While having cold hands and feet is a normal physical response to a cold environment, TCM teaches that persistently cold hands and feet are symptoms that may point to deeper health issues resulting from Qi, Yang, and Yin deficiencies. Too much cooling Yin and not enough warming Yang results in cold extremities. Restoring Yin Yang balance through proper diet, exercise, and TCM practices like acupuncture and medicinal herbs will help circulate blood through the body properly, warming chronically cold hands and feet.
Causes
Qi Deficiency:
The health and quality of Qi, which is the energy of all life, is very important in TCM. If there is Qi stagnation, or insufficient Qi, symptoms like cold extremities may manifest. Without the body’s normal energy flow, its ability to generate warmth diminishes, leading to lack of warmth in the hands and feet. Qi stagnation can be caused by stress, poor eating habits, and a sedentary lifestyle.
Blood Stagnation:
If you experience blood stagnation, it can lead to poor circulation, causing cold hands, chest pain, and feelings of oppression. In TCM, blood stasis is the concept that blood flow in the body is not as smooth as it should be, leading to various health issues like cold hands, pain, bruises, and a purple complexion. Good health relies on the smooth, robust flow of blood, so when it is stuck, it leads to discomfort. In order to correct the Qi deficit, it is necessary to incorporate mindfulness, appropriate rest and nourishing diets.
Yang Deficiency:
A Yang deficiency presents as fatigue, chills, and a pale face, resulting from a deficiency in the body’s warming energy. Yang is responsible for transforming and transporting Qi throughout the body. It is the warming principle that counterbalances Yin;s cooling and contracting nature. This harmony is essential for optimal bodily function. Chronic illness, ageing, overexertion, overeating of cold and raw foods, chronic stress, and prolonged exposure to a cold environment causes a Yang efficiency, with cold hands and feet being a noticeable symptom of the body’s inability to circulate warmth. Common symptoms of a Yang deficiency include chronic fatigue, sensitivity to cold, nasal congestion, continuous sneezing, abdominal pain, menstrual cramps and blood clots, and digestive issues.
Excessive Yin:
Yin and Yang need to be in harmony for the body to function at its best. While Yang is responsible for dispersing Qi and warmth throughout the body and limbs, Yin conveys that energy to the organs, and is cooling. If Yin and Yang are in disharmony, they can not connect, causing an inability to circulate energy through the body. This disconnect is called jue, and may result from meridian obstruction or insufficient Yang energy caused by Qi stagnation, blood stasis, and indigestion. An excess of Yin in the body results in cold hands and feet, because there is not enough Yang energy to keep the extremities warm, and the feet are farthest from the heart.
Remedies
Food: To treat a Yang deficiency, avoid consumption of cold or raw foods like salads, raw fruit, or milk. Do eat warm foods like cayenne, walnuts, pistachios, chestnuts, onion, garlic, mutton, leeks, cinnamon, mugwort leaves, jujube tea, and ginger, and medicinal herbs like cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg. To treat blood stagnation, eat foods like apricots, cherries, red grapes, beets, beef, eggs, figs, dates, parsley, dark leafy greens. Include sulphur-rich foods like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, and brussel sprouts, leafy greens, lentils, chickpeas, and walnuts for enhanced blood flow.
Foot Soak: Soak your feet in warm water for 15 minutes before bed, or sleep with a hot water bottle at the foot of your bed. Add mugwort leaves, ginger, or prickly ash for extra warmth.
Layering: Being cold can exacerbate Yang and Qi deficiencies, so layering and staying warm can help aid the body’s efforts to circulate blood and warm the extremities.
Exercise: A sedentary lifestyle encourages blood stagnation, so exercises like jogging, tai chi, walking, yoga, swimming, and other aerobic activities that do not cause overexertion are ideal for circulating blood throughout the body. Overexertion causes sweating, resulting in Yang depletion.
Acupuncture: By stimulating specific points along the body’s meridians, Qi and blood stagnation can be relieved. Activation of certain points, especially along the Kidney and Spleen meridians, circulates blood, restores warmth, increases Qi, and restores warmth to the hands and feet.
Cold hands and feet are strong indicators of an imbalance in the body’s Yin Yang relationship. Harmony can be restored through proper diet, exercises that are not excessively draining, foot soaks, warm clothes, and various TCM practices like acupuncture and medicinal herbs.
Supporting the body’s ability to circulate blood is the key to warming chronically cold hands and feet.
Resources
● https://www.commontcm.sg/chronic-illness/tcm-treatment-cold-hands-and-feet
● https://www.yongkangtcm.com/post/chinese-medicine-and-cold-extremities
● https://www.shanghaimedicalclinic.com/cold-hands-and-feet-what-to-do/
● https://sgpaincaretcm.com/understanding-cold-feet-traditional-chinese-medicine-approach/