Frostbite is extremely painful and can lead to serious injury. It is important to protect your skin from cold weather exposure to help avoid frostbite. Not only is it very painful, it can lead to the loss of fingers, toes and other extremities, as well as causing more serious lifelong conditions or infections.
Frostbite most commonly affects the nose, ears, cheeks, chin, fingers, and toes. Frostbite can result in the need for amputation, as well as permanent tissue or nerve damage to your body.
You may have been taught to bundle up at a young age when you went outside to play, but there are many other things you should do to ensure that you are not risking injury or bodily damages from cold weather exposure and frostbite. Simply covering your skin is definitely one part of what you should do, but let’s take a look at the other things you can do as well.
One of the easiest steps to help you avoid frostbite, should you find yourself needing to be in the extreme cold for any reason, is to cover as much of your body as possible. This includes long sleeves and pants, warm hats, scarves and other face coverings, and gloves or mittens.
Drink plenty of water before journeying through the cold. Keeping moisture in your body’s system helps to keep your blood circulation strong, which reduces the effects of frostbite because frostbite is caused by a lack of proper circulation to your body’s extremities.
Wet skin can be more significantly affected by cold air, which will accelerate the damaging effects of frostbite.
One of the many ways that caffeine impacts your body is by constricting your blood vessels more than normal. This increases risk for frostbite because the constricted blood vessels will not allow as much blood into your extremities.
Above all else, staying inside and warm is your best defense against frostbite, but if you travel outside, these tips should help you stay as safe as you can be.
