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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask how you survive this cold as an office worker?

394 replies

ColdToesandWarmHeart · 19/11/2025 22:11

I don’t know what’s wrong with me but I am freezing. Down to my bones. I have a heating pad under my jumper and a blanket on me and I finally feel warm for the first time this week.

I have ordered a hot water bottle but I don’t know what else I can do. I’m freezing. I’m on Mounjaro so I think it’s that, but I’m just so miserable.

OP posts:
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6
Thesummer · 19/11/2025 23:45

Advice from an anaemic Raynauds sufferer who only feels consistently warm when it's over 27 degrees and sunny:

Hot water bottle with a thick cover so it retains heat longer.

Heated hoodie - Its a game changer as well as an electric blanket.

Constant supply of hot drinks even if it's just hot water. Keeps hands warm and insides warm. I physically cannot drink cold water when I'm already feeling cold any more, hot (or very warm) water is so much easier to constantly sip.

3 pairs of socks. If my feet are cold I will never warm up. Also sometimes wear thick tights under trousers.

The usual multiple layers etc.

Handwarmers in bulk from amazon.

PickAChew · 19/11/2025 23:58

It's a side effect of losing weight in general.

ChillBarrog · 19/11/2025 23:59

ColdToesandWarmHeart · 19/11/2025 22:18

I’m at work during the day, so no.

Why can't you move at work?

considertheravens · 20/11/2025 00:05

BotterMon · 19/11/2025 22:43

We haven't had time to adapt as it's gone from unseasonably warm to fecking freezing within 48 hours.
Heated gilet!

Agree with heated gilet, and heated socks for work.

Cat1504 · 20/11/2025 00:09

ColdToesandWarmHeart · 19/11/2025 22:13

In an office, I don’t know. Bloody cold. It’s NHS, so the heating isn’t on anywhere near as much as you’d expect

I work for nhs in the community….our office is in a freestanding building and it’s toasty warm all winter…too warm sometimes…..I sometimes go into the office instead of wfh in winter just to save on the heating at home

considertheravens · 20/11/2025 00:09

Make sure your neck is covered with high neck tops or scarf. Heated blankets are great and they also make heated mattress pads!

Negroany · 20/11/2025 00:09

Cherrytree86 · 19/11/2025 22:36

@Homegrownberries

no, it’s just the fact that it’s fucking dreadfully freezing in the Uk. Her iron levels could be brilliant and she’ll still feel cold…because it is cold.

It's not quite that simple though. I'm always warm. I "heat" my house to 17 in winter and have to turn it off because I get too hot.

At work today I asked three people I was in a meeting room with why they were wearing coats, I was in a t shirt and still boiling.

People literally feel temperature differently. I can usually tell when it's cold, but it doesn't make me feel cold. I was a bit chilly this morning when it was 1 degree, there was snow on my car and I had managed to get myself wet clearing it off, then getting into the unheated car.

This has only happened in the last few years. Before that I was terminally cold.

So something has changed. Probably menopause related.

SweetnsourNZ · 20/11/2025 00:13

ColdToesandWarmHeart · 19/11/2025 22:33

I do, but I don’t think it’s that. It’s only really this year this has happened.

I would still get checked as circulatory issues can hit in random years. The other thing is menopause. It really stuffs your thermostat sometimes. Could be the start of perimenopause.

mondaytosunday · 20/11/2025 00:20

How warm is the office? If it’s 18 or above then it’s a you issue. If it’s colder than that then I’d be asking for the heat to be turned up. My heat at my house isn’t working and I’ve survived by wrapping up in layers but have resorted to turning the stove on a couple times! Luckily I have a gas fire so in the evening at least the living room gets above 18, and me and my pets are all huddled in here! Engineer is coming Friday.

There are heating pads for office chairs that go up the back, not just the seat.

BringBackCatsEyes · 20/11/2025 00:22

ColdToesandWarmHeart · 19/11/2025 22:25

I’ve had a bath and it’s done nothing. It’s like the second I get out, the heat leaves my body

What's the temp in your home? It sounds like you're coming down with something if you are otherwise healthy and this is not usual for you.
I mean it's cold for sure, but after a warm bath, drying and putting on pjs and a dressing gown in a warm home - you should be feeling OK.

PigeonsandSquirrels · 20/11/2025 00:24

Get some thermals, Uniqlo do good ones and some fingerless gloves and an ear warmer headband. That’s what I do for uni (always freezing).

BringBackCatsEyes · 20/11/2025 00:24

ColdToesandWarmHeart · 19/11/2025 22:23

Yes, I got cold yesterday morning and I feel like I’ve not warmed up. Even with going to the gym tonight.

Did you get warm in the gym?

PigeonsandSquirrels · 20/11/2025 00:25

GertrudeOHara · 19/11/2025 22:19

A hip flask and a tot of sloe gin. Will warm you right down to your toes. I’ve had days of three layers of cashmere, striding fast to and from the office, heating turned up full whack and sometimes that’s the only thing that will warm everything including my feet.

Ah yes, the NHS worker should drink alcohol at work… also alcohol actually cools you down internally because it increases vasodilation meaning your body releases more heat.

BringBackCatsEyes · 20/11/2025 00:28

lilybit2025 · 19/11/2025 23:13

Hi OP, I had this so so badly on mounjaro. Even peak summer I was FREEZING. it's a really common side effect and nothing you can do will warm you up. Just have to layer up and drink warm drinks

Is it as if the body thinks it's losing weight too fast and everything slows down - metabolism, circulation, possible deficiencies?
Obviously someone with lower body fat tends to feel the cold more than someone with more, but plenty of slim people (not taking weight loss injections) are able to keep warm.
It is cold, but in a regular office someone shouldn't need thermal layers, heated gilets and blankets.

ghostwhisper · 20/11/2025 00:53

ChillBarrog · 19/11/2025 23:59

Why can't you move at work?

Depends on the job
my old job I could only move around as far as my headset wire went unless I was on my lunch so stand/sit/step to one side was as far as it went!

Francestein · 20/11/2025 01:03

This gets good reviews. Could you plug it in under your desk? amzn.eu/d/8KtVCYO

AelinAG · 20/11/2025 01:12

Heated chair cover
heated blankets
lots of hot drinks
primark fleece lined leggings
over the knee boots
fluffy socks at all times - over trainers socks on very cold days
mittens so the minimum skin is exposed
a fleece/wooly headband as a fashion statement so you can keep it on all day
a desk heater
hot drinks all day - on a mug warmer so they stay hot
wearing a scarf at all times

justjuggling · 20/11/2025 01:13

Something warm on your feet - I wear cosy bedsocks under boots!

JFDIYOLO · 20/11/2025 01:17

Fleece lined leggings. Oooooh.... Our local British Heart Foundation does them (new, obviously).

Thermal socks over thin bamboo fibre socks.

Damart style long sleeved thermal tops under thin polo neck sweater with a bigger jumper on top.

Padded gilet.

I find a long lined wool skirt and a slip keeps the warm in as well as trousers.

Fingerless gloves.

Fleece lined boots.

StruggleFlourish · 20/11/2025 01:22

I don't work in an office, I am lucky enough to work from home, so fortunately I don't have to worry about how I'm dressed for work... However I often am sitting still and barely moving for anywhere between 12 to 18 hours straight (just getting up to feed the pets, make a cup of tea, and go to the bathroom, basically... Which I know, is way too much sitting...I know)

My room temperature is often around 13°. Which is quite cold. I don't think many people have indoor temperatures that low. And when you're sitting, and not moving, the cold really gets to you. And I'm going to have to assume that when you're working in office clothes, it's even worse.

A hot water bottle on your feet does wonders, especially if you can cover it with a small throw / blanket to keep the heat from escaping.
Another hot water bottle perhaps in your lap perhaps with another throw over your lap also does wonders.
Personally I don't think you can go wrong with hot water bottles.

I doubt that you can dress with a scarf or a warm hat or something like that if you're in an office, but that really does help keep the warmth in.

If at all possible and it may not be, you should try to get up every 45 minutes or so and do a brisk walk or some type of brisk exercise. If you are allowed bathroom breaks that frequently, don't go to the closest one, if there's another floor two or three floors up, go there. Move. Movement helps. Sitting still makes you freezing.

It's a minor thing but drinking warm drinks does help, warm cups of soup, warm tea warm coffee warm hot chocolate warm cider etc. Of course that might mean that you'll end up having to go to the bathroom and awful lot but, you do get to move then.
The warm drinks may not do a lot but they do help to keep your core temperature higher. And if you can, try to avoid cold drinks as that'll chill you down.

I hope some of this helps

Francestein · 20/11/2025 01:24

Oh yes - I saw these too: Heated Chair Pad. Probably a lot safer than a space heater under your desk.
amzn.eu/d/ep2MhFx

BastardtheCat · 20/11/2025 05:56

Invest in one of these. They’re in the Black Friday sales (Amazon link).

It’s the only thing that helps me retain heat. I also have rechargeable hand warmers on the go too.

https://amzn.eu/d/aHppRGD

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.co.uk

https://amzn.eu/d/aHppRGD?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-am-i-being-unreasonable-5447022-to-ask-how-you-survive-this-cold-as-an-office-worker

Curfew · 20/11/2025 06:14

In the office, I wear a merino base layer, then my smart work shirt, a wooden jumper and an insulated gilet (I have two, both merino). I wear a scarf and fingerless gloves.
I think soled shoes are important, as are warm socks.
I have a down coat I wear to work in the winter, often I leave it on the back of my chair. It's impressive how much of a difference that makes. Not averse to wearing it if we're airing the office either.
One of my colleagues has a massive thick scarf she folds open and wears over her shoulders like a blanket!

Empress13 · 20/11/2025 06:20

ColdToesandWarmHeart · 19/11/2025 22:13

In an office, I don’t know. Bloody cold. It’s NHS, so the heating isn’t on anywhere near as much as you’d expect

Get a portable heater that’s what I’ve got

Lifebeganat50 · 20/11/2025 06:26

Feeling the cold is a definite thing after weight loss-no matter how you’ve lost it!
I lost 14 stones about 4 years ago and I don’t think I’ve been warm since! I’ve done from being so hot I rarely wore a coat to having quite a wardrobe of thermals! As others have said, layers and thermals-even Primark thermal layers are pretty decent and very inexpensive