With spring in full bloom, the warm weather provides the perfect environment for picnics, long walks in nature, and evening concerts in local parks. But if you're someone who works in an office, you probably know that with air conditioning comes frigid temperatures the moment you arrive at work in the morning. You've probably learned to cope by keeping a fluffy blanket on your chair or pausing for hot tea breaks through the afternoon, but some of the reasons you feel cold all the time have less to do with external temperature than they do with what's going on inside your body.
It's totally normal to feely extra chilly after eating an enormous ice cream cone or sitting in front of a fan, but according to medical doctor Alex Spinoso, being consistently cold should be a cause for concern when your fingers or toes start to turn white or if you're getting sick on a regular basis. If you feel like you're freezing, even when your BFFs think things are nice and toasty, you might want to check in with your doctor to make sure that you aren't experiencing any health problems.
Here are a some potential reasons why you feel chilly all the time.
If you've gone for a walk on a chilly morning, or just drank a large glass of ice water, you might feel extra cold temporarily. But having anemia is one of the most common causes of coldness, according to Samantha Morrison, a health and wellness expert for Glacier Wellness.
"Whether you’re not eating enough healthy fats or carbohydrates or ingesting too much sugar, there are some key foods to look out for to fix your coldness problem," she tells Elite Daily. Morrison suggests snacking on apples and bananas for a midday pick-me-up that's nutrient dense and will give your circulatory system a boost.
Hypothyroidism, a condition in which your thyroid isn't working as actively as it should be, can affect many areas of your body, according to Harvard Health. One symptom of this health problem is something called "cold intolerance." As per the article via Harvard Health, "Slowed-down cells burn less energy, so the body produces less heat. You may feel chilly even when others around you are comfortable."
"One of the reasons for feeling cold is when the body is mounting up an attack against an infection," public health physician Dr. Obianuju Helen Okoye, MD, MBA, MS-Epi tells Elite Daily. "You feel cold (commonly known as the chills) because the body is trying to burn energy and increase your core body temperature," she explains. "So if you feel cold and have a fever, there is an infection taking place in your body."
"When you're anxious, your blood flow is redirected away from your extremities and toward your larger organs in your torso," Anne Marie Albano, PhD, an associate professor of medical psychology at Columbia University Medical Center, told Prevention. Basically, your body gets stuck in a "fight or flight" state and directs blood to guard your heart, rather than your fingertips or toes. Without plenty of blood flow, you can start to feel extra chilly.
