Do you ever get waves of suddenly feeling cold or chilly, despite the room temperature being 72 or even 75?
Could this be low blood pressure?
Not only do your hands feel cold, but you know you’d feel more comfortable with a sweater on.
When you place your hands to your tummy, you can’t keep them there because they’re so cold!
Yet otherwise you feel perfectly fine.
Can low blood pressure make you feel cold?
“No, your blood pressure does not really affect your temperature,” says Susan L. Besser, MD, with Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore, and Diplomate American Board of Obesity Medicine and board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine.
“Temperature regulation is controlled by different mechanisms than blood pressure regulation,” continues Dr. Besser.
“And feeling cold really isn’t related to blood pressure at all (within normal ranges).
“Obviously if you have a serious illness that causes low blood pressure (like significant blood loss), you might also feel cold.”
But for the vast majority of people who, for no apparent reason while at their computer, watching TV or during some other passive activity start feeling chilly, the cause is not related to low blood pressure or significant blood loss.
If you feel cold constantly or on a frequent basis with no explanation, see a doctor, as there are MANY medical conditions that can cause one to feel chilly.
If the sensation is only on a periodic basis, it could be anxiety related, even if you’re not actively thinking of the stressors in your life.
It could be background anxiety, kind of like a “stress malware program” running in the background of your mind’s computer.
It could also be a heating malfunction in your home that’s not showing on the thermostat.
Check the heat source (e.g., heating vents that run along the baseboards) to see if heat is being generated.
Dr. Besser provides comprehensive family care, treating common and acute primary conditions like diabetes and hypertension. Her ongoing approach allows her the opportunity to provide accurate and critical diagnoses of more complex conditions and disorders.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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