12 Health Mysteries Explained

Why Do So Many Women Have Cold Hands and Feet?

Blame it on circulation. “The nerves that control blood flow to the hands and feet are more sensitive in women than in men,” says Mark Eskandari, M.D., a vascular surgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, in Chicago. “So when the temperature drops, their vessels constrict more, warming blood flow slows, and their extremities feel cold.” Women also have lower blood pressure than men. “When they’re cold or stressed and their blood pressure drops, blood is redirected to the heart and away from the hands and feet,” he says. "Some experts believe that women tend to hold heat in the core, where the heart and uterus are, so they can protect developing fetuses," notes James Applegate, a family doctor in Grand Rapids, Michigan. But this is just a theory.