With Britain blanketed in snow: how the cold REALLY affects your body – and why women are especially at risk, by PAT HAGAN

Britain is in the grip of this winter’s first major cold snap, and for millions of people living with aches and pains, that means one thing: more discomfort.

Colder winter weather has long been associated with increased pain and immobility.

Studies show that up to 75 percent of people have chronic pain from diseases such as osteoarthritis (age-related wear and tear of the joints that affects around ten million people in Britain) and rheumatoid arthritis (where a faulty immune system attacks the joints). believe that falling winter temperatures increase their suffering.

Research shows that even menstrual pain can become more severe during cold weather – a problem that some experts call “winter period fatigue syndrome.”

The US study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, found that menstrual pain was greater when temperatures were lower in winter, at 18 degrees indoors, compared to a milder 23 degrees Celsius.

Additionally, the study found that eating ice cream or drinking cold water – especially in winter – seemed to worsen pain in women.

Cold temperatures are thought to stimulate the release of hormone-like compounds called prostaglandins in the uterus, which in turn cause muscle contractions that lead to painful menstrual cramps.

But while evidence for the impact of cold on menstruation sounds convincing, for example in long-term arthritic pain or back pain, the picture is more nuanced.

Because while weather conditions appear to influence symptoms, rigorous scientific research has consistently failed to establish a clear link between falling temperatures and an increase in pain.

“The jury is out on cold weather and pain,” says Dr Kirsty Bannister, associate professor of pain neuroscience at Imperial College London.

‘Certainly when it comes to conditions such as osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, there is no good data to support this.’

There are even other elements of winter weather that can make a difference, according to a major study on chills and pain conducted in 2019 by the University of Manchester.

The study tracked 13,000 people in Britain with long-term, painful illnesses such as arthritis and fibromyalgia (characterized by pain throughout the body).

Participants in the experiment – ​​which ran from January 2016 to April 2017 – used a smartphone app to track their pain scores, while a GPS tracker on their phones recorded changes in the weather.

The results, published in the journal NPJ Digital Medicine, showed no clear correlation between cold conditions and the level of reported pain.

This goes against the mountain of anecdotal evidence linking cold to increased pain – so why have so many people come to think that cold makes their chronic pain worse?

One theory is that nerve endings in the skin that sense pain can be activated by a sharp drop in temperature.

This explains why our cheeks and ears often sting when we step outside in freezing weather. It is the nerves responding to the changes in the environment, and not an underlying increase in pain due to illness, that causes this discomfort. Yet people associate this change with pain.

‘My arthritis patients often report that their pain is worse when cold,’ says Dr Benjamin Ellis, consultant rheumatologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London. ‘But it doesn’t necessarily mean that their condition has worsened or that their arthritis has worsened. Instead, it’s more about how the central nervous system responds to the cold weather.”

Intriguingly, researchers from the University of Manchester did find a link, with many respondents noting that their pain became much worse when the weather was humid, and – even more puzzling – on days when there were strong winds.

Such weather conditions were found to increase the likelihood of participants reporting an increase in pain by around 20 percent, with pain scores being higher on damp, cold days than on dry, cold days – suggesting it was the humidity, and not the temperature, which was the key.

But how can strong winds increase pain even when people are in their own homes?

The Manchester team said they think this has less to do with the wind itself and more to do with the fact that windy weather is usually accompanied by changes in atmospheric pressure.

Low atmospheric pressure – which tends to create humid and windy weather – means the weight of air on the body is reduced, allowing muscles, tendons and other tissues in and around the joints to expand.

This then increases pressure on already damaged joints, increasing pain.

Another possible explanation is that atmospheric changes lead to a thickening of the synovial fluid, a fluid in our joints with the consistency of egg white that reduces friction between bones. This thickening reduces the lubricating properties of the fluid, which also increases pain. Studies have suggested that chemicals called cytokines, which are involved in pain sensation, may also be affected by changes in pressure.

The Manchester study is not the first to make this connection with low pressure. A 2019 study in Norway involving 48 people with fibromyalgia found that low atmospheric pressure (i.e. cloudy, wet and windy weather) was associated with more pain.

Meanwhile, studies in people with rheumatoid arthritis have shown that they experience less tenderness and swelling in their joints when the weather is sunny and less humid – possibly because the air pressure is higher and so the tissue in the joints does not expand.

In a report on their findings, the Manchester researchers said: ‘We found that temperature had no significant association with pain – while the other components did. Our results could mean that cold is just associated with the other components (i.e. humid and windy weather) and that they are the main mechanism for increased pain.’

The bad news is that this means that simply staying indoors is unlikely to solve the problem, as the air pressure is largely the same both indoors and outdoors.

And it’s not just the joints and muscles that are in the line of fire: changes in atmospheric pressure (such as when a storm is approaching) are known to trigger migraines, possibly by triggering chemical or electrical changes in the brain.

But another factor that explains the observed link between ‘cold and pain’ is that as temperatures drop, we spend more time indoors and less time doing physical activities. Still, regular light exercise is known to be one of the best ways to manage the pain of certain conditions.

“There’s definitely a placebo effect,” says Dr. Bannister. ‘People often expect extreme temperatures to cause more pain – it’s something many associate with the winter months.’

The social isolation caused by the long, dark winter nights can worsen mood – which in turn worsens pain.

Dr. Bannister says: ‘People tend to stay indoors and become socially isolated, which can have a huge impact on our response to pain.’ So one way to prevent the worsening aches and pains of winter may be to accept more social invitations to go out.

Other simple tips include:

• Apply a hot water bottle or microwave-safe wheat bag to stiff, painful joints. The heat dilates the blood vessels, improves blood flow and thus relieves pain.
• Take a brisk walk for 15 minutes. The more muscles contract, the more heat they generate.
• Heat your home to at least 18 degrees Celsius to reduce the risk of cold-related pain, the NHS says.