Cold hands and feet

Story

Connected to · 1

regulates · 1

Hashimoto's
With an underactive thyroid, feeling the cold more than usual is one of the common symptoms, often alongside extreme tiredness, constipation and weight gain. For someone who has only recently started to feel unusually cold, a thyroid blood test is a cheap step.

Read full story

Stop 1/5

Why hands and feet go cold first

THE SHORT ANSWER

The skin of the hands and feet has arteriovenous shunts that the brain shuts first when the body is cool, to protect core temperature. Cold hands in a cool room are mostly the system working normally.

WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

One hand or foot suddenly cold, pale, very painful, numb or weak: go to the emergency department now.

EVIDENCEGUIDE 1 · REVIEW 3

READ THE ORIGINAL

The skin of the palms and soles holds a special kind of blood vessel: the arteriovenous anastomosis, a short tube that links a small artery directly to a small vein, with a thick, muscular wall densely supplied by sympathetic nerves. When it is open, a large flow of warm blood pours straight into the veins of the hands and feet, and they are warm; when it shuts, blood flow to the hands and feet drops sharply.

These shunts are run as one by the temperature center in the hypothalamus of the brain, opening and closing together: when the body is even slightly cool, they close first to save heat and protect the core temperature of the chest and abdomen. When a patch of skin itself is cooled, its blood flow can also fall to very low levels.

So cold hands and feet in a cool room are mostly this system working normally, not a sign that something is weak. What deserves attention is coldness that is one-sided, changes color, or comes with other symptoms.

If one hand or foot suddenly turns cold, pale, very painful, numb or weak, an artery may be blocked: go to the emergency department now.

Educational content, not medical advice — consult a clinician.

Back