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How Cold Weather Can Affect Your Health

January 21, 2021

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Cold weather can impact your body and health in more ways than just illness. In areas that experience cold winters, it is possible to be affected by more than just flu season. AFC Urgent Care Lyndhurst is able to diagnose and treat many illnesses, including hypothermia, mild frostbite, or infections.

Health Concerns from Cold Weather

Cold air can impact the body in different ways. Hypothermia happens when a patients internal temperature falls below 95 degrees. This can cause confusion, shivering, clumsiness, or fatigue.

Frostbite also occurs in cold temperatures. While further stages of frostbite require serious medical attention in an emergency room, frostnip can be treated with urgent care services. Frostbite occurs when layers of your skin become frozen due to prolonged exposure to the cold air.

Lastly, the cold air increases your chance of heart attack. When cold, the body’s immediate response is to warm up, which causes shivering. This causes your blood to pump faster than usual, which can overwhelm your heart. Be sure not to do any strenuous activity that would cause your heart to pump more, such as shoveling snow, without adequately warming up first.

Less Serious Effects

Cold air has less moisture than warm air, so dry skin is common during the winter months. This causes your skin to be itchy and flaky and can sometimes crack in severe cases. Avoiding hot showers and using a humidifier throughout the day can decrease the severity of dry skin.

Additionally, windburn is also common in the winter. This is also due to a lack of moisture in the air, but primarily from the cold air on exposed skin. Windburn can be described as the first stage of frostbite, frostnip. This causes the skin to be red, irritated, and sometimes painful.

Lastly, there is a reason why your nose is runny in the winter when outside. Again, the lack of moisture in the air is not healthy for your body – inside or out. A runny nose is the body’s defense system in regard to the dry air – it is trying to add moisture back to the air you inhale before it reaches your lungs. Similar to automatic shivering, a runny nose is trying to protect you from getting sick.

Contact AFC Urgent Care Lyndhurst

For any health concerns or questions, contact AFC Urgent Care Lyndhurst. We are available seven days a week to treat all emergency ailments that are not life-threatening.

Cold weather can impact your body and health in more ways than just illness. In areas that experience cold winters, it is possible to be impacted by more than just flu season. AFC Urgent Care Lyndhurst is able to diagnose and treat many illnesses, including hypothermia, mild frostbite, or infections.

Health Concerns from Cold Weather

Cold air can impact the body in different ways. Hypothermia happens when a patients internal temperature falls below 95 degrees. This can cause confusion, shivering, clumsiness, or fatigue.

Frostbite also occurs in cold temperatures. While further stages of frostbite require serious medical attention in an emergency room, frostnip can be treated with urgent care services. Frostbite occurs when layers of your skin become frozen due to prolonged exposure to the cold air.

Lastly, the cold air increases your chance of heart attack. When cold, the body’s immediate response is to warm up which causes shivering. This causes your blood to pump faster than usual which can overwhelm your heart. Be sure to not do any strenuous activity that would cause your heart to pump more, such as shoveling snow, without properly warming up first.

Less Serious Effects

Cold air has less moisture than warm air, so dry skin is common during the winter months. This causes your skin to be itchy and flaky, and can sometimes crack in serious cases. Avoiding hot showers and using a humidifier throughout the day can decrease the severity of dry skin.

Additionally, windburn is also common in the winter. This is also due to a lack of moisture in the air, but primarily from the cold air on exposed skin. Windburn can be described as the first stage of frostbite, frostnip. This causes the skin to be red, irritated, and sometimes painful.

Lastly, there is a reason why your nose is runny in the winter when outside. Again, the lack of moisture in the air is not healthy for your body – inside or out. A runny nose is the body’s defense system in regard to the dry air – it is trying to add moisture back to the air you inhale before it reaches your lungs. Similar to automatic shivering, a runny nose is trying to protect you from getting sick.

Contact AFC Urgent Care Lyndhurst

For any health concerns or questions, contact AFC Urgent Care Lyndhurst. We are available 7 days a week to treat all emergency ailments that are not life-threatening.

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