Ask HN: How do you deal with cold fingertips when you code?
I developed this effect a few years ago, but it didn't bothered me until lately.
Of course it's less noticeable in the hot days, but in general when I go out for long walks my fingers will feel bloated and red-ish. The doctor told me that it's called Raynaud's phenomenon and that I'll have to figure out ways to deal with it.
So far I tried some gloves that I had in my house but even with those my fingers get cold while they are inside the gloves.
Absurdly enough, the room temperature doesn't have much to do with it, because the air condition is working at full throttle and my room is close to 80-82 Fahrenheit most of the time.
Also, if you have it, did you ever had to report it to your manager? Did you tried anything that worked for your workplace?
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[ 2.2 ms ] story [ 113 ms ] threadBut this was before USB, you know, when you had to go uphill in the snow both to and from school. Nowadays you can get something like:
https://www.amazon.com/USB-Heated-Shawl-Lap-Blanket/dp/B01BH...
And of course, you should be careful in your choice of computing hardware and software. Nowadays, hardware and software are optimised to spare energy usage, processors go to sleep or reduce frequency while you're working, etc. All this doesn't produce much heat, in top-notch computing hardware. Instead, choose cheaper, less "green" hardware, some laptop that heats a lot, and run some background tasks (eg. you may compile the linux kernel in a loop, or have some 3D rendering game running in background), so that the processor is used close to 100% full frequency, and produce more heath. Then you can put your fingers on the hot surfaces or on the air vent exits.
Or, if you'd rather get something out of it for yourself, you could mine cryptocurrency.
I have the small rooms one described here. And it is pretty manageable. http://thesweethome.com/reviews/best-space-heaters/
All joking aside, I have the opposite problem. I'm always hot.
Err, maybe I'm missing something, but how about investing in a BETTER pair of gloves?
Doing something with your fingers while walking (keeping them occupied, e.g. with small stretching, etc) will help the blood flow better.
Also, maybe don't go out for "long walks" when it's too cold outside?
Of course, this only works if blood can circulate heat from your core to your extremities. Try throwing on a vest and, when coding, make sure your elbows are not bent and your writs are not resting on a pad in such a way as to obstruct blood flow.
Good luck!
From what I've read, when the core gets colder, the body withdraws blood from the extremities.
Look for images/videos of professional pianists -- ideal wrist ergonomics for typing are very similar to those for playing piano.
Specifically, your wrists should be loose and relaxed, so that your hands would hang down loosely if the fingers weren't resting on anything. My piano teacher used to spend a few minutes at the beginning of each lesson shaking my forearms until the wrists loosened enough!
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/raynauds-disea...
Check the lifestyle and home remedy part for some advice, but it sounds like you just need to plan more breaks and relax your extremities more.
So I'd continue to be checked. There is likely a more specific underlying cause that can be treated. Cold is a factor but it seems based on the condition that you could be coding in a volcano and still have this happen
Edit cause I bumped submit on tablet too soon.
A good short term solution is to fill a paper cup with hot water and wrap your hands around that. This provides temporary relief but only treats the symptom. The effect wears off quickly.
I have also tried fingerless gloves, but those are completely worthless.
The only real solution is to do some light exercise. Most days after I eat lunch, I will walk around for 30 minutes. This light exercise creates heat in my muscles and thereby heats up my blood. The warm blood can also freely circulate to my hands and feet as nothing is constraining the flow of blood. After about 15 minutes of walking I can feel an internal warmth returning to my hands. The skin is still cold but I know soon enough my hands will be warm again. And the effect lasts the rest of the day.
+1 for that. Where I work there's a central cooling system at it gets very cold around where I sit. So I periodically grab some hot tea and hold the cup to help heat my hands.
I too do some walking to help increase body temperature and blood flow. It alleviates the symptoms somewhat.
When I work remotely from home, I use a stand up desk setup. I've found that I don't get the cold feeling when I do this.
If this is what's happening, perhaps taking up indoor rock climbing would help. I know of no better exercise for improving the body's ability to send blood to the forearms and hands than rock climbing since so much of it depends on grip strength. Failing that, there are grip strength training devices (example...not suggesting this particular one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HB7V6KS) that he might keep by his desk to use when he starts getting cold fingers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raynaud_syndrome
Obviously I am not a doctor.
Reading through that suggests either you are a normal case and just need to take your fitness seriously (including keeping stress under control) to improve circulation. You could be an abnormal case and need to look at medication - but as you have already seen a doctor I am going to guess that isn't the case.
For fitness I wholeheartedly recommend https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommend... (vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB3HhP2GYk0&feature=youtu.be ).
The heater suggestions seem like good ideas to treat the symptoms while you work on the cause.
Reporting it to your manager is an interesting question. Personally I wouldn't do anything formal, but I work quite closely with my manager so he would informally know, I also don't have to get permission to use any personal equipment at work - which isn't the case for everyone.
But again, I am not a doctor.
It sounds like a PITA of a condition. I hope it is benign and treatable for you.
I either go outside or go to the bathroom and wash my hands in hot water every hour or two for a reset.
Anyways, my fix is to get the heart rate up. I jump on the treadmill at an incline and do some push-ups. 10 minutes is all I need. And no, I'm not a fitness freak.
i live in the tropics, used to have cold fingers, now i don't have cold fingers.
seems like an honest solution to me?
so if someone at facebook said "how can we keep our servers cool?" and someone else replied "move them to the subarctic", you would shower him with proverbial downvotes too?
Please resist commenting about being downvoted. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading.
It's fine to make whatever comment you think is appropriate, but if others think your suggestion is, say, unhelpful, they express their discontent by downvoting your comment. It's no big deal :)
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
In your circumstance, I'd look into USB-powered heated gloves as an option as well, e.g. [1]. If that alone isn't sufficient, some have removable heating elements that you could probably transfer over to the heavier fingerless gloves mentioned above.
[0] https://www.amazon.com/DPG230L-Technicians-Fingerless-Synthe...
[1] https://www.amazon.com/GoodBZ-Fingerless-Mittens-Computer-St...
I'm sure if you talk to your manager and explain that you have a legitimate medical concern that they will help reach a solution.
The founder's strategy was to hang french fry heating lamps from the ceiling, just a little over our hands. It worked great!