature cause sickness(such as fever, coughing) more easily? Everyone around me believes this as a common sense, but maybe it is not the real case?

[Siim Land]

@Joe Zhou That would depend. I don't think that it could make your condition worse. Cold exposure increases the antioxidant glutathione that improves your immune system and detoxifies the body. Also, the increased blood flow you get will pump the lymphatic system, which will make you excrete toxins. Because of that, the poisons may cause some hick-ups, such as a cold or slight nausea. Nothing too severe though and it would be better to get them out of you instead of letting them sit there. You can also have saunas to cleanse yourself.

[Joe Zhou]

I started taking cold showers to conditioning myself to cold. I will come back after sometime and update the changes.

[Foreign]

Exercising regularly will help . 

[Markus]

I'm no expert but I presume that having more muscle produces more heat, and having more fat preserves more heat. Not telling you to become a fat fuck , that carries worse problems. Gold showers and building a bit of muscle are probably both a good idea, for your specific concern and for overall health. I still think temperature tolerance is individually variable, leaving aside any measures you take.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Markus

[SFRL]

Exercise will give you better circulation. Stick with it for a few months to see the results. Also pair it with a nutritious diet. 

Edited November 17, 2016 by STC