Why Are You Always Cold All The Time?
Have you ever found yourself to be the sole person in a gathering who's snugly wrapped up in a sweater? Are you constantly on a quest for a blanket to shield yourself from the chill that you always seem to feel? Picture this, it's summer, the heat outside is practically scorching, people around you are perspiring, and yet, you're comfortably sipping a coffee in the shade thinking, "This isn't so bad."
If this resonates with you, it may be time to face a disconcerting fact—this is not quite normal. Such sensations of persistent coldness could potentially be indicative of underlying health issues that warrant further investigation.
Importance of Body Temperature in Health Assessment
When it comes to assessing our health, body temperature stands as an underappreciated yet crucial vital sign. While most people readily acknowledge heartbeat and blood pressure as key signals indicative of our well-being, we often overlook the wealth of information that our body temperature can provide. Indeed, body temperature serves as a fascinating portal into understanding our body's metabolic processes and overall health status. Consider what happens when your body runs hot. This higher temperature typically signifies a body brimming with energy—energy sufficient to pump blood throughout our system effectively and invigorate all our biological functions. Imagine your body as a well-oiled machine, where high temperatures indicate a powerful and efficient metabolism in full swing.
Now, contrast this with the state of constant coldness. When you are persistently cold, it often suggests a reduced energy state. You might feel weaker, and lethargic, the vigor fading. This feeling is a subtle distress signal from your body hinting towards a likely energy deficit. Your body might be struggling to generate enough heat to maintain ideal blood flow to your extremities and throughout the entire system. Consequently, the body's temperature drops, and you are left experiencing those chills that seem unshakeable. Understanding these nuances around our body temperature helps us pay better attention to these small identifiers, which could be indicative of our overall health state. In essence, our body communicates with us in various ways, and temperature fluctuations serve as one of these language mechanisms, providing insight into the intricate workings of our metabolism and health.
5 Reasons for Feeling Cold All the Time
There is an array of factors that could contribute to someone continually grappling with cold sensations. To better understand this phenomenon, let's delve into the five most common reasons that may cause someone to persistently feel cold, and highlight potential steps they could take to alleviate this issue.
Anemia
Firstly, a large number of people may grapple with anemia, or in certain instances, face challenges in managing the usage of iron within their bodies. This can be quite complex to navigate but, to condense this, it's essential to understand that iron is pivotal to the process of oxygenating our body tissues. Without adequate iron, your body may exhibit symptoms such as lethargy, weakness, fatigue, paleness, and the persistent sensation of cold. These are common indicators because the deficiency can cause your vital organs to struggle to receive enough oxygenated blood. Iron deficiency anemia arises when the body lacks the necessary iron to form hemoglobin—a crucial component of the red blood cells responsible for carrying oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide from the body. The majority of the iron is stored in the hemoglobin, while the remaining one-third exists as ferritin and hemosiderin in the bone marrow, spleen, and liver.
Diagnosing anemia can be more complex than conducting a straightforward blood test to check hemoglobin or ferritin levels, as suggested in our previous article here. Even without a formal diagnosis, when you have symptoms of iron deficiency or inability to effectively utilize iron, these can still result in lower than normal body temperatures. To cater to these needs, we offer an iron supplement named Upgraded Iron. However, we strongly advocate for conducting a comprehensive iron assessment through our Full Monty Iron Panel. This not only checks for all iron parameters but when coupled with a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA), it allows us to compare results and identify any prerequisite nutrients, such as copper, zinc, magnesium, or potential heavy metals that may be inhibiting your body's optimum utilization of iron.
Hypothyroidism
A second potential cause for persistently feeling cold could be attributed to a thyroid condition, such as hypothyroidism. Acting as the primary regulator of our body temperature and metabolic rate, the thyroid gland plays a significant role in our body's overall functionality. Hypothyroidism occurs when the thyroid gland underperforms, leading to irregular blood values for TSH, T4, and T3. TSH values might be within the normal range or higher, T4 levels could be normal to low, and T3 levels could range between normal and low. A combination of these values can indicate the presence of hypothyroidism.
The causes of hypothyroidism can vary, encompassing factors such as nutrient deficiencies (like zinc, copper, selenium, iron, and iodine, which can be examined via HTMA, heavy metal toxicity, trauma, pathogenic infections, and stress, among others. However, this is not an exhaustive list. There is also a condition known as "cellular" hypothyroidism, wherein the thyroid gland functions normally, but cells struggle to absorb or utilize thyroid hormones effectively. This can be attributed to mineral imbalances—specifically those involving calcium and potassium. Excessive calcium accumulation in our tissues can result in the formation of a layer around cells, subsequently inhibiting thyroid hormone absorption. On the other hand, a deficiency in potassium can hinder our cells' sensitivity to thyroid hormones. You can learn more about this fascinating relationship in this comprehensive article here.
Hypoglycemia
A third potential factor contributing to the constant feeling of coldness could be complications related to blood sugar levels—particularly when these levels plummet— a condition known as hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia can occur as a result of not consuming enough food, having irregular meal times, rapid utilization of glucose, certain conditions affecting the liver or pancreas, or due to the misuse of alcohol and drugs. In the state of hypoglycemia, the body may perceive an insufficient energy supply, leading to inadequate circulation within the body. Consequently, the body prioritizes vital organ functioning and constricts blood flow to secondary areas, thus instigating the feeling of coldness.
Interestingly, hypoglycemic patterns can be discerned from an HTMA. Specifically, we look at the ratio of Calcium to Magnesium (Ca: Mg), which is a crucial indicator of blood sugar balance. Addressing the deficiencies or balances of certain critical nutrients can help with blood sugar regulation. These nutrients include calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and chromium, each playing a unique and integral role in maintaining optimal blood sugar levels. Understanding this, you can start taking proactive steps to manage these fluctuations, which in turn, may assist in mitigating the persistent cold sensation.
Low Body Fat Percentages
A continuous sensation of coldness could also be indicative of inadequate body fat or being underweight - conditions that challenge your body's natural insulation and critical hormonal synthesis. In today's society, the focus on weight loss resistance is common, however, a significant segment of the population may be contending with issues related to malnutrition, body dysmorphia, eating disorders, or specific diet regimes that propel their body fat percentage to abnormally low levels.
Body fat serves two crucial functions—it acts as a thermal insulator against cold environments, and it plays a vital role in the production of various indispensable hormones. While excessive body fat can lead to health complications, maintaining a certain percentage is indeed necessary for the body's normal function. Worthy of note is that these factors transcend a mere weight issue or a cosmetic concern - they carry profound implications for general health and wellbeing. Therefore, maintaining a healthy body weight and body fat percentage is an integral part of supporting our body's overall functionality and thermal regulation.
Poor Sleep Patterns
Finally, an often-overlooked factor contributing to the persistent sensation of cold could be inadequate sleep. An intriguing study conducted with female participants as mentioned here demonstrated that even a single night of sleep deprivation led to a decrease in their body temperatures. Furthermore, the decline continued and struggled to stabilize with the prolongation of sleep loss. Sleep serves as a vital recuperative period, a time when our bodies recover from the day's stresses and restore energy. Therefore, when the body is deprived of this essential rest period, it may respond by conserving energy. It does this by restricting energy dispersion to the extremities, resulting in a sensation of coldness.
In essence, good quality sleep plays a significant role in maintaining our body's thermoregulation. A consistent lack of restful sleep can disrupt this balance, with continuous sensations of coldness being one visible manifestation. Thus, ensuring adequate and quality sleep is not only beneficial for one's overall health but also crucial in maintaining an optimal body temperature.
Conclusion
In conclusion, being constantly cold may seem like a minor inconvenience, but it's essential to recognize that it could signify an underlying health issue that requires further investigation. Several factors may contribute to this perpetual sensation of cold, including anemia, hypothyroidism, hypoglycemia, low body fat percentage, and poor sleep patterns.
By understanding the potential causes and taking proactive steps to address these issues, you can start the journey towards better health and a more comfortable internal temperature. Remember that your body communicates through various cues, and acknowledging these signals can help pave the way to a healthier, more balanced life.
Don't let the cold hold you back, take charge, and uncover the root cause today.
If you're grappling with consistent temperature issues and believe the factors discussed may be contributing to your situation, we encourage you to consider undertaking a HTMA with us. Start your journey towards understanding your body better by clicking here to begin your HTMA process.