You blood flow improves by soaking your feet in a foot bath with hot water.
Recently we noticed that more than 75% of our female patients suffer from cold limbs due to poor blood & Qi circulation.
Those patients tend to have wet & swollen tongue with a little or no coating, and slow pulse. Many have some menstrual problems, such as premenstrual syndrome (PMS), dysmenorrhea (painful periods), amenorrhea (no period), irregular bleeding, and irregular menstrual cycle. Some have infertility issues, and some have menopausal & pre-menopausal symptoms such as hot flush and nocturia related insomnia. And all of them have stiff shoulders & neck and living in a state of some stress.
According to the western medicine, hormonal imbalance causes cold limbs. Fluctuations in estrogen levels can affect sensitivity to cold, causing women to feel colder than usual during any stages of the menstrual cycle. High stress may cause cold feet too. One of the body's natural responses to stress is to pump adrenaline into the bloodstream. As it circulates, adrenaline causes the peripheral blood vessels to constrict, which caused low blood flow to the outermost areas of the body - feet.
According to Chinese medicine, internal cold can result from external invasions getting into our system's deeper levels and embedding themselves. This process is enabled by weakness within the system, typically of Qi, and most importantly, Yang. The Yang deficiency leads to a series of cold symptoms characterized by a cold body and limbs owing to an insufficiency of Yang Qi, which fails to warm the body and leads to a Yang deficiency-induced internal cold.
Then, how to warm them up?
the way to warm cold limbs in everyday life
Cover your feet with wool socks & legwarmers.
1. Wear wool socks & legwarmers that cover your feet and ankles at home and in the bed. Avoid barefoot even at home. Additionally, keep wearing stole, scarf or neck warmer around your neck all the time. According to the traditional Chinese medicine, the cold evil invades through the back of your neck.
The Futon dryer warms and dries mattress and comforter by forcing warm air through it.
2.Warm the bedding before going to bed. It is said that the temperature of the bedding that leads to a good night's sleep is about 91.4F (33C), which is a little lower than the body temperature. Warm it with a Futon dryer or a heated mattress pad.
3.Taking foot bath, hot bath (or hot shower) is the key to the warm body. You can improve blood flow by soaking your feet in a foot bath with hot water (109.4F (43C)) and some Epsom salt which relieves aches and inflammation. Or, use Foot Spa Bath Massager. In the bathtub, make sure to massage your scalp, feet and back of calves to improve blood circulation.
4.Relaxing your body with a gentle stretch on the floor. A simple stretch has effect on relaxing and warming the body and mind. Yoga, Tai Chi, and a gentle breathing exercise are also recommended.
The Hand Body warmer (stick-on type) helps to ease your cramping cold feet.
5.Put a Hand Body warmer (stick-on type) around the sacrum bone on your back. Because of the large blood vessels there, it is easy for heat to reach the entire body and it makes you feet warm. The Hand Body warmer can apply on your toes when you get cramps in your cold feet too.
6.Eat body warming food & drink and avoid body cooling food.
Body warming food: Warm, cooked, organic and naturally flavored food
1) Organic Vegetables (boiled or steamed - body warming effect)
Ginger, Garlic, Scallion, Renkon(Lotus Root), Pumpkin (Kabocha), Gobo (burdock root), Carrot, Onion, Yamaimo (Japanese mountain yam), Shiitake mushroom
2) Flavor - Black sesame, Miso, Sea salt, Soy Sauce
3) Fresh Fish (bluefish, Mackerel etc), Shellfish
4) Herb tea (Chamomile, Rooibos tea, etc) – Calming effect
5) Soy Beans - Organic Tofu, Natto (fermented soybeans - enhance immunity)
6) Haiga-mai (Shortgrain Rice), Gokoku mai (Five Grain Rice), Wheat, or Brown rice, Soba (Buckwheat noodle)
7) Organic Meat (Chicken, Polk, and Beef) & Eggs
8) Seaweeds, Kombu kelp, Wakame, Hijiki, Shirasu & ChirimenJako (Baby Sardine)
Body cooling food: Raw, cold, spicy, sweet and artificially flavored food
1) Dairy foods (Milk, Butter)
2) Cold food - Salad, Raw vegetables & Tropical fruits
3) Summer vegetables (raw) : Tomato, Lettuce, cucumber, eggplant
4) Icy water, Icy cold drink
5) Raw fish (sushi / sashimi), Raw meat
6) Spicy food
7) Sweet (white sugar) - try honey or brown sugar instead
8) White rice, Udon noodle
9) Caffeine (Coffee, Green tea)
10) Artificial ingredients, Food additive, Artificial flavors & coloring
