Do you feel like you just can’t get warm enough? If so, you might suffer from low body temperature. There are many different causes of low body temperature. But you can protect yourself from those causes through changing certain behavioral and dietary habits, and by including several key foods in your diet.
These low body temperature remedies are not all inclusive cures. Ongoing low body temperature can be related to strokes, brain or spinal cord injuries or other acute traumas. These are serious issues and need the advice and treatment of a health care professional.
15 Ways to Get Rid of the Causes of Low Body Temperature
1. Load Up on Nutrients
One of the main causes of low body temperature is malnutrition or being undernourished. In essence, your body isn’t getting enough calories, which are thermal units, to keep your body temperature up.
What to do:
- Eat more calorie-dense unrefined carbohydrates like root vegetables, fruits and grains.
- Meat and dairy products, especially milk, helps to boost and maintain body temperature.
- Avoid highly processed and sugary foods as well as heavily refined carbohydrates.
2. Eat Beyond Your Appetite
Most diet plans certainly won’t tell you to eat beyond your appetite. But in order to protect yourself from the causes of low body temperature; you really need a lot of calories. Additionally, this behavior forces your body out of a low metabolism rut.
What to do:
- Consume calorie-dense foods to begin with and push a little beyond your appetite threshold.
- Stay away from sugary or heavily refined foods, which fill you up and make you feel fuller faster.
3. Time Your Eating
Another way to protect yourself from the causes of low body temperature is to time your eating. By fasting a set amount of time and eating during another time makes the hormone leptin more responsive and can help raise your basal body temperature.
What to do:
- Time your eating to start at a certain time of day and end by a certain time of day such as: eating from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
- From 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM you do not eat at all.
- Other fasting plans such as 8 hours eating and 16 hours not eating can also be followed or any variation between the two.
4. Sleep
One of the most important remedies in order to protect yourself against the causes of low body temperature is to get plenty of sleep. For raising metabolism, few activities are more powerful than sleep.
What to do:
- If you are sleeping less than 8 hours per night, do what is necessary to increase your sleep time to a minimum of 8 hours.
- If you already sleep 8 hours or more, try to increase your sleep time by at least an hour nightly.
5. Cut Down on Exercise Intensity
One of the causes of low body temperature is burning up too many calories. Exercise that is too vigorous can sap your body of the thermal energy necessary to keep your body temperature up. So, cut down on exercise intensity.
What to do:
- Cut down the number of workouts you do per week by one or two days.
- Shorten the time working out or the number of reps you do during each exercise.
- Back off on how much you push yourself during your workouts.
6. Choose Saturated Fats of Unsaturated Fats
Not all fats are bad. In fact, without some fats in your body, it is almost impossible to protect yourself from the causes of low body temperature. Saturated fats tend to provide the additional thermal energy your body needs in order to keep warm.
What to do:
- In general, saturated fats stay solid at room temperature and unsaturated fats stay liquid at room temperature.
- Dairy products, red meat and coconut products are examples of foods with saturated fats.
- Nuts, seeds, avocado, pork and poultry should be secondary sources of fat.
7. Reduce Stress
Although someone might be described as hot and bothered when they are stressed, too much stress is actually one of the main causes of low body temperature. Sleep is one distressing activity that we have already covered. Finding leisure activities and other activities that lower your stress level will help raise your body temperature.
What to do:
- Engage in leisure spots and pastimes that are relaxing.
- Get out into nature and get away from the rat race.
- Take yoga classes or engage in other relaxation exercise.
8. Dry Off as Quickly as Possible
Sweat is a mechanism for cooling off your body whenever it overheats by the process of evaporation. Drying off you sweat or toweling off after a shower or bath as quickly as possible can help ward off the causes of low body temperature.
What to do:
- When you workout, keep a towel handy to dry off sweat.
- Do not run out into cold weather immediately after a workout.
- Do not run out into cold air immediately after a hot shower.
9. Ginger
Besides the behavioral and dietary changes that will help protect you from the causes of low body temperature, there are also herbs and specific foods with thermogenic properties that will help raise your basal temperature. Ginger is one of those thermogenic herbs, which increases body temperature by boosting metabolic function.
What to do:
- Slice up a 1 inch finger of ginger root and add it to 1 ½ cups of boiling water.
- Reduce the heat and allow the water to simmer for 10 minutes.
- Strain the tea, add some honey and lemon and drink it.
- Repeat this several times per day to raise your body temperature.
10. Cinnamon Bark
Another thermogenic food which helps keep away the causes of low body temperature is cinnamon bark. Not only does cinnamon help regulate blood sugar levels, but it also helps balance metabolism which help you maintain a higher core temperature.
What to do:
- Place 1 or 2 sticks of cinnamon in 1 ½ to 2 cups of boiling water.
- Reduce heat and simmer the boiling water for 10 minutes.
- Remove the cinnamon sticks, add in a little honey and drink.
- Repeat this 2 or 3 times daily.
11. Fennel Seeds
Fennels seeds make another thermogenic food which works well for protecting you against the causes of low body temperature. Fennel speeds up metabolism and breaks down fat so that your body can use it to increase thermal energy.
What to do:
- Soak 1 Tbsp of fennel seeds in water for about an hour.
- Once they are soft, you can eat the seeds.
- Add fennel into your cooking as well.
12. Coconut Oil
One of the saturated fats in our list above, which goes beyond the scope of most saturated fats is coconut oil. Low metabolic function from hypothyroidism is one of the causes of low body temperature. Coconut oil has been proven to help repair hypothyroidism by reversing the effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids.
What to do:
- Consume 1 Tbsp of coconut oil daily.
- If you can’t handle it straight, try spreading it on whole grain bread or crackers.
- Utilize coconut oil in cooking.
13. Stay Hydrated
Dehydration is another of the leading causes of low body temperature. Even though water helps to cool your body off when it is too hot, it also helps warm your body when it is too low. In fact, you can think of proper hydration as the best insulator and temperature regulator your body has.
What to do:
- Drink ten 8 to 12 oz. glasses of water daily, even during cooler weather.
- Eating soups and broths, drinking fresh squeezed fruit and vegetable juice, or herbal tea is another way to add to hydration.
- Avoid alcohol, caffeinated drinks and sugary drinks as they tend to dehydrate rather than hydrate.
14. Kelp
Another of the thermogenic foods which help to ward off the causes of low body temperature is kelp. Kelp contains iodine, tyrosine and selenium, all of which help to boost thyroid performance. A boost in thyroid performance means a metabolic boost and an increase in core temperature.
What to do:
- Add more kelp and seaweed into your diet on a regular basis.
15. Essential Oils
Essential oils can also play a role in helping to protect you against the causes of low body temperature. Regardless of how they are used, essential oils tend to promote increased blood circulation in specific areas or in your body overall.
What to do:
- Here are the essential oils that have a thermogenic effect on your body: bergamot, cypress, rosemary, lavender, eucalyptus, Melissa and peppermint.
- Use these oils alone or in essential oil blends in a bath.
- Add several drops of these oils to coconut, olive or almond oil to use as massage oil.
- Dispense these oils through an aroma therapy dispenser.
Wrapping Up
If you just can’t seem to get warm or stay warm, then it is probably time to take whatever measures necessary to raise your core body temperature. Several behavioral and dietary changes can help protect against the causes of low body temperature as well as a number of thermogenic foods and herbs. Make use of one or more of the items on our list and feel the healing warmth spread through your body.
Please add any questions, comments or success stories in the section below.
Images: depositphotos.com.