Winter is in full swing in the UK now, and it's coming with more than just beautiful snowfalls and warm nights by the fireplace. Latest updates on the weather indicate another snowstorm is incoming, with temperatures dipping to 0°C in areas of Scotland and fluctuating at 2-3°C elsewhere. While this may seem like the ideal time to snuggle up with a hot cup of tea, for millions who suffer from chronic illnesses, the falling temperatures translate into one thing—increased pain and discomfort.

As the temperatures continue to plummet and winter storms march in, keeping on top of your health is crucial. From staying warm to exercising to adhering to a healthy regimen, every little bit counts. Listen to what your body is asking for, practice preventive care, and urge loved ones to do the same. Winter is rugged, after all—but with a little bit of know-how, you don't have to let it wear down your well-being.

Cold, wet, and windy conditions have been associated with aggravation of symptoms for arthritis sufferers, those with respiratory conditions, and even menstrual cramps. So how does the cold actually affect us, and how can we make the most of the effects? Here is the lowdown.

Why Do Health Conditions Worsen in Cold Weather?

If you’ve ever felt your joints ache or muscles stiffen as temperatures drop, you’re not alone. Studies suggest that changes in atmospheric pressure, lower temperatures, and increased humidity can all contribute to worsening symptoms of various health conditions.

As the temperatures drop lower and winter storms roll in, being proactive about your health is the key. Whether keeping warm, exercising, or eating a healthy regimen, every small step can go a long way. Listen to what your body requires, take precautions, and urge your loved ones to do the same. After all, winter is harsh—but with the right strategy, you don't have to let it have an adverse effect on your health.

1. Asthma and Respiratory Conditions

Winter air may be especially tough on people with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and other lung conditions. Cold air is dry air, and this can dry out airways and make breathing tougher.

Why It Worsens: Cold, dry air and more exposure to indoor allergens add to inflammation and breathing problems.

Management Tips: Warm the air before inhaling it with a scarf, maintain indoor humidity at proper levels, and remain current with flu and pneumonia shots.

2. Heart Disease and High Blood Pressure

Research has established that winter is the time when heart attacks and strokes occur more frequently, especially in individuals above 60 years. In cold weather, the heart must work harder to keep the body warm, hence higher blood pressure and cardiovascular event risk.

How It Worsens: The cold temperature tightens blood vessels, which makes blood pressure higher and heart attack risk greater.

Management Tips: Dress warmly, avoid sudden activity, and maintain regular health check-ups to keep track of blood pressure levels.

3. Migraines and Headaches

A change in atmospheric pressure and exposure to cold can cause migraines and bad headaches in susceptible individuals.

Why It Worsens: The decrease in barometric pressure can cause chemical and electrical changes in the brain that lead to migraines.

Management Tips: Prevent sudden temperature fluctuations, stay hydrated, and control stress to minimize frequency and severity.

4. Raynaud's Disease

Raynaud's disease results in the small blood vessels of the hands and feet constricting excessively in reaction to cold, resulting in numbness, tingling, and pain.

Why It Worsens: Cold temperatures limit blood flow to extremities, resulting in discomfort and discoloration.

Management Tips: Wear insulated socks and gloves, stay away from cold, and use medications that enhance circulation.

5. Period Pain and Menstrual Discomfort

Research in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health reported that lower indoor temperatures tend to make menstrual cramps worse.

Why It Worsens: Cold causes the release of more prostaglandins, hormone-like substances that induce painful uterine contractions.

Management Tips: Keep warm, have hot drinks, and apply heat packs to relieve cramps.

6. Higher Risk of Flu and Pneumonia

Winter is the time when flu season reaches its peak, with increased rates of infection resulting in a higher risk of complications like pneumonia, especially among susceptible groups such as the older population and immunocompromised individuals.

Why It Worsens: Individuals spend more time indoors, where they are exposed to more viruses, and the immune system can be compromised by cold temperatures.

Management Tips: Get vaccinated, wash hands frequently, and get medical attention immediately if flu symptoms get worse.

Ways to Manage Winter Health Flare-Ups

Keep Warm to Keep Well

Ensuring your body stays warm is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to prevent winter-related health flare-ups. The NHS recommends keeping indoor temperatures at least 18°C and layering up when heading outside.

• Use heating pads, warm compresses, or hot water bottles on stiff, aching joints.
• Dress in thermal layers, including gloves and socks, to maintain circulation and prevent stiffness.
• Avoid sudden exposure to cold air, particularly if you have respiratory problems.

Stay Active – Even When It's Cold

At lower temperatures, it is easy to stay all wrapped up at home, but inactivity can exacerbate pain. Regular light physical exercise aids circulation, maintains flexible joints, and increases mood.

• A short 15-minute brisk walk outside (or on a treadmill) can keep muscles warm and joints flexible.
• Easy stretching or home yoga can minimize stiffness.
• Pulmonary rehab classes can help patients with COPD to enhance lung function.

Eat and Drink Wisely

Your diet has an important part to play in maintaining your health during winter.

• Nutritious warm food containing anti-inflammatory foods such as green leafy vegetables, nuts, and fatty fish can minimize pain.
• Stay well hydrated with warm herbal teas or water at room temperature rather than cold beverages, which can bring on period pains and exacerbate joint aches.
• If healthy food is difficult for you to access, community services and local food banks may be able to offer assistance.

Check Your Health Regularly and Seek Help Early

With the cold winter months boosting health threats, check-ups are important. The NHS advises those with ongoing illnesses to remain proactive about their health by:

• Making advance appointments to keep track of the changes in the symptoms.
• Continuing the medicines as prescribed and consulting if symptoms increase.
• Taking all the vaccines (flu, pneumonia, Covid, shingles, RSV) up to date.
• Quit Smoking for Better Health

If you needed another reason to quit smoking, winter provides one. Within just three days of quitting, your breathing improves, making it easier to handle cold weather. The NHS offers support programs to help smokers quit for good.

After a recent Supreme Court of India order banning the use of stem cell therapy to treat autism -- a neurodevelopmental condition affecting communication, social interaction, and behavior -- the country's National Medical Commission has issued a clear warning to doctors and hospitals not to use the therapy to treat autism in routine medical practice.

The National Medical Commission, in a new advisory, asked all medical colleges, hospitals, and doctors to strictly follow the rules.

In a letter sent to the regulator, Indian Council of Medical Research Director-General Dr. Rajiv Bahl stated that the stem cell treatment can now be used in regular medical practice only for 32 diseases that are officially approved by the government. These include blood cancers and serious blood disorders such as:

Acute myeloid leukemia

Thalassemia

Multiple myeloma

Aplastic anemia

Myelofibrosis

Germ cell tumors.

The letter asked doctors not to offer stem cell therapy for any other disease outside this list.

Notably, the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB), under the National Medical Commission (NMC), had, in December 2022, constituted the Committee on Stem Cell Use in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

It had stated that none of the current international guidelines recommend stem cell therapy as a treatment for ASD and added that the therapy is not recommended as a treatment for ASD in clinical practice.

Also read: Japan Approves First-Ever Stem Cell Therapies For Parkinson’s And Heart Failure

What Was The Supreme Court Ruling On Stem Cells?

Earlier this year, in January, a bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan noted that stem cell therapy lacks “scientific support and has not been recognized as a sound medical practice backed by empirical evidence”.

The Bench ruled that “every use of stem cells in patients outside an approved clinical trial is unethical and shall be considered as malpractice.”

The apex Court, however, added that the advanced therapy, which holds promise in several medical fields, can still be approved for monitored clinical research trials. It added that the patients have the liberty to participate in approved and regulated clinical trials.

What Is Stem Cell Therapy

Stem cell therapy, also called regenerative medicine, is a medical treatment that uses stem cells to repair or replace damaged tissues.

While the therapy is useful and effective for blood cancers and autoimmune diseases, for the treatment of autism, there is no proof or scientific evidence of its utility.

As stem cell therapy is vastly unregulated in India, many private labs have been minting money over the promise of treatment for autism.

“Most stem cell therapies are unregulated in India and are promoted based on no evidence, and fake advertisements. While these disorders have no cure, many people are falsely lured by these companies,” Dr. Manjari Tripathi, Head of Department, Neurology, AIIMS Delhi, had told IANS, after the SC verdict.

Also read: New Stem Cell Transplant Breakthrough Could Replace Chemo In Cancer Treatment

Stem Cells Permissible Only For Research

The NMC warned that any doctor or institution offering stem cell therapy for autism will face regulatory and legal action.

The top medical regulator, however, stated that stem cell therapy is permissible only for research purposes.

Such studies must follow strict rules set by the government and must be approved by ethics committees and national regulatory bodies.

Researchers must also ensure that patients give written consent, that treatment is provided free during the trial, and compensation is offered if injury or death occurs during research.

Florida on Tuesday approved nearly $31 million in short-term funding for H.I.V. medication for residents This is a reverse course after the state health officials restricted the access to a program that helps only those who could afford costly medications.

What Happened In The Past?

The Florida Department of Health had imposed tougher eligibility rules on March 1 that left 12,000 residents with H.I.V. without the access to medication covered by the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program. This deprived them of life saving drugs, noted a nonprofit advocacy group - AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

The foundation also sued the department over these changes with protestors rallying in opposition at the State Capitol in Tallahassee. The department cited a projected $120 million state budget that restricted eligibility for the program.

Read: HIV vs. AIDS: What You Should Know About These Commonly Confused Terms

Yet, the Florida House of Representatives and State Senate, both led by Republicans, unanimously approved legislation that provides $30.9 million to fund the program through June 30 and restore the eligibility rules. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed the bill into law on Tuesday.

“Lawmakers on both sides understood the urgency of the crisis,” State Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith, a Democrat from Orlando who spoke out in support of the bill on the floor, said in an interview on Wednesday. “It is a matter of life and death. People had already lost access to their medications.”

Restriction On AIDS Drug Assistance Programs

As per an analysis by KFF - a health research group, Florida was one of the nearly 20 states, led both by Republicans and Democrats that imposed restrictions on AIDS Drug Assistance Programs.

The programs cover the cost of H.I.V. medications, which can run into thousands of dollars each month. They provide drugs free to some individuals and help others by paying their insurance premiums. Overall, they support about a quarter of the 1.2 million people living with H.I.V. in the United States.

However, these programs are under growing pressure. The cost of H.I.V. medications continues to rise, and the expiration of health care subsidies has led to a sharp increase in insurance premiums. Despite this, federal funding for these programs has remained largely unchanged for more than a decade.

In Florida, the Department of Health had reduced eligibility for the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program to 130 percent of the federal poverty level, which is about $20,748 a year for an individual, down from 400 percent or $63,840. A new law has now reversed this change, restoring eligibility back to the 400 percent threshold.

“For 10 weeks, 12,000 Floridians living with H.I.V. did not know if they could fill their next prescription,” Esteban Wood, the director of advocacy and legislative affairs at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said in a statement on Tuesday. “Today, they can.”

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a drug therapy to address neurologic symptoms of a rare genetic disorder — Hunter syndrome.

The X-chromosome-linked disease, occurring predominantly in males, has an estimated 2,000 affected individuals worldwide.

The drug Avlayah, developed by pharma company Denali Therapeutics, targets certain individuals with Hunter syndrome (Mucopolysaccharidosis type II or MPS II).

It is the first therapy to address the neurologic complications of Hunter Syndrome, such as

• progressive cognitive decline,
• behavioral problems,
• hydrocephalus,
• spinal cord compression,
• seizures,
• carpal tunnel syndrome.

“Today is a milestone day for children and their families battling Hunter syndrome,” said FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, in a statement.

“Avlayah is the first product approved to address neurologic complications of Hunter Syndrome, a very rare and often severe X-linked disorder in children, affecting about 500 people in the US, almost exclusively males,” added Acting CDER Director Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg.

The FDA noted that Avlayah, the once-weekly drug given via IV infusion, must begin in presymptomatic or symptomatic pediatric patients weighing at least 5 kg before advanced neurologic impairment.

What Is Hunter Syndrome?

Hunter syndrome is a rare inherited lysosomal disorder in which sugar molecules called glycosaminoglycans build up within the cells’ lysosomes.

The condition affects physical and mental development and causes abnormalities in the skeleton, heart, respiratory system, brain, and other organs.

Hunter syndrome is a rare congenital metabolic disease. It was first reported in 1917 by a Canadian physician, Charles Hunter, in two brothers in a family.

The brothers presented typical signs, such as

• short stature,
• inguinal hernia,
• macroglossia,
• enlarged skull,
• decreased hearing,
• coarse facial features,
• protruded abdomen with hepatosplenomegaly,
• umbilical hernia,
• skeletal deformities.

The younger brother had symptoms of Central Nervous System (CNS), including seizures and cognitive decline, while the older brother did not have CNS involvement.

The estimated incidence is 1 in 162,000 live male births.

How The FDA Approved Avlayah

The FDA approval came after Avlayah showed promise in reducing cerebrospinal fluid heparan sulfate — one of the glycosaminoglycans that accumulates in the body in this disorder and is linked to the organ damage that occurs in early childhood.

The phase 1/2 multi-cohort, single-arm, open-label trial enrolled 47 pediatric patients with Hunter syndrome aged 3 months to 13 years.

Of these, 44 patients with measurements at had a 91 percent average decrease from baseline in CSF.

Denali is now conducting a randomized clinical trial that is more than 95 percent enrolled to evaluate the clinical benefit of this product.

"In the meantime, families with young children with Hunter Syndrome will have access to a product that may favorably alter the course of the disease at the crucial time in life when there is the greatest potential for benefit," Hoeg said.

Are There Any Side Effects?

Avlayah’s labeling includes a boxed warning for allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, associated with the drug.

The FDA recommended that patients start therapy in a health care setting with appropriate medical monitoring and support measures.

The common side effects of Avlayah include

• upper respiratory tract infection,
• ear infection,
• fever,
• anemia,
• cough,
• vomiting,
• diarrhea,
• rash,
• COVID-19,
• runny nose,
• nasal congestion,
• fall,
• headache,
• skin abrasion,
• hives.

The FDA also suggested that healthcare workers monitor

• hemoglobin levels due to the risk of anemia,
• kidney function and urine protein levels due to
• the risk of membranous nephropathy (a kidney disease).