Yet not everyone experiences Raynaud’s in the same way. Some feel numbness from the lack of blood, then their fingers turn red again when the blood returns. In advanced stages of Raynaud’s, poor blood supply can weaken the fingers and damage the sense of touch. Raynaud’s is a medical mystery; no one is sure what causes it. Some speculate it has a hormonal connection because women are 9 times more likely to have it than men, and 20% of all women of childbearing age experience it. Alarmingly, only 1 in 5 people with Raynaud’s knows it and seeks medical treatment. Because Raynaud’s is a conditioned response by the body, it slowly worsens if not properly handled and treated.
26 Toasty Tips To Keep Fingers And Toes Warm
If you have Raynaud’s, try these protective suggestions from our experts.
Twirl Your Arms To Generate Heat
Force your hands to warm up through a simple exercise devised by Donald McIntyre, MD. Pretend you’re a softball pitcher. Swing your arm downward behind your body and then upward in front of you at about 80 twirls per minute. (This isn’t as fast as it sounds; give it a try.) The windmill effect, which McIntyre modeled after a skier’s warmup exercise, forces blood to the fingers through both gravitational and centrifugal force. This warmup works well for chilled hands no matter what the cause. MORE: 10 Reasons Why Your Fingers Are Always Cold
Eat A Hot, Hearty Meal
The very act of eating causes a rise in core body temperature. This is called thermogenesis. So eat something to stoke your body’s furnace before you head outside. And eat something hot to give the stoking a boost. A bowl of hot oatmeal before your morning walk, a soup break, or a hot lunch helps keep your hands and feet toasty even in inclement weather.
Drink Up
Dehydration can aggravate chills and frostbite by reducing your blood volume. Ward off a big chill by drinking plenty of warm fluids such as mulled cider, herbal teas, or broth. Plus, drink at least 8 glasses of water a day to increase circulation and warmth.
Pass On The Coffee
Coffee and other caffeinated products constrict blood vessels. The last thing you want when you have Raynaud’s phenomenon is to interfere with your circulation. (Here’s 8 things that happen when you quit caffeine.)
Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol increases bloodflow to the skin, giving you the immediate perception of warmth. But that heat is soon lost to the air, reducing your core body temperature. In other words, alcohol actually makes you colder. The danger comes from drinking too much and then being subjected to unexpected cold for an extended period, which can lead to severe problems such as frostbite or hypothermia.
Dress Smart
To keep warm, you have to dress warmly, says John L. Abruzzo, MD. Common sense, yes, but many people will slap on gloves and footwear without taking equal precautions to maintain their core temperatures, which is really more important.
Choose Fabrics That Wick Away Perspiration
Perspiration is an even bigger cause of cold hands and feet than temperature. Sweat is the body’s air conditioner, and your body’s air conditioner can operate in cold weather if you’re not careful. Your hands and feet are especially susceptible because the palms and heels (along with the armpits) have the largest number of sweat glands in the body. That’s why the heavy woolen socks and fleece-lined boots you bought to keep your feet warm may instead make them sweaty and chilly. Try a pair of polypropylene (a synthetic fabric) socks underneath your wool ones.
Make Sure Garments Are Loose
None of your clothing should pinch. Tightly fitting clothes can cut off circulation and eliminate insulating air pockets. MORE: 6 Surprising Causes Of Inflammation—And What You Can Do About It
Dress In Layers
If you’re stepping out into the cold, the best warming measure you can take is to dress in layers. This helps trap heat and allows you to peel off clothes as the temperature changes. Your inner layer should consist of synthetic fabrics, such as polypropylene, which wicks perspiration away from your skin. Silk or wool blends also are acceptable. The next layer should insulate you by trapping your body heat. A wool shirt is one of your best options.
Waterproof Your Body
Choose a breathable, water-repellent jacket or windbreaker. Gore-Tex shoes and boots are the best choices for keeping your feet warm and dry.
Wear A Hat
The most body heat is lost from the top of your head. The blood vessels in your head are controlled by cardiac output and won’t constrict like those in your hands and feet to keep in heat. So while your head may not feel as cold as those icy fingers and toes, it is important to keep it covered to retain precious body heat.
Wear Mittens
Mittens keep you warmer than gloves because they trap your whole hand’s heat, rather than just a finger’s worth.
Try Foot Powder
Clothes aren’t the only way to keep dry. “Absorbent foot powders are excellent for helping keep feet dry,” says Marc A. Brenner, DPM. He cautions people with severe cold-foot problems caused by diabetes and peripheral vascular disease to use a shaker can rather than a spray, because the mist from the spray can actually freeze your feet.
Don’t Smoke
Cigarette smoke cools you in two ways. It helps form plaque in your arteries and, more immediately, contains nicotine, which causes vasospasms that narrow the small blood vessels and restrict the amount of blood available to keep your hands and feet warm.
Chill Out To Warm Up
Stress creates the same reaction in the body as cold. It’s the fight-or-flight phenomenon. Blood is pulled from the hands and feet to the brain and internal organs to enable you to think and react more quickly. Calming techniques abound. Some, such as progressive relaxation, in which you systematically tense and then relax the muscles from your forehead to your hands and toes, can be practiced at any time, in any place.
Toasty Tips
The following Raynaud’s survival tricks come from Lynn Wunderman, chairman and founder of the Raynaud’s Association. Although Wunderman has had Raynaud’s for most of her life, she wasn’t formally diagnosed until 1990. “I was always freezing as a child,” Wunderman says. “Raynaud’s is a very personal experience, so not every solution will work for everyone,” Wunderman says. “But because Raynaud’s is a conditioned bodily response, the more you expose yourself to cold and the less you protect yourself, the more frequent and severe your attacks will be. The opposite is also true: The more you do things that will help you stay warm and keep you protected, the better you will feel.” Drink cold beverages from a glass with a stem instead of out of a tumbler. Put drink cozies on cold containers such as soda cans and yogurt cups to keep the cold away from your hands. Keep a pair of oven mitts close by your refrigerator and wear them when taking things in and out of the fridge and freezer. Run your hands under warm (but not hot) water to warm them up quickly. Wear HeatBands—thin, flat strips that wrap around your wrists (looking sort of like wristbands)—to keep your fingers and hands warm. “Keeping the arteries in your wrist warm keeps your hand warmer, much like wearing a scarf makes your whole body feel warmer,” Wunderman says. (Visit the Raynaud’s Association’s website, for more information about HeatBands and the other products mentioned here as well as for links to the manufacturers’ Web sites and discount codes.) Try FootHugger brand comfort socks, which are made from extremely thin fleece and keep your feet exceptionally warm. Buy shoes that are a little big so that you can wear thick socks and to minimize discomfort if your feet swell when you’re having a Raynaud’s attack. Exercise—it helps to increase blood supplies to body tissues. Manage stress any way you can; it’s a trigger of Raynaud’s attacks. Some people with Raynaud’s find biofeedback and tai chi helpful. Find a doctor who listens to you. “A lot of doctors just shrug their shoulders and say, ‘Figure out how to stay warm.’” Wunderman says, “Raynaud’s is real. Turn the heat up.”
When To Call A Doctor
Call a doctor if in addition to cold hands and feet:
You experience hair or memory loss, which may signal hypothyroidism. You also have numbness and tingling, which could signal a vitamin B12 deficiency. Frostiness is paired with pain, burning, or drastic whitening of your fingers or toes, which could indicate peripheral vascular disease. You develop brownish-red ulcers on your hands and feet, which at the extreme can signal permanent damage to your blood vessels.
Although 90% of people with Raynaud’s have primary Raynaud’s, 10% have it in tandem with another more serious medical condition or disease, such as scleroderma, lupus, or rheumatoid arthritis. Raynaud’s might be the first sign, and it could be a decade before the other condition surfaces.
Panel Of Advisors
John L. Abruzzo, MD, is director of the division of rheumatology and a professor of medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Marc A. Brenner, DPM, is founder and director of the Institute of Diabetic Foot Research in Glendale, New York. He is past president of the American Society of Podiatric Dermatology and author and editor of various books. Donald McIntyre, MD, is a retired dermatologist in Rutland, Vermont. Lynn Wunderman is chairman and founder of the Raynaud’s Association in Hartsdale, New York.
