Help me keep my hands warm while typing
September 9, 2020 8:48 AM   Subscribe

I'm not normally all that cold except at work/now home and only in my hands really. They get bone cold when I'm typing. Any products/tips welcome.

I don't really want to crank the thermostat up a bunch. At work in the before times, I couldn't anyway. The rest of my body is fine, my hands just get... cold. So if you found a solution to this, I'm all frozen fingers. Fingerless gloves, a tiny portable heater, whatever worked.

I don't think it's a medical issue really.
posted by OnTheLastCastle to Grab Bag (37 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Buy cheap knit gloves and cut off the finger tips. A pair of these gloves runs around $2 from a drugstore, Target or Walmart.

I do this because my hands get so dry.
posted by NotLost at 8:55 AM on September 9, 2020 [2 favorites]


Could you get a heating pad for your desk and lay it under where your wrists rest while typing?
posted by terretu at 9:04 AM on September 9, 2020 [1 favorite]


I used to work in an office where I would regularly wrap myself in a quilt—so I get it.
Fingerless gloves or mitts are your friends. You can also look into getting a small desktop heater. There are quite a few that are pretty compact and won’t take up a ton of room.
posted by bookmammal at 9:07 AM on September 9, 2020


I have the same problem, I wear fingerless gloves for this. Depending on your typing style and fabric preferences there are lots of options. You'll probably want something without a reinforced palm, and may need to trim the finger length back behind the PIP -- I find this reduces the feeling of my hand being "bunched up" and occasional errant keystrokes from fabric.
posted by curious nu at 9:10 AM on September 9, 2020


I find that keeping the rest of my body warm also helps keep my fingers warm. Super-warm socks plus a hat and scarf help me feel so much warmer.
posted by hydra77 at 9:10 AM on September 9, 2020 [2 favorites]




Jumping jacks.
posted by aniola at 9:22 AM on September 9, 2020 [1 favorite]


Heated keyboard, heated mouse.
posted by aniola at 9:27 AM on September 9, 2020 [1 favorite]


I wear fingerless mittens (not gloves) for my icy hands. I rotate 3 pairs of mittens made from alpaca wool, which have to be 8 years old at this point, and are still going strong. (I got them from SockDreams.com but they are no longer for sale there.) As noted above, keeping the rest of my body warm helps too.
posted by esoterrica at 9:33 AM on September 9, 2020


This won’t work for everyone, but I stay shockingly warm when using a set of those exercise bike pedals that you pedal while sitting. Without them I can end up so cold that my hands get stiff when I’m working at my desk.
posted by corey flood at 9:36 AM on September 9, 2020 [1 favorite]


Since your hands have small twitchy muscles operating a kind of puppetry mechanism, they don't make a lot of heat for themselves, so keeping the heat in is the priority.

I'm on my 3rd pair of these fingerless wool gloves after about 20 years, but it's partly because pair was lost for a while and replaced before being found again.

I'm not sure what the burn rate is for $2 gloves from the drugstore or target, in terms of how long they last, so it's very possible that's the cheaper option.
posted by Sunburnt at 9:43 AM on September 9, 2020


What about a tiny USB desktop heater?
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 10:07 AM on September 9, 2020


I too use fingerless gloves, but I've always wanted to try USB heated gloves like these.
Taking breaks to do jumping jacks also helps some.
posted by trig at 10:13 AM on September 9, 2020


In my case this symptom was an early sign of RSI based on (mostly) hunchy pinchy posture in my shoulders as well as my wrists. It took a lot of PT and getting extremely fussy about my posture, carriage, and desk layout for it to go away. Before I did all that I lost a sport and an instrument, though, so start early if you can, unless you can rule it out and it's just physical cold.

(Then I got Reynaud's. Look that up, but typing seems like an unlikely trigger. Still, bodies are weird!)
posted by clew at 10:19 AM on September 9, 2020 [1 favorite]


It's primarily my fingertips that get cold.

Two things that helped are a tiny desktop heater pointed at my fingers while typing, and a handwarmer to hold when not typing (the one I bought doesn't seem to be on Amazon anymore but it's one of those egg shaped rechargeable ones).
posted by sm1tten at 10:21 AM on September 9, 2020


Toast-shaped typing gloves? I had something similar and thought they worked pretty well, while being the cutest darn things you've ever seen. (Though I do remember the cord sometimes getting the way.)
posted by toastedcheese at 10:28 AM on September 9, 2020


I drink hot beverages and sometimes fill a hot water bottle to have a handwarmer handy and point a space heater at my feet as needed. I have poor circulation (Reynauds) and gloves don't do bupkis for me unless I'm moving.

FWIW, gloves do help when I'm moving and as liners for heavier mittens and I prefer the cheap drugstore acrylic ones over fancier options. Mine are like four years old at this point.
posted by momus_window at 10:28 AM on September 9, 2020


(In addition to the suggestions above) Depending on your setup, if you have to reach up to type, maybe put the keyboard on a lap desk, so your hands are lower. (At home I have the mouse on a cheap plastic lap desk with beanbag-type base so I don't have to reach up for it.)

For keeping my whole self warm I have this heated floor mat under the desk (with hi/lo/off switch - the mat was too warm for me otherwise).
posted by adventitious at 10:36 AM on September 9, 2020 [1 favorite]


Someone mentioned it earlier in passing, but if your core temp drops your body thoughtfully cuts off circulation to your extremities. For me that happens as winter comes on, when I haven't got the heating running but the room temperature isn't where it should be. While I don't feel cold, my hands stiffen up when I'm typing.

The answer is to add a layer to my core to bring my temperature back up. And note that that takes a while once it's started happening.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 10:44 AM on September 9, 2020 [6 favorites]


Buy or knit a pair of fingerless gloves or mittens, or get a long shirt that drapes over your hands.
posted by bile and syntax at 10:47 AM on September 9, 2020


I like to write outside in our mild winters, but my hands do complain. I do the DIY fingerless gloves (tip: buy 3-4 pair of the cheap Target gloves, in the same color if matchiness bothers you, and ideally in a brighter color because I find I shed them all over the house and it's easier to see them to return to the pile if they're red or pink or something; also cut just the furthest tips off first and then put them on and see if you need to take more off), a mini-heater if the rest of me is more or less comfortable, or I drape my chair with and sit on one of Target's cute seasonal heated throws if I need full-core warmth - those should come out for the season any minute now.

I also have a rice sock for a wrist rest, and that can go in the microwave to be heated up. It doesn't hold heat terribly long, I've been considering making an insulated pad for it to sit on which I think will help, but it's very good as a wrist rest and a bit of heat is nice.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:51 AM on September 9, 2020


This is oddly specific, but if you happen to work on a laptop with an external keyboard and monitor, you can orient the laptop so that its vents (which should exhaust warm air from the fan blowing over the processor) point toward your hands. Couple this with resting your feet on the power adapter "brick" (the black box thing attached to the charging cable), which also tends to heat up when in use.
posted by mezzanayne at 11:16 AM on September 9, 2020 [1 favorite]


My Raynaud's is often triggered by typing in a climate-controlled room. Keyboard positioning helps, breaks to do some big arm circles helps, spicy snacks help. Wearing fingerless gloves while typing is a last resort for me, it drives me nuts. Any kind of fans/ventilation blowing on my hands makes it much worse.
posted by desuetude at 11:18 AM on September 9, 2020


I have fingerless gloves in sort of a fleece material, and my favorites are baby alpaca yarn. I stop typing every so often to curl my fingertips into the material.
posted by jgirl at 11:39 AM on September 9, 2020


Try wearing a warm hat?

That's the go-to thing for keeping extremities (hands, feet) warm while hiking/ camping in cold climes.
posted by porpoise at 11:42 AM on September 9, 2020


Staying still while typing in a cool room may make your core body temperature too cool to keep your organs warmed up. So the body's thermostat directs blood from your extremities to your core. A thin merino vest under your clothes or a lightweight down vest over them will warm your core enough to circulate blood to your bare fingertips. Same principle applies to your brain. Wear a hat.
posted by Elsie at 12:06 PM on September 9, 2020 [1 favorite]


I used to have a problem with cold in my fingers and toes, and sometimes I still do. The secret? Anxiety. No kidding. I wasn't thinking of myself as anxious at the time, either; just thinking over life tasks and world events. But then, it was 2016 at the time I learned this.

Maybe this is the case for you, and maybe not. Medication has reduced this symptom for me, but if if it is anxiety or if it isn't, actively warming your hands will provide short-term comfort.
posted by Countess Elena at 12:20 PM on September 9, 2020


I would recommend a cheap reptile lamp (or two!) with ceramic bulbs. The ceramic bulbs don't give off any light. You can buy them online or in any pet shop that sells products for lizards and birds.
posted by rollick at 12:51 PM on September 9, 2020


Put on a woolly hat and wrap a blanket around your legs. Warming up the rest of your body will keep your hands warmer too.

Alternatively, keep a nice warm cup of tea next to your computer that you can wrap your hands around. :)

(I would second the fingerless gloves, but I find that they interfere with my typing so I don't use them.)
posted by heatherlogan at 1:38 PM on September 9, 2020


My hands and wrists get achy in the winter due to the chilliness of the surface of my desk. I put down a plush bath mat under my keyboard, extending to the edge of my desk, to take the chill off the desk top and add a bit of softness. It worked very well for me. I also keep a heating pad in my office and sometimes have it in my lap when I'm working. It helps keep me cozy in general and is also a nice place to warm up my hands when needed.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 1:41 PM on September 9, 2020


Literature-themed writing gloves are a thing.
posted by Orlop at 1:56 PM on September 9, 2020 [1 favorite]


I deal with a similar issue. In my experience, snipping of the fingertips of a knit glove results in unraveling that becomes bulky/intrusive and annoying. My favorite fingerless gloves are these, which are non-bulky but warm AND each finger is an appropriate length - many fingerless gloves in my experience tend to have all the fingers cut off on the same level, meaning the longer fingers are less covered. Those gloves cover up all my fingers to the last knuckle.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:53 PM on September 9, 2020


Meditation
posted by aniola at 4:20 PM on September 9, 2020


I had a cold fingers issue and it turned out that was because I was carrying tension in my shoulders and upper back and arms. It is a very easy habit to get into and then your body doesn't notice the tension anymore. The end result is reduced circulaton to fingers.

The best answer is relaxation exercises and building an awareness of tension. To help with that, frequent breaks to stretch and self-massage your shoulders and back. Also, some weightraining to strengthen the aforementioned shoulders and back works wonders.
posted by storybored at 8:34 PM on September 9, 2020


If the fingerless gloves don't work for you, try athletic wrist bands. They worked for me when I lived in a cold house, and they help my mom on a cold day.
posted by bryon at 9:54 PM on September 9, 2020


What helps me is moving around a bit more to keep the blood circulation going, and wearing warm socks, preferably wool. Floors can suck a surprising amount of heat out of your body!
posted by Harald74 at 11:48 PM on September 9, 2020


A heating pad works really well for me. It sits under my keyboard sometimes, and I can tuck my hands underneath it when I have a pause in my typing; I can also shift it to my lap, where it keeps me warmer overall and I can still tuck my hands under it when they get chilly.
posted by kristi at 9:37 AM on September 11, 2020


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