We may not be aware that cold weather can cause poor health. What happens to us in cold weather and how to feel comfortable in sub-zero temperatures?
In frost, all blood vessels, including the brain, narrow. In some women, especially on critical days, when the sensitivity of the body becomes maximum, a sudden attack of headache may occur in the cold. Dealing with it is simple. Go to any warm room and the headache will go away on its own.
But it happens that the head hurts not only in the cold, but also at work and at home. Its cause is a sharp drop in external temperature. If you run out into the street without a hat or in a thin kerchief, walk in the cold, and then heat the air in the car like in a bath, arrange an Egyptian summer in your apartment.
Wear a hat, it should fit your head, but not squeeze it. Wear a warm scarf, but do not tie it tightly so as not to pinch the vessels in the neck that feed the brain.
Eat hot and high-calorie meals for breakfast: porridge, scrambled eggs, hot sandwiches. Drink a hot drink – cocoa, tea, milk. Do not drink coffee, it increases sensitivity and provokes headaches.
Honey, dried apricots, lemon juice, grapefruit, persimmon, garlic gently expand and cleanse the vessels.
In the cold, pink spots appear most often on the hands and face, similar to a mosquito bite. Sometimes they pass by themselves in the warmth after an hour or two. May last a week or more, or develop into blisters. This is how cold urticaria manifests itself. For some reason, the body in the cold releases histamine – a substance that causes allergies.
Less time outside in cold weather. Calculate the temperature at which you react to the cold, and in such weather do not go for a walk. Do not try to harden yourself in the winter and accustom yourself to the cold, it will only get worse. Wash your face with warm water.
Do not eat or drink cold food or drinks. Give up for a while from coffee, alcohol, mushrooms, smoked meats, canned food, nuts, chocolate, oranges, tangerines, lemons, pineapples, spices. These are powerful allergens that can make the disease worse.
Before leaving the house, apply special healing “isolating” creams to the exposed parts of the body to protect the skin from the cold.
See an allergist. Cold urticaria is usually a consequence of other chronic conditions. In addition, your doctor will advise you on an antihistamine.
When cold air is inhaled, it feels like a spasm is occurring and the air has difficulty getting to the lungs. A cold allergy or an untreated cold can be the cause.
See an allergist or pulmonologist.
Protect the chest from the cold first. Don’t wear your coat unbuttoned. Wear a natural fabric scarf. But don’t dress too warmly either. If you sweat, the contrast in temperature will increase and you can easily catch a cold.
Get used to the cold gradually. After getting dressed, stand for a few minutes at the open window. Wait a few more minutes on the first floor of the entrance.
Breathe only through your nose.
Frost dries out the skin much more than the sun. And in winter, the air in the room where the heating is turned on does not contain water vapor, and it is very dry. As a result, the skin of the lips and hands dries up the most and even cracks.
When outdoors, cover your lower face with a scarf or handkerchief. Do not go out without warm gloves, but rather mittens.
Don’t lick your lips, especially in the wind.
Peel. 15-20 minutes before applying makeup, cover your lips with hygienic lipstick and massage gently with your fingertip. Then blot the lipstick and rub your lips with the pulp of a lemon peel. Avoid using lip gloss in winter. Buy a greasy lipstick, such as jojoba oil or mink oil.
For your hands, use fatty nourishing creams with vitamins A and E. In the evening, you can make a bath with olive or peach oil. After the bath, get your hands wet, put on cotton gloves and sleep in them.
If your skin is chapped and flaky, use special open-air barriers before going outside.
Irritability and fatigue rolls over
The body reacts to a cold snap in the same way as to stress. Blood flows more slowly through the veins and vessels, the brain lacks oxygen, and the stress hormone adrenaline is released into the blood. If you are healthy, your body will tolerate these changes imperceptibly. If the autonomic nervous system is shattered, and this happens in most of the inhabitants of megacities, then the pressure begins to jump, irritability and fatigue appear.
A good sleep is the key to a happy morning. Take sedatives valerian, tincture of peony, motherwort at night. You can take a bath with one of the essential oils of chamomile, lavender, bergamot, lemon balm. In the morning, turn on invigorating music.
In addition to breakfast, eat banana and nuts. They contain substances that produce serotonin – the hormone of joy and happiness. During the day, eat colorful vegetables and fruits to feed the body with all the vitamins and minerals. Nutrition for serotonin is also found in turkey, cheese, avocado, and cilantro. And the starch contained in potatoes normalizes the adrenaline level, relieves nervousness and soothes.
Try to sit by the window. Natural light and street views have a beneficial effect on mood.
Some people freeze on the street, even when the thermometer drops slightly below zero.
In people with decreased vascular tone, hypotension, with widespread dystonia, the capillary blood supply is disturbed, so their blood does not come well to the skin, and the hands, feet, and tip of the nose are “icy” in winter. But anyone can freeze if they don’t dress for the weather, stand in one place for a long time in the cold, or drink “for sugaring.” Alcohol dilates blood vessels and releases internal heat outside.
When you want to warm up quickly, grab some hot sweet tea or fatty broth.
If your hands and feet are very cold, do not try to warm them by placing them on a radiator or under running hot water. The sharp contrast in temperatures can cause severe pain and even disrupt the heart rhythm! Take a bath. Pour in 37-degree water first. Add a few drops of anti-inflammatory fir, or spruce, or pine, or eucalyptus essential oil to the water. Raise the water temperature gradually to a comfortable temperature. Lie down for 15-20 minutes. Remember that hot baths should not be taken in case of hypertension and exacerbation of chronic diseases.
Do not eat salty and spicy foods – smoked meats, sausages. Salt retains fluid and can cause vasospasm.
Eat beans, peas, lentils, liver, eggs, corn and olive oils, they contain vitamins E and C, which make blood vessels elastic and strong.
Frostbite on cheeks, nose, ear
If outside the tip of your nose or cheek or ear turns pale and no longer feels touched, take urgent action.
If your nose is frostbitten, cover your mouth and nose with your hands and warm your nose with your breath. Gently rub the frostbitten area with your hand until it becomes red, cover it with a scarf and move to a warm room as quickly as possible. You cannot rub your face with snow. The ice floes will further cool the skin and tissues and can damage the fragile skin and cause infection through abrasions!
Once you are indoors, the main task is to warm your nose or cheeks or ear slowly and gradually. Frostbite is a “burn” of the skin with cold. Do not smear the “burn” with alcohol, oil, soap, pour hot water or apply a heating pad to it! Make a dry cotton-gauze bandage (a layer of gauze, a layer of cotton wool, a layer of gauze, a plastic bag) and attach it to the frostbitten area. Drink warm drinks such as sweet tea, milk, coffee. You can take analgin or aspirin and sedatives (tincture of valerian or motherwort). Go to the doctor! It is difficult to determine the degree of frostbite on your own, and even small frostbite on the face during recovery can strongly tighten the skin. Further treatment should be prescribed by a doctor.