What Happens Inside Your Brain When It’s Too Cold?

If your body is dreading the inevitable freezing temps of the winter season, we’re right there with you. It becomes a bit harder to get out of bed, get moving, and even get our creative juices flowing. Turns out, the phrase ‘It’s too cold, I can’t think straight!’ might actually have some truth to it.

“From a neurological standpoint, cold temperatures and extremely cold temperatures are going to slow down action potential and transmission of nervous system impulses. As far as motor skills, this is going to result in reduced movement speed and difficulty performing fine movements, and it dampens sensory nerves,” says Ryan Kyle Jones, DO, neurointensivist at Northwell Lenox Hill
Hospital. 

Yes, cold weather is certainly uncomfortable for the body, but how does it affect the brain? We tapped into some experts to explain the risks associated with exposure to low temperatures, the impact on brain function, and potential long-term consequences. 

How Does Hypothermia Affect Brain Function?

When body temperature is too low due to hypothermia, the brain can be affected. When core body temperature is at 95° F or below, people can experience delirium, a state of confusion, disorientation, and inability to think or remember clearly. 

Delirium is reversible, and in addition to hypothermia, Jones says can also be caused by infection, drug overdose, certain metabolic derangements, and hyperthermia, which occurs when the body is extremely overheated. In general, Jones says hypothermia is a temporary sensation and motor function generally returns back to baseline when the body warms. 

“Several studies showed cognitive performance specifically to memory and attention and executive function after exposure to a cold stimulus. So, exposure to the cold, not necessarily making the body cold, can also affect your cognitive performance,” Jones notes. 

What About Brain Freeze?

Brain freeze is a sharp, fleeting headache-like sensation that occurs when you eat or drink something cold. Jones says about a third of the population experiences brain freeze and that it is more prevalent in children and adolescents than adults.  

However, the brain is not actually freezing during this sensation. While it’s not known exactly what causes brain freeze, he says the consensus in the scientific community is that it’s a sensory response from the sensory nerves in the pallets and/or spasm of the blood vessels. 

“We know it results when you apply a cold stimulant to the pallet or the oral pharynx in the back of the throat. You get this sharp, deep frontal bi-temporal headache, but it’s generally thought to be harmless and of no concern and should go away quickly,” says Jones. 

What is Thermoregulation?

Thermoregulation is the body’s ability to maintain a core body temperature so that it functions optimally by balancing heat generation and heat loss. The skin, sweat glands, circulatory system, and brain all help with thermoregulation.

“The way it does that is through sensing temperature both through peripheral nerves via an area of the brain called the preoptic area,” says Jones. “This area is part of the hypothalamus, which has a lot of different functions that reach throughout the brain and body, and one is thermoregulation.” 

When the body senses a colder environment, the sensory nerve endings pass input into the sensory ganglia, which are located around the spine and organs within the stomach nerve endings. That input is transmitted to the hypothalamus, which acts by increasing sympathetic output and causing release of epinephrine through the adrenal gland, explains Jones. 

“The response also entails activation of shivering, which warms the body by friction and the activation of the sympathetic response increases metabolic activity, which increases heat generation, and it also causes peripheral vasal constriction, which is why when we’re cold or highly stressed we have this fight or flight response,” he says. 

Being cold and the fight or flight response are similar responses to two different stimuli, “so the purpose behind peripheral vasal constriction is to conserve heat,” he says. 

Exposure to extreme or sustained temperatures that overwhelm the body’s thermoregulatory capacity can result in hypothermia or hyperthermia. 

“In terms of causing irreversible damage to brain tissue and brain cells, hyperthermia is probably more harmful than hypothermia,” says Jones. 

Deborah Serani, Psy.D., professor at Adelphi University and author of Living with Depression, adds that studies on mental health and temperature find that hotter, higher temperatures increase emergency room visits of mental health disorders like anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. “This tends not to occur with colder temperatures,” she says. 

What are the Psychological and Emotional Effects of Cold Weather?

Studies have shown that cold temperatures, particularly hypothermia, have had negative impacts on behavior, cognition, and mood, especially for occupational workers, first responders, soldiers, and athletes.

Studies for the more general population show cold weather decreased cognitive functioning, memory and vigilance. Further, cold temperatures increased distractibility, response time, decision making, and reasoning.

“With regard to emotional effects, cold weather makes us less active, irritable, isolates us, and leaves us socially disconnected,” says Serani. “The physical effects on the body of cold temperatures elevates stress, which increases symptoms of depression and anxiety.”

Studies regarding specific emerging changes, like cold snaps, show that changeable weather patterns can worsen symptoms in individuals with a mental health disorder, she adds.

Since cold weather generally comes with seasonal changes, Serani stresses that seasonal affective disorder (SAD) can contribute to difficulties during cold weather. “But it’s equally important to factor how cold temperatures can be a singular causal factor, as well as an inclusive one alongside SAD when examining psychological and emotional effects,” she says.

Cold weather can also prevent those who need medication or treatment for mental health conditions from getting consistent access, Serani adds.

Strategies for Coping with the Psychological Effects of Cold

To manage your mental health during cold weather, Serani says have a Cold Weather Plan in place that includes the following:

1. Dress in layers. 
2. Embrace the slower indoor pace that comes with cold weather.
3. Make sure you have enough medication or have access to delivery if your prescription run low.
4. Ask your therapist to move from in-person treatment sessions to virtual sessions when the weather is cold, icy, or dangerous. 
5. If heating your home is an issue, reach out to your state Home Energy
   Assistance Program. Making sure you are comfortable during cold weather ensures a greater balance for your mental and physical well-being.
6. Have cozy-ready supplies like warm, weighted, or electric blankets, tea, coffee, cocoa, soup, and other comforting foods and drinks. 
7. Sit or rest in areas inside that expose you to sunlight each day to help your melatonin production and offset seasonal affective disorder.
8. Stay connected to others via the phone, computer, or other technology to reduce loneliness and isolation.
9. Keep a structured sleep routine.
10. Consider aromatherapy to boost cognitive and mental functioning with scents like peppermint, citrus, rosemary, and others.