Why Do People with Anxiety Have Cold Hands and What to Do

People with anxiety have cold hands due to the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which is part of the “struggle or flight” response. In stress situations, the body redirects blood flow to vital muscles and organs, reducing circulation in the limbs such as hands and feet. This can generate a feeling of cold or numbness.

While it is true that it can be alarming, there are practical and concise methods to combat this problem. In this Psychology For article, we will give you information about Why do people with anxiety have cold hands and what to do.

Why do people with anxiety have cold hands

Anxiety can be located in different degrees that range between mild, moderate and serious states. While mild or moderate anxiety can be treated through specific techniques that we will develop later, gravity cases usually require psychological and psychiatric assistance of mental health professionals.

There are several causes associated with the presence of cold in the hands. The early detection of these indicators can collaborate in the reduction of symptoms. Next, we will see the most relevant reasons:

• Work stress: In many cases, labor demands can increase the presence of anxiety symptoms. Faced with the difficulty to fulfill the obligations, the body may send signals.
• Family experiences: Child sexual abuse, verbal and/or physical abuse, the death of loved ones and conflicts between different members of the same family are predisposing factors of the symptom of cold hands.
• Drug use: The intake of toxic substances affects the functioning of the central nervous system and modifies the perception of reality. When this happens, the person may feel that his life is out of control.
• Presence of other mental health disorders: Depression, bipolarity, obsessions and chronic duels that are not resolved properly can influence the appearance of body symptoms associated with anxiety.

How to know if I have cold hands for anxiety

Discover how to identify if anxiety could be the cause of your cold hands below:

• Relationship with stress and concern: If you notice that your hands get cooled when you are nervous worried, it is likely to be related to anxiety.
• Presence of other symptoms: the cold in the hands for anxiety can be accompanied by

• Crossing stressful situations: If we notice that the hands are cool as we experience nerves or discomfort, we may be traveling a moment of crisis.
• Presence of other symptoms: there are some bodily manifestations such as tremors, vomiting, nausea, excessive sweating, broken breathing, skin color change, palpitations and dry oral, which can accompany the cold of the hands.
• Kagn: Although each person responds differently to the daily situations he lives, guilt is a feeling that can be repeated. The difficulty of putting those internal sensations in words can become uncontrollable anxiety.

How to stop having cold hands for anxiety

Beyond the problems we have developed in the previous sections, there are some practical and effective solutions to reduce them. For this reason, we will give some tips to deal with cold hands for anxiety:

• Having a healthy environment: people who provide confidence can be an emotional containment core to cope with anxiety moments. The healthy environment can be made up of friends, close family, self -help groups, sports institutions, among others.
• Going to psychological therapy: if anxiety prevents us from developing our daily lives and represents a problem that cannot be solved in the short term, it is time to contact a mental health professional. Psychological therapy provides tools to reduce the intensity of symptoms and find other alternatives.
• Perform physical activity: sports can be great allies in the face of cold -handed symptoms, since they decrease the activity of the central nervous system, which is associated with the increase in alert levels.
• Mindfulness: It consists of a therapeutic practice that tries to emphasize the present, removing consistency to intrusive thoughts. To carry out the mindfulness, it is advisable to be in a relaxed environment that allows a high level of concentration in breathing.
• Write: We can develop the thoughts, behaviors and emotions that encourage cold hands by anxiety. If we see this information reflected, we will feel a discharge of nervous tension and obtain a new perspective in the face of problems.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology For we have no power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Why do people with anxiety have cold hands and what to do we recommend that you enter our category of clinical psychology.

References

• American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th edition). Arlington: Pan -American Medical Editorial.
• Sierra, JC, Ortega, V., Zubeidat, I. (2003). Anxiety, anguish and stress: three concepts to differentiate. Mal-Estar and Subjectivity Magazine, 3 (1), 10-59.