Post Date April, 15 2023
When winter comes, many nephrotic friends often experience cold hands and feet, especially female nephrotic friends. Even if you wear thick clothes and warm gloves, your hands and feet are still cold. What's more, there are swelling and pain in hands and feet, and cracked skin, which makes people miserable. Through this article, the editor hopes to bring help to friends with kidney disease who have cold hands and feet in winter, especially women and elderly friends.
Why are women and older people more common?
According to traditional Chinese medicine, cold hands and feet are caused by insufficient yang qi, which governs heat, and are prone to cold hands and feet. For women and the elderly, congenital deficiency of yang is more likely to lead to cold hands and feet.
If you calm down and think calmly, you will realize that:
In winter, the temperature is very low, and every minute takes away the heat from the human body. If the temperature is too low, the machine will automatically turn on its self-protection function (abandoning the car to protect the body), giving priority to protecting internal organs and abandoning terminal limbs to prevent excessive temperature drop, which can easily lead to cold hands and feet.
Friends with kidney disease who have cold hands and feet can carefully recall: What are the biggest changes in daily life in winter?
Obviously, the biggest change is that the amount of activity has decreased! Many people stay indoors in winter and don't want to move. Chronic lack of exercise can lead to slower metabolism, less heat generation, and inability to maintain a high body temperature, resulting in cold hands and feet. For women and the elderly, they exercise less, which is why these groups are more likely to experience cold hands and feet.
How to adjust in daily life
Since cold hands and feet are caused by excessive body heat loss and/or low production, targeted prevention and care can be provided in daily life.
Promote blood circulation - increase calories
The most fundamental way is to increase the amount of exercise to get rid of the bad habit of not moving in cold weather, increase the amount of exercise and exercise the body, which can generate enough heat to ensure the temperature of your hands and feet. Winter sports suitable for friends with kidney disease include low intensity types such as jogging, tai chi boxing, and walking. It is advisable to have a slight heat release from the body and not to sweat profusely.
Hot water for soaking feet and rubbing hands often are mainly used to stimulate the blood circulation of the extremities to accelerate the generation of heat, which also has a good effect. It should be noted that hot water can accelerate blood flow and vasodilation when soaking feet, which can easily cause blood pressure fluctuations in a short time. Therefore, the water temperature should not be too high and the time should not be too long (40 ℃, 20 minutes is appropriate).
Reduce heat loss
Reducing heat loss is nothing more than doing a good job of preventing cold and keeping warm. If you wear more clothes, increase warmth; Avoid excessive skin exposure; Remember to wear a hat, scarf, gloves, etc. when going out.
Dietary therapy in traditional Chinese medicine is not recommended
In traditional Chinese medicine, there are many dietary recipes for winter health preservation, which promote nourishing high-calorie, spicy and stimulating foods to achieve the effect of dispelling cold. These recipes can easily mislead nephrotic friends and are not recommended.
Eating high calorie foods
It is often recommended to eat animal foods such as cattle, sheep, and dogs to increase energy intake, which runs counter to a low protein diet.
From a nutritional perspective, not only does it not achieve the effect of improving cold hands and feet, but it can lead to excessive energy and protein intake, causing obesity, increasing the burden on the kidneys, and a series of issues.
Spicy and pungent food
Spicy and stimulating foods such as chili, pepper, mustard, and ginger can promote blood circulation, but they only stimulate the sensory organs to sweat a little, making no sense except to increase heat dissipation.
On the contrary, many nephrotic friends, especially those with uremia, accumulate toxins, leading to gastrointestinal dysfunction. Eating spicy and stimulating foods only exacerbates the existing condition.
Therefore, for friends with kidney disease, increasing the amount of exercise is the fundamental way to solve the cold hands and feet in winter!
