Can Somebody Turn Up the Heat?

Why older adults experience the big chill

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

I was living in Florida when I got married. My wife didn’t like it there. “I want to live somewhere with all four seasons,” she said. “Florida only has two – summer and fall.”

Lately she may be rethinking her position. For nine months of the year, she always feels cold. On days when I wear a windbreaker, she wears a sweater and a light coat, plus a scarf. On days when I wear a lined raincoat, she requires a minimum of three layers of heavy insulation, plus gloves.

Though I seem more weather-resistant than my wife, I also have to admit that each successive winter has seemed harder to handle than the previous one – and the past three winters have been quite mild.

Poking around on the internet, I have discovered an explanation for the winters of our discontent, and it is physiological: As we age, our bodies do, in fact, lose their ability to tolerate cold temperatures.

If that gives you the shivers, slip on a warm wool sweater and pull up a chair while I share what I’ve learned.

We can see in the mirror that our bodies are changing with age. In my case, leading indicators are gray hair and baggy eyes. But subtle changes also are occurring behind the curtain. Our body fat gets redistributed, and one loser in the reallocation is the layers of fat underneath the skin. This may sound positive to those of the you-can-never-be-too-thin school, but its effect is that the body has a harder time maintaining body heat. At the same time, aging also slows metabolism, a heat-producing process, so the body has a harder time generating enough heat to maintain a normal internal temperature of 98.6 degrees, more or less. To compound things, slower blood circulation decreases the body’s ability to retain heat throughout the body.

Understanding these physiological changes has helped me connect observations that otherwise might seem unrelated:

• Why grandmother’s apartment always feels like a sauna. (For a funny take on this, check out this short piece about the six degrees of separation – from 72 to 78 Fahrenheit).

• Why millions of people who live contentedly in cold climates for 30 and 40 years suddenly feel compelled to move to Florida.

• Why older Americans are the most ambivalent about global warming.

In other words, if you constantly are battling against a chill, it may be normal.

Or Not

On the other hand, it may not be normal.

It seems there are other factors, internal and external, that may cause older adults to feel cold. So before you assume that your chill is just natural aging, check with your physician to be sure it isn’t one of these:

• Side effects from medications, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, sedatives, or beta-blockers.

• An underactive thyroid

• Anesthesia

• Atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease

• Parkinson’s Disease

• Diabetes

• Sepsis

• Malnutrition, anemia, and anorexia

• Alcohol use

• Drug use

Warning: Take It Seriously

Chills are more than an inconvenience. They constitute a real danger. Because older adults have less ability to keep our body heat, we have a higher risk of hypothermia, when the body temperature falls below 95 degrees.

Perhaps you thought, as I did, that hypothermia is something that only happens to skaters who fall through the ice or hikers who get stranded in the Rockies. It is not. It doesn’t even take freezing temperatures to bring an older adult’s body temperature into the danger zone. An older adult may need immediate medical help if they:

• Are disoriented or confused

• Are breathing slowly or shallowly

• Have a slow or weak pulse

• Are drowsy or clumsy

• Have slurred speech

• Lose consciousness

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says more people die from excessive cold than from heat. So be vigilant for yourself or older adults in your care. Drink warm liquids throughout the day (but not hot toddies; alcohol triggers heat loss). Turn up the thermostat. Seal up the cracks and leaks that let heat out and the cold in. Layer up. Keep the home fires burning. Count your blessings and remember that spring will be here soon.