The 5 Body Parts Most Commonly Affected by Frostbite

When preparing for winter weather, it is incredibly important that you cover all the bases and dress in warm clothing before going out. This means that you should be extremely detailed in how you dress and what you wear. For instance, you might dress in layers, and you might also include additional accessories to cover your head, neck, hands, face, and feet. Below is a list of the top five body parts most commonly affected by frostbite.

The Head

Many people know to cover their heads before going out in inclement weather, but they might not know why. When your head is uncovered for long periods of time, you can be sure that you will sweat, but in cold, dry air, you don’t have to worry about this. What you do have to concern yourself with is losing heat. When this happens, your overall body temperature will lower, and you can develop frostbite or gangrene and even blister if it’s bad enough.

The Face

The moisture from your breath surrounds your face. This means that you can easily develop frostbite on your cheeks and nose and even have dry eyes from the wind and cold. These things combined mean that wearing extreme cold weather face protection of some variety in the cold should not be optional unless you want to risk getting sick.

The Neck

People often forget to cover their necks, but this part of the body connects the head to the back and chest, which means all three places of the body can be affected by chill all at once. As such, it’s extremely important to cover the neck.

The Hands

Above all else, the extremities suffer the most. The lack of circulation that occurs among the extremities contributes to the fast onset of frostbite before any other region of the body. You must always have insulated gloves and boots for winter conditions.

The Feet

We put a lot of wear and tear on our feet, more than we do on our hands or any other part of our body. Because of this, feet need more attention than anywhere else in the body. One of the largest arteries in the body runs through the legs and the feet, which also means that when the feet get cold, you’ll begin to feel the effects throughout your body. Feet are the most important part to keep warm, dry, and clean. Practice this, and you will be one happy camper.

Now that you know to cover the body in certain places for cold weather, you can be ready for anything. We know that the reason we do this is to improve the circulation throughout the body by wrapping up to prevent the onset of frostbite. Keep the five body parts most commonly affected by frostbite covered and warm, and you’ll be ready at all times.