How to Keep Your Feet Warm When Working Outdoors During the Winter

Your feet will inevitably get cold when working outdoors during the winter. Compared to other parts of your body, your feet are among the most susceptible to cold weather. You'll lose more body heat through your feet than your legs, arms and torso. Aside from causing discomfort, cold feet can cause other problems, such as loss of blood flow -- and in extreme cases -- frostbite. Fortunately, there are ways to keep your feet warm when working outdoors during the winter.

Choose Wool Socks

Wearing wool socks can protect your feet from the cold winter weather. Socks are available in a variety of materials, the most common of which is cotton. While cotton is soft, it offers minimal protection against cold weather. Wool socks are a better choice because they minimize the amount of heat that escapes from your feet. Your feet will lose less heat when wearing wool socks, thereby keeping your feet warm even when it's cold outside.

Double Up on Socks

Another tip to keep your feet warm is to double up on socks. Rather than wearing a single pair of wool socks, try wearing two pairs. With two pairs of socks, your feel will inevitably stay warmer. 

Your feet are bound to lose some of their heat. If it's cold outside, heat will escape your feet. While you can't prevent this from happening, you can insulate your feet so that they lose heat. Wearing two pairs of socks will naturally provide greater insulation. It will essentially double the amount of insulation offered by your socks. In turn, your feet will stay warmer.

Wear Thermal Boots

Some types of footwear offer greater protection against cold weather than others. You can't expect your feet to stay warm when wearing tennis or athletic shoes. Casual footwear such as this are designed with an emphasis on breathability. Therefore, they offer little or no protection against cold weather. A better choice of footwear for cold weather is thermal boots.

Thermal boots live up to their namesake by offering a superior level of thermal protection than that of other types of shoes and boots. They are designed with layer of insulating material that prevents the loss of heat from your feet.

Keep Your Feet Dry

Regardless of what type of socks or boots you wear, you should keep your feet dry when working outdoors during the winter. Allowing your feet to get wet a serious mistake. Moisture encourages the release of heat. This is essentially why our bodies sweat when we are hot. If your feet get wet, heat will escape from your feet more quickly -- and this may even lead to frostbite.