Core temperatures

The Core of the Matter

I'm chiming in from Minnesota, another cold-weather state.

There are lots of footwear tricks that help to varying degrees, but the most important key to keeping feet from freezing is your suggestion to keep the torso warm and dry so the body's core temperature stays up.

Perhaps a simple technical explanation of why this works will convince people to pay attention to this misunderstood process.



Your body temperature control works exactly opposite of the thermostatically controlled heating system in your home. When the temperature sensor in the thermostat on your wall gets cold, it turns on the furnace, which pumps heat to the extremities of the house. When the thermostat is satisfied, it turns the heat off.

When the temperature sensors in your tootsies and fingers get cold, they send a signal to the brain (or somewhere else in our magic control system) that tells the blood circulation system to reduce that nice warm flow to your extremities. That's nature's way of conserving heat in the vital core area to keep you alive. You can stay alive with frozen hands or feet, but you die when your core temperature drops too low.

It's apparent, then, that chilled feet or hands is a worsening spiral unless you take action to warm your core temperature with warmer clothes, increased exertion rate, warm liquid intake, and so on.

I spent 50 years as an avid Minnesota outdoors person before I learned this simple principle. Since then, I've been a lot more comfortable in cold weather. -- Don Y.