The Weird Reason You May Have Cold Hands & Feet + What To Do About It

If you have perpetually cold hands and feet, you likely know how frustrating the sensation can be—especially when gloves and socks don't provide adequate relief. It turns out, though, there may be a remedy for icy extremities that doesn't include any outerwear; rather, you can regulate your circulation by changing the way you breathe. 

According to McKeown, cold hands and feet are very common in people with poor breathing patterns. When you breathe too hard or too quickly, it constricts your blood vessels (as opposed to slow, nasal breathing, which releases nitric oxide—a molecule that plays an essential role in increasing circulation and delivering oxygen into cells). When your blood vessels constrict, "it causes less oxygen to be delivered throughout the body," says McKeown. And thus, freezing fingers.

Additionally, when you over-breathe, you get rid of too much carbon dioxide: In case you need a biology refresher, CO₂ gets transported from the bloodstream to the lungs, but it also helps regulate blood pH1—so you don't want to get rid of too much of it in your bloodstream.

Of course, breathing patterns aren't the only reason for cold extremities. There are a host of reasons why your fingers and toes feel icy (a thyroid imbalance could be another culprit, for example), but focusing on your breath is a rather low-lift experiment to try. To that end, McKeown shares a couple of ways to strengthen your breathing and warm you up.

First and foremost, nasal breathing is essential: "When you're a mouth-breather, you typically breathe faster through the upper chest," he says. Whereas nasal breathing and nitric oxide help chauffeur oxygen and nutrients to your cells. McKeown even saw personal success with this simple shift: "I noticed I could bring increased temperature into my hands," he says.