If your fingers get chilly all year round—even in the peak of summer—you're not alone. Many people get cold hands during all of the seasons, due to a number of causes, from genetic to chronic illnesses.
Common reasons include being elderly and thin. If your hands are regularly cold or numb, however, it's a good idea to see a doctor to rule out more serious causes. Cold hands are one of the symptoms of both anemia (贫血症) and hypothyroidism (甲状腺机能减退). Diabetes, which reduces blood circulation, can also trigger it. And if your heart is weak from heart disease, your body may prioritize sending blood to your core over your limbs.
For many others, cold hands are a sign they have a largely harmless condition called Raynaud's disease. When any of us goes out in the cold, our bodies activate the muscles in our smallest blood vessels to make them even smaller—a survival mechanism to keep blood, and thus warmer temperatures, in our core. For people with Raynaud's, this reaction is too strong, and instead of just a bit less blood going to their fingers, far too little gets there.
Raynaud's is more common in women, and it most often develops before the age of 30. In fact, if you develop Raynaud's when you're older—usually after 40—it can be a sign of another underlying issue. That could be a smaller problem—a previous incident of frostbite (冻伤) or a sign of a more serious autoimmune condition, like lupus (狼疮).
For the majority of people living with Raynaud's, medication won't be necessary. However, a rare, more severe form of Raynaud's affects less than one in 1,000 people. In these cases, blood can become completely blocked, causing sores on the hands. If they go untreated, it can lead to gangrene (坏疽) and, very rarely, amputation (截肢).
