“Why am I cold all the time?” Patients often ask their doctors this question or some variation—why are my fingers always freezing?…what vitamin deficiency causes you to feel cold?…why do I get cold after I eat?
Bottom Line Personal asked Anahita Dua, MD, vascular surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital, to explain what could be behind this common complaint. Here are 11 reasons why you might feel cold all the time.
1. You naturally “run cold”
Being sensitive to cold doesn’t necessarily mean there’s anything wrong with you. Our bodies have idiosyncratic “set points” for different aspects of metabolism, and some people are just born to thrive in slightly warmer temperatures. Don’t worry about feeling cold all the time unless it’s a new development and is accompanied by other symptoms such as unusual fatigue or sudden weight loss.
2. You’re stressed
Chronic stress and anxiety can keep you in a perpetual state of “fight or flight,” in which blood vessels constrict and the body produces the hormone cortisol, which can affect the natural thermostat in your brain’s hypothalamus.
3. You’re underweight
While not always the case, slender people often run cold because their blood vessels are closer to the surface of the skin.
4. You have diabetes
Diabetes delivers a double whammy when it comes to feeling cold. It’s a leading cause of peripheral artery disease, in which you have poor circulation to your extremities. The lack of blood flow makes your fingers and toes feel chilly. Diabetes also may cause neuropathy, nerve damage in the fingers and toes that contributes to the feeling of cold.
5. You have atherosclerosis
Hardened, plaque-filled arteries restrict blood flow, making your extremities feel chronically cold.
6. You’re on a medication with side effects
Beta-blockers (taken for high blood pressure) and vasoconstrictors (taken for low blood pressure), including pseudoephedrine (to relieve congestion), Adderall (for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) and Prozac (for various mental health conditions), can make you feel cold.
7. You have a hormonal imbalance
Low levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH)—hypothyroidism—can cause dysregulation of your body temperature, making you feel cold all over. Fluctuations in estrogen and testosterone levels also can mess with your internal thermostat.
8. You’re anemic
Anemia is when your body doesn’t produce enough red blood cells and therefore hemoglobin, the substance that delivers oxygen to tissues. Oxygen-deprived tissue can’t generate heat. Anemia also can cause lethargy, fatigue and inactivity, all of which can exacerbate the perception that one is experiencing cold.
9. You have a nutritional deficiency
Iron and vitamin B-12 are implicated in anemia. Vitamin D helps regulate your metabolism, including body temperature. Insufficiencies of these nutrients can lead to chronic chilliness.
10. You have Buerger’s Disease
This illness, which usually affects smokers, destroys the blood vessels in the extremities, leading to gangrene and tissue damage that may ultimately necessitate amputation.
11. You have Raynaud’s Disease
With this condition, the blood vessels in the fingers and toes are intact, but they spasm, driving blood out of the extremities and making them feel cold.
