How To Keep Warm At Home Without Breaking The Bank

One of the hidden costs in working from home is that you have to keep the house warmer than you might otherwise if everyone was out.

There are ways to keep your fingers defrosted without bumping up the heat, though!

Staying warm is important for more than simple comfort, too – human beings are tropical animals who are most comfortable around 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Our skin temperature rests around 91 degrees and ideally, our core temperature remains around the classic 98.6.

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Our bodies adjust our temperature according to our surroundings in order to maintain the correct core heat.

In a cold room, your skin’s receptors are stimulated, causing the blood vessels to constrict and redirect warm blood beneath the insulting fat layer. Your hands and feet are typically colder first because they have less fat coverage.

When your extremities don’t warm up right away it affects your superficial nerves, muscles, and joints. Your dexterity, speed of movement, and sensitivity to touch can be impaired, which hinders tasks like typing and texting.

It can also be hard to focus if you’re cold, meaning more distraction from your work.

To ward off these troubles if you’re trying to work from home, you need to keep blood flowing to your hands and feet – and the best way to do that is to maintain your core body temperature.

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You don’t have to heat the whole house or even just a room, then, you only have to heat up yourself.

You’ll want to layer up, with tighter fitting clothes underneath woolen or fluffy top layers. Blankets piled over your legs can help, too, and if it’s really chilly, you can add a hot water bottle or a heating pad can help, too.

The bottom line is that you should heat the human not the house.

It can be hard to put covers on your hands and fingers if you need to type, but you can wear insulting socks or slippers on your feet and try fingerless gloves.

You probably also know that keeping your head warm is key. That’s because the blood vessels in your scalp don’t constrict as much, letting head escape. A hat and a scarf can go a long way toward keeping your core temperature up.

Doing a bit of exercise in your clothes can also bump up your core temperature, so try getting up from your desk and doing a few stairs or running in place. It’s good for your health, too!

As with everything else in life, staying hydrated can help keep blood flowing to your extremities. Calories are burned to create heat, too, so don’t skip meals and snacks.

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Obviously you’ll want to make sure there aren’t any drafts coming from windows or doors,

If you’re pinching pennies, these tips really can come in handy – you can save around 10% a year in energy costs just by reducing the temperature in your home by a single degree.