Blog

How to Prevent Frostbite

Keeping you and your family warm isn’t so difficult indoors, but when it’s time to go outdoors this winter for any length of time, extra care should be taken to help prevent frostbite. Feeling cold is the earliest stage, but then the affected area can heat up and later become too numb for you to even know frostbite has struck you or a member of your family.

So rather than deal with the aftermath of frostbite, let’s examine how to prevent it:

Dress in layers: Wearing layers of clothes helps your own body heat to circulate and keep you warm. The first layer should be snug, but made of a material that wicks moisture away from your body and keeps you dry. The middle layers should be fluffy – and made of wool or fleece – to trap in warm air. The outside layer should be wind- and waterproof to help keep all that warm air on the inside.

Hats and scarves:  The body loses a lot of heat through the head and neck, so be sure keep them covered. Also, wear hats that dover your ears.  Hats with earflaps are more convenient, but earmuffs and scarves work, too.

The right gloves: Generally speaking, mittens are the way to go as they keep the fingers together, and that keeps them warm. However, if you need gloves, try getting some with textured finger tips so you don’t need to take them off to use your fingers, say, for texting home to have someone prepare hot chocolate!

Toasty toes: Double socks add extra warmth to feet. Wearing waterproof footwear over them keeps them dry and prevents the cold from creeping in.

Sunscreen: Even in the winter, you still need to protect your skin from the damaging effects of the sun. Applying sunscreen not only prevents UV damage, but helps prevent chapped cheeks from windburn. The moisturizing aspect of sunscreen also prevents skin from getting chapped from dry weather and wind.

As for that warm house of yours, well, anytime your furnace or boiler decides it needs a break from active duty, that’s the perfect time to contact Messmer Mechanical.  We service and repair all types of home heating systems, including yours.  We also provide 24/7 emergency repair service for those problems that simply can’t wait.