Entry for April 28, 2006

A busy week and I haven’t had time to do any research until today. In the late afternoon I’m at work sitting at my desk and suddenly I notice my hands are really cold and so are my feet. So just for luck, I google “cold hands” and come across the following article:

COLD HANDS

Cold hands are a sign of an overactive autonomic nervous system. More specifically, the signs of an overactive sympathetic nervous system. Our emotional and physiological self are controlled by the autonomic nervous system – a system that increases and decreases our heart rate, breathing rate, etc. One group of nerves “speeds” us up and one group of nerves “slows” us down. These groups are known as the sympathetic nerves and parasympathetic nerves. When the sympathetic nerves are fired (stimulated) the heart rate increases and blood is shunted from our hands, feet, and abdomen to our large muscle groups such as thighs and hips. Many muscles tense during this stimulation. This is a primitive reflex response which prepares us to flee from a threatening situation. (remember in high school biology the fight or flight response?) The parasympathetics, when stimulated, slows the heart rate down, causing rest, relaxation, and eventually sleep. During parasympathetic stimulation blood flows throughout the body and into the abdomenal organs (to help digestion, etc). 

Cold hands are a connection to parasympathetic nerves?? Holy cow! I don’t have the time to do any research so I’ll wait until I get home.