How to Raise Body Temperature

Whether you are in a cold environment or caring for someone suffering from hypothermia, it is essential to know how to raise body temperature. Proper food and drink, physical activity, and suitable clothing can all help elevate body heat. If you find yourself in a dangerously cold environment, keeping your body warm is crucial to prevent hypothermia. However, in warmer conditions, be cautious not to raise the temperature too high as this could lead to heat exhaustion or heatstroke.

Identify Hypothermia Symptoms. When the body loses heat faster than it can generate it, you may face hypothermia; once your body temperature drops below 35ºC, your body functions begin to malfunction. Hypothermia can be life-threatening. You may lose fingers, toes, and limbs due to frostbite and suffer permanent injury. If you suspect you're experiencing hypothermia, your condition is critical and you need to raise your body temperature immediately.

• In mild hypothermia, you may experience symptoms such as shivering, hunger, nausea, rapid breathing, slight confusion, slow reactions, difficulty speaking, fatigue, and a fast heart rate.
• If the hypothermia worsens, these mild symptoms will intensify. You may stop shivering, slur your words or be unintelligible, feel lethargic, make poor decisions like trying to remove warm clothing, feel anxious without cause, have a weak pulse and shallow breathing, gradually lose awareness, and eventually die if not treated (or warmed properly) promptly.

Move out of the cold environment. If your body temperature is dropping rapidly, you need to leave the cold area. If you are outdoors, find a warm room or shelter.

• Even avoiding the wind can help. Seek shelter behind a wall or a large object if you can't get indoors.

Remove wet clothing. Immediately take off any wet clothes and replace them with dry ones. It's important to layer warm, insulating clothing—don't forget to cover your head and neck. If necessary, cut the clothes of others to ensure they fit properly.

• Make sure you have warm, dry clothes to wear before removing wet ones.

Rely on the warmth of others. If you cannot get indoors, wrap yourself and someone else in a large blanket or cloth. This is one of the most effective ways to quickly regulate and raise your body temperature.

Warm your core first. Limbs such as arms, legs, fingers, and toes tend to cool first, but the condition worsens when the core of your body cools down. Warm your torso, stomach, and groin area to stabilize your body temperature and blood circulation. The warmth from the blood will spread to the limbs.

• Keep your limbs close to your core. Tuck your hands under your armpits or between your thighs. Curl your knees up to maintain warmth between your upper body and legs; try to press your feet against your body to avoid cold.

Wear Multiple Layers of Clothing. Wearing layers of clothing helps retain body heat and raises your body temperature. Therefore, simply dressing in multiple layers will keep your body from getting cold. Layering clothing to enhance heat retention is an effective method. For example, try layering in the following order:

• Raincoat
• T-shirt
• Wool sweater
• Thin jacket
• Thick coat

Wear a Hat, Gloves, and Scarf. The majority of body heat escapes from the head, so wearing a hat or keeping your head warm helps retain this heat. Similarly, gloves and scarves keep warmth in your hands and chest, further contributing to an increase in body temperature.

• Gloves are commonly used in cold climates as they help each finger's warmth keep the entire hand warm.

Wrap Yourself in a Blanket or Other Materials Instead of Just Clothing. If you need to raise your body temperature due to the cold or other reasons and don't have extra clothes, wrap yourself in a blanket or towel. If you don’t have a blanket or towel, you can use other materials in place.

• Try wrapping yourself with materials such as newspaper or plastic bags.
• If you're in an area with a lot of trees, look for pine branches, as coniferous plants can retain heat when stacked together.

Eat Something. Eating food generally raises body temperature as digestion activates metabolic processes in the body. Therefore, consuming any type of food will raise your body temperature a little.

• Keep in mind that your body’s natural ability to stay warm in the cold speeds up metabolism, causing you to burn more calories than usual – even without consciously trying to warm yourself up.
• Eating also ensures that your body has the energy needed for its natural heat retention process.

Consume Hot Foods and Drink Warm Sweetened Beverages. Hot foods and drinks will increase body temperature even more than digestion, as your body absorbs heat from what you consume. Any food can help raise your temperature, but sweetened hot drinks are often prepared more quickly. Additionally, sugar provides extra calories for your body to digest and further increase your body temperature. Here are some suitable options:

• Coffee
• Tea
• Hot chocolate
• Hot milk with or without honey
• Hot bone broth/vegetable soup
• Soup

Keep Moving. Engaging in physical activity helps regulate body temperature and can ease the feeling of cold when the temperature drops. Try walking or running; jump with your arms spread out or do energetic stretching exercises; sprint or tumble. The important thing is to keep moving for more than just a few seconds. You'll start to feel cold once you stop.

• Always exercise caution. If someone is suffering from severe hypothermia, sudden movement could cause the heart to stop. Do not massage or rub them, and avoid shaking them to make them feel warm.
• Only apply physical movement if the person needing help is not too cold and is not at risk of hypothermia.

• If someone is experiencing severe hypothermia, rapidly warming the body will not be effective. The reason is that cold blood circulating back to the heart can cause it to stop. Try to raise the temperature of the surrounding environment (such as in a room, car, etc.) and gradually warm the person’s body in a controlled manner. If possible, take them to the hospital and/or call emergency services.