Do you find yourself trembling when no one else is? Although you might just have a natural tendency to be cold, there are also a range of conditions that could explain your chill. Here are some of them:

Anemia
Anemia happens when you don’t have enough red blood cells to bring your body all the oxygen it needs. It will leave you weak, tired, dizzy, and short of breath. It can also make you feel cold, mainly your hands and feet.

Lack of Vitamin B12
It can bring on anemia so you will feel cold. You can get vitamin B12 when you eat chicken, fish and eggs. Several cereals and other foods are fortified with it, too.

Lack of Iron
Without the correct amount of this nutrient, you can get iron-deficiency anemia, which can make you feel cold. It may be caused by a poor diet, blood loss, or because your body can’t absorb it well. The best source is red meat, but it’s also in poultry, fish, and pork. Some non-meat sources include iron-fortified breads and cereals, peas, chickpeas, soybeans, and dark green leafy vegetables.

Kidney disease
Diabetes and high blood pressure habitually cause kidney disease. Waste may build up to risky levels because your kidneys do a poor job of filtering the blood so this will lower your body temperature. Kidney disease is also linked to anemia, which can make you feel cold even when it’s hot outside.

Diabetes
Maintaining your blood sugar under control with lifestyle changes and medicine is essential since nerve damage from diabetes can leave you cold.

Artery Blockage
It happens when plaque narrows your arteries and makes it harder for your legs, and sometimes arms, to get sufficient blood. If one leg is much colder than the other, especially if it’s also numb, painful, or weak, it could be a sign of the disease.

Anorexia Nervosa
It’s an eating disorder that leads you to severely cut your calorie count and can make you dangerously thin. The lack of body fat can leave you feeling frozen all the time, especially in the hands and feet.

Flu
It’s caused by a virus that affects your entire body, including your nose, throat, and lungs. You can get a high fever and chills along with muscle ache, headache, cough, and weakness.

Hypothyroidism
It’s when the thyroid gland in your neck doesn’t make an adequate amount of some hormones. It can make you too sensitive to cold. You also may have aching joints, dry skin, constipation, and weight gain.

Hypopituitarism
It happens when your pituitary gland doesn’t make an adequate amount of certain hormones. Being too sensitive to cold or finding it hard to stay warm is one of the symptoms. You may also get anemia, lose your appetite, and lose some weight.

Medication
Various drugs might make you feel colder as a side effect. Beta-blockers help the heart relax and stop your body from making damaging chemicals in response to heart disease. But you also may feel nauseous, dizzy, tired, and colder in your hands and feet.

Drinking Alcohol
It may seem to warm you up at first but your temperature will fall as your body draws blood away from your core to warm the surface of your skin. Alcohol can also depress the part of your brain that regulates your temperature.

Christelle Bedrossian
Dietitian-Nutritionist
Beirut, Lebanon