Can biofeedback help somebody with cold hands?

November 12, 2013 11:21 PM

I'm curious about your experiences with using biofeedback devices to learn how to warm your hands up. My wife is always cold and I've been thinking about getting her a handheld thermometer (e.g. this doodad), but I don't want to waste her time / our money if it's unlikely to help.

My wife is almost always cold, regardless of the ambient temperature. She has normal vitals, her thyroid is fine... she just runs cold. Inside, she needs to wear a hat, even if the thermostat is 70 degrees, and her hands/feet stay cold. Outside, she's always dressed much more warmly than anybody around her. And it definitely bothers her!

She has some prior experience with meditation and has expressed an interest in setting aside more time to do so. I gather that's a requirement for this to work, so if nothing else I'm hoping this will give her a boost in that direction.

Is one device better than another? Is there any particular kind of meditation that is geared toward learning to warm up? Is the whole thing a sham that should be avoided?

posted by rouftop to Health & Fitness (12 answers total)

I am unclear how biofeedback is supposed to help with this at all. It's not like she isn't aware her hands are cold.

Has she been screened for Raynaud's?
posted by DarlingBri at 2:36 AM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Seconding Raynaud's. I have it, and especially with the cold hands and feet, she sounds like me. Meditation won't help, nor will biofeedback.

She should see her doctor, and maybe a therapist to discuss why dressing more warmly than other people bothers her. I'm not sure about Seattle, but here in Maine I see people walking down the street wearing shorts and other people wearing down jackets on the same day. I'm usually wearing light gloves and legwarmers much earlier than other people. But who cares? Nobody is pointing at me and laughing.
posted by miss tea at 3:32 AM on November 13, 2013

From what I understand with meditation & body regulation, you have to have incredible mind control to be able to do it. Advanced yogis can control heartbeat and go for an unbelievably long time without breathing, but I always understood that the average person hasn't yet developed the mental concentration / control for it.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 5:30 AM on November 13, 2013

I'm not sure I know enough about biofeedback to answer your question specifically, but just to correct some misinformation from other users, hand warming is indeed one of the most basic and simple types of biofeedback there is. It's not weird or magical and you don't need to be an 'advanced yogi' to do it. The goal of biofeedback is to bring things that are not usually under conscious control, under conscious control. Hand warming is mostly used for the side benefits, like stress reduction and treating migraine. What I'm not clear about is whether biofeedback treats what is effectively 'primary' hand coldness, as opposed to hand coldness secondary to an excess of adrenaline or similar. However, this article, which turned up on a cursory googling, seems to suggest it helps with Raynaud's, so one might reason that it would work for other causes of hand coldness as well. It may however be useful to your wife to be evaluated for Raynaud's or any similar condition, and discuss this potential treatment with her doctor. If you decide to go ahead with the biofeedback, make sure that the equipment is adequate for the task; you might want to consult with a registered biofeedback practitioner. Meditation without biofeedback is indeed unlikely to achieve very much, and if you don't have the right setup, that's what you are effectively doing. Also, a professional should be able to tell you if this is actually going to work or not.
posted by Acheman at 5:45 AM on November 13, 2013 [3 favorites]

Biofeedback, scientifically, doesn't work for Raynaud's.

A major study funded by the National Institutes of Health put patients with primary Raynaud’s phenomenon into four treatment groups. . . . While healthy people who did not have Raynaud’s could warm their fingers via biofeedback, the patients with Raynaud’s could not, which suggests that biofeedback does not work for Raynaud’s.

See the NY Times.
posted by miss tea at 6:14 AM on November 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

This doesn't quite answer your question but a pair of wrist gaiters might add a lot to her comfort, rather than some biofeedback device.

I sit and type all day. I often feel cold because I'm more or less sitting still. After reading about this 'wristify' gadget designed to take advantage of how your perception of wrist temperature affects your overall feeling of hot or cold, I bought some polartec wrist gaiters.

I've been astounded at how much warmer - overall, not just wrists - I feel. Genuinely astounded.

Also, she might want to keep an eye out for a commercial version of wristify.
posted by dowcrag at 6:19 AM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Seconding Acheman: biofeedback is legit thing. I learned how to do it from my neurologist at UCLA, to help with migraines. It does warm your hands. I have no idea if it will warm your wife's hands, but it is possible.
posted by BlahLaLa at 6:41 AM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Raynaud's Phenomenon specifically describes a narrowing of the vasculature in the hands, so her all-body feeling of being cold is something I can't address, but if she does experience very cold hands when they are chilled, and especially if her hands become very blanched and white, she may have Raynaud's Phenomenon, also called Raynaud's Disease. This can be mild or severe, and preventing chilled hands can help. Mild Raynaud's is usually a nuisance, while severe Raynaud's has potentially serious implications.

There are actually medical risks if the Raynaud's is severe, including developing ulcers on the hands and reduced sensitivity to touch. There are medical and self-help sorts of interventions that can help, and some resources cite a possible improvement with biofeedback. The symptoms of Raynauds's Disease can also be similar to autoimmune or rheumatoid conditions, and there are simple blood tests a physician can perform to distinguish between them. If the diagnosis is simply Raynaud's there is also medication that can be prescribed, and other medications that should be avoided to reduce the vascular narrowing or vascular spasm. I would suggest your wife consider discussing these symptoms with her physician for professional advice.
posted by citygirl at 6:49 AM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Way back in the 1970s, soon after I first developed Raynauds, I participated in a research study on temperature biofeedback as a treatment. Overall, the study indicated that biofeedback was probably not reliably effective. My results, as measured by temperature changes, were meager. And yet, wow, it has helped me so much over the long term. It's not that I can do anything mentally to raise the temperature of my hands. The biofeedback training, though, was a very effective way to learn meditation and stress control. Since stress is a major trigger for Raynauds, any technique that helps you to reduce stress is useful.

I wouldn't expect much from that particular device, though. The study I was part of was hoping to see temperature differences of a few tenths of a degree -- a whole degree or two would have been remarkable. That device states an accuracy of +/- 1.8 degrees F. That's not very useful.
posted by Corvid at 11:18 AM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

I learned biofeedback very young for migraines and yes it is super helpful for temperature control and other things. Definitely not woo, nor do you need to be a jedi
posted by fshgrl at 12:10 PM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: So the first thing to know is whether she's clinically cold or just generally chilly. I will say that she has asked a doctor about why she runs so cold, which led to a negative thyroid test. Either the doctor was unaware of Reynaud's or ruled it out. Certainly I've never noticed, nor has she ever mentioned, any discoloration or loss of sensation in her fingers. But it's worth bringing up.

I have met somebody who can warm her hands on command, and I know that hand-warming biofeedback is a real thing. I guess the question is, barring any medical disorders, is it the sort of thing one can do on their own, or is it ineffective without some kind of practitioner (e.g. BlahLaLa's neurologist)?
posted by rouftop at 12:20 PM on November 13, 2013

I've heard good things about biofeedback in my work area, but that's not warming hands so can't help you there! You normally do it with some kind of device that shows you a visual representation of the body state you are interested in changing plus someone to guide you a little and manage expectations (since learning can be frustrating!). After that if you have the kit, people often do practice at home.

I would say that I also have moderate problems with cold hands and feet and my doctor says that Reynaud's looks very distinctive and I just have cold hands and feet, but that doesn't stop it being a problem for me. The time it was least bad was when I was cycling several times a week for long distances, and I was less cold in general.
posted by kadia_a at 10:46 PM on November 14, 2013