Fear Of The Cold Is A Real Thing, & Here’s Some Signs You Might Have It

Winter is coming, and I’m not happy about it. Being afraid of the cold has a proper medical name, it’s called Frigophobia. When I picture winter time I pretty much imagine feeling like the characters in Game of Thrones when their epic winter sets in. I’m like, ‘oh no, another six months of freezing my ass off to try and get through’.  The struggle is real.

Frigophobia is a phobia pertaining to the fear of becoming too cold. Sufferers of this problem bundle up in heavy clothes and blankets, regardless of the ambient air temperature.

Don’t get me wrong I love winter. I adore the hearty food, the copious amounts of mulled wine and the festive celebrations, but I really do suffer with the cold.

It was a sunny day at the end of August just a few weeks ago and I filled up my first hot water bottle of the season. I can’t spend more than an hour in Cafe Nero because the aircon forces me out the door. I got stranded in my car for ten hours in the snow and made my Weimaraner sit on my lap to share body heat and improve our chances of survival.

Personally, I think one of the best feelings in the world is when you are a little bit chilly, and you step outside and the sunshine hits your skin, and you feel instant satisfaction. My body just does not cope well in chilly conditions, unless I have access to a scorching hot bath, or preferably, a sauna.

I was thinking about some of the things I do in the colder months, and the ways I try and stay warm, and I realised that some of them might be a tad extreme, but I’m pretty sure other people do them too! So here’s some signs you might have a fear of the cold, or general dislike for winter weather.

• You keep a blanket in your desk drawer even in the summer in case your legs get chilly.

• You sometimes make a beeline for the hot food counter in supermarkets just to warm up your hands.

• You can spend more than 30 seconds in the frozen food section of Waitrose (why is it always so darn cold in Waitrose, it’s like the arctic, the poor staff!)

• Your partner or housemate comes home to find you sat rubbing up against the radiator in order to gain some extra heat.

• Getting out of bed on a cold winter’s day feels like crawling out of an igloo onto an iceberg.

• You wear your winter coat all year round.

• You invest in a heavy duty ski coat for the winter.

• You have bought gloves you can wear whilst typing on your computer or using your tablet, because your fingers turn into icicles.

• You avoid going out on Bonfire Night every year because it takes you two days to warm up properly afterwards.

• You avoid drinking any chilled or remotely cold drinks in the winter, because you are terrified they will send you into hypothermia.

• You never, EVER walk around your house in winter without thick socks and/or slippers.

• In winter you pretty much live in your dressing gown and never take it off. You also wear a thick jumper underneath and thermal leggings.

• You have secretly bought a collection of uber ugly thermal clothing that you sneakily wear under normal clothes.

• When it snows, you won’t leave the house unless you are dressed appropriately for the North Pole.

• Sometimes you hug your dog or cat, not to give them love, but for extra body heat.

• You sometimes have to go back to bed in the daytime just to get your body temperature up.

• You refuse to venture out in your car in the winter without a proper winter survival kit and 468732 blankets.

• You buy the thickest, most unattractive PJ’s for winter in the hope that they will prevent you from getting frostbite whilst you sleep.

• You stuff hot water bottles under your clothes most days to try and warm up, and don’t even care about the heat burns, because thank god for the warmth.

• You constantly moan about being cold. Even when you have the thickest jumper on it still feels like the chill is penetrating your bones.

• You turn the heating on in your car ten minutes before getting in because you refuse to sit in a car that feels like an ice cube and wait for it to slowly warm up. Who knows, you might be dead by then.

• You waste ridiculous amounts of money on heating by having the heating on full, using extra heaters that blow glorious hot air at you and turning the temperature up to boiling point in the shower.

• Touching anything remotely cold or freezing is extremely difficult to cope with, and sends a wave of anxiety through your spine. Getting anything out the freezer pretty much gives you frostbite.

• You eat soup most days in the winter because it’s just another wonderful source of warmth.

• You cuddle up to your partner in bed like a leach so suck some warmth from them.

• You dream of one day owning a sauna so you can warm up whenever you want.