Cold Hands & Feet

Persistently cold hands and feet usually reflect how readily your peripheral blood vessels constrict to preserve core temperature. That is normal physiology, and it is more noticeable in people with low body fat, low blood pressure, or a habitually cool environment. Beyond normal variation, three explanations recur. Raynaud's phenomenon causes episodic arterial spasm with the classic white-blue-red colour sequence, numbness and painful rewarming; primary Raynaud's affects a meaningful proportion of young women and is benign, while secondary Raynaud's can be the first sign of scleroderma, lupus or another connective tissue disease. Iron deficiency anaemia reduces oxygen delivery and commonly presents with cold intolerance alongside fatigue and breathlessness. Hypothyroidism lowers metabolic rate and causes generalised cold sensitivity with dry skin, constipation and weight change. Supplement options are limited and honest expectations matter: fish oil at 3-4 g/day and L-arginine have small trials in Raynaud's, ginkgo has mixed results, and none approaches the benefit of cold-trigger avoidance, gloves and hand warmers, smoking cessation, or prescribed calcium channel blockers where symptoms are disabling. Stimulants and decongestants reliably worsen it.