Hello @PinkFlamingo these are all great ideas! I will have to get my sewing machine out to sew a Japanese harimake for keeping my kidneys warm. The Harimake takes the chill out of your lower back and protects your kidneys which are active during winter according to chinese medicine.
Anyway in years gone by would just wrap my waist and upper hip with a warm scarf. I think harimakes have since taken off in the west and they are like a belt made of polar fleece that keeps your little kidneys nice and warm.
But youre right you have to keep the body temperaure regulated as pathogenic cold puts stress on the body. I may look into buying some long knitted gloves off etsy as my hands get extremely cold over winter. I have old leather gloves from Aldi and yes I wear cozy scarves to keep my neck warm.
Have thought of going back to eating more black colored foods over winter as black is the esoteric food of the kidneys. There are lots of black foods like black beans. black sesame seeds, black rice, black chia, seaweed, black mushrooms, black plums and dates. All great for kidney energy. I have traditional chinese medicine texts and that is what they say for aligning with winter
I was also told to partition my rooms and keep doors closed too from an environmental scientist who came out to my home as a part of a community development initiative run by the Uniting Church years ago. They gave us cheap options for heating and cooling your home.
I was educated by her on how to calculate wattage on a couple of devices and found an electric throw costs virtually zero dollars to operate. If you want me to show you how to do your sums on appliance usage I will dig out how to do the calculations. Anyway an electric throw will keep you warmer than a heater!!!
I had a facebook friend who had a heater on every winter and the bills were immense. He needed it for his fibromyalgia but put off getting a throw and regretted it. He said the throw was better than a heater and great for his fibro and had been using it ever since. His electric bill said thankyou.
Here is an article entitled "How a heated throw rug had me heating my words"! Your bills will not spike Pink Flamingo
https://www.1millionwomen.com.au/blog/electric-dreams-how-a-heated-throw-rug-had-me-heating-my-words...
And yes you are right about keeping rooms warm in winter. It can cause respiratory problems. I knew of a former oncology nurse on a budgeting page I belong to who said the same thing. I wasn't aware of it but glad she brought it to my attention. She provided an article on it and said "I don't care what people say but you really need to do this!" And of course she was correct.
