In winter, many people have trouble with chilliness in their arms and legs. Many women are especially sensitive to cold, and for them the chilliness of the hands and the feet is difficult to ease even after entering a warm room, or taking a bath. They even feel pain owing to coldness of their limbs in daily life. This symptom has been called “hiesho” in Japanese.
The problem of this chilliness is difficult to study because this symptom, in general, can be cured when spring comes. Coldness of the limbs has been considered to be one of the symptoms of the climacteric disturbance among middle-aged females.
Recently, however, it was reported that many young females also feel pain owing to coldness of the hands and legs in their daily life during winter.
This study investigates the problems of chilliness in the limbs of young females in their daily life. By means of a questionnaire, 642 female college students aged from 18 to 20 years answered questions concerning: (1) physical characteristics, (2) physical conditions in their daily life, (3) physical conditions in winter, and (4) physical conditions in summer. The replies to the questionnaires were tested using the χ2 test.
The major results were as follows:
1. Half of the subjects were sensitive to cold, and had difficulty sleeping owing to chilliness of their limbs in winter even in a warm environment.
For the following results the subjects who were sensitive to cold had significant differences (p<0.05) compared to non-sensitive subjects to cold.
2. Those subjects who were aware of chilliness in their limbs had high prevalence rates for irregularities in circadian body rhythm, as well as some symptoms such as white fingers phenomenon, numbness of their limbs, and stiffness in their hands.
3. The subjects who were aware of chilliness in their limbs were very sensitive to cold in winter, and had female family members who had the same troubles with chilliness in the arms and the legs, too.
4. The subjects who were aware of chilliness in their limbs were sensitive to cold even in summer, and had difficulty sleeping owing to chilliness of the limbs.
