If you reach for a jumper while everyone around you is comfortable, you are not imagining it. Feeling colder as you get older has a clear biological explanation. Your body makes heat, holds on to it and moves it around differently at 65 than it did at 25.
Some of these changes come down to muscle and circulation. Others come down to nutrients your body absorbs less efficiently with age, including vitamin B12, which is why TMG B-Complex includes activated B12 alongside folate, B6 and other B vitamins that support energy metabolism and red blood cell formation.
Here is what the research shows about body temperature and age, and what you can do to stay warm.
Does Body Temperature Drop With Age?
Yes, and researchers have measured it. A study of 18,630 adults aged 20 to 98 found that average body temperature declined with age. The oldest group ran around 0.2°C (0.3°F) cooler than the youngest, even after the researchers accounted for sex and body weight.
That difference sounds small, but it reflects a broader shift. Older bodies produce less heat, lose it faster and react more slowly when the temperature around them drops.
Why Do You Feel Colder as You Get Older?
There is no single cause. Several changes happen at the same time, and together they explain why so many people notice they feel cold all the time from their fifties onwards.
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You Have Less Muscle to Generate Heat
Muscle is one of the body’s main sources of heat. It burns energy even at rest, and when you get cold, it produces extra heat through shivering.
Muscle mass declines steadily with age. A quantitative review of studies on ageing and muscle found that adults lose around 0.4% to 0.5% of their muscle mass each year, and that the rate speeds up to nearly 1% a year by age 75. Strength drops even faster, at 2.5% to 4% a year at the same age.
Less muscle means less heat production, which is one reason your metabolism slows with age and you feel the cold sooner.
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Your Blood Vessels Respond More Slowly
When you step into the cold, your body narrows the blood vessels near your skin. This keeps warm blood closer to your core and reduces the heat you lose to the air.
A review of ageing and temperature regulation published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that older adults have a weaker version of this response. Their blood vessels do not narrow as effectively in the cold, and their bodies produce less extra heat when temperatures fall.
The result is that more heat escapes through the skin. This is also why cold hands and feet are one of the first things people notice as they get older.
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You Have Less Brown Fat
Brown fat is a type of fat tissue that burns energy to produce heat. It switches on when you are exposed to cold.
A study of 162 healthy adults measured how much active brown fat people had after two hours in a cold room. More than half of the participants in their twenties had detectable brown fat. Among people in their fifties and sixties, the figure fell below 10%.
With less brown fat, the body loses one of its built-in ways to warm itself up.
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Your Body Absorbs Less Vitamin B12
This is the factor people overlook most often. According to the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, 10% to 30% of older adults have atrophic gastritis, a condition that reduces stomach acid. Your body needs that acid to release vitamin B12 from food, so less acid means less B12 gets absorbed.
Vitamin B12 is essential for making healthy red blood cells, which carry oxygen around your body. Your cells need that oxygen to turn food into energy. Common signs of low B12 include fatigue and weakness, which can make it harder to stay active and warm.
B12 from supplements does not need stomach acid to be released, which is why the NIH recommends that adults over 50 get most of their B12 from supplements or fortified foods.
Folate and vitamin B6 also play a role in red blood cell formation, and B vitamins as a group help your body convert food into usable energy.
How to Stay Warm as You Age
Several of these causes respond to everyday habits, so small changes can make a noticeable difference:
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Do resistance training two or three times a week, because building and keeping muscle gives your body more capacity to make heat.
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Eat protein at every meal, which gives your muscles what they need to maintain themselves.
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Get up and move every hour, since even a short walk increases blood flow to your hands and feet.
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Dress in thin layers and keep your hands and feet covered, since they cool down faster than the rest of your body.
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Eat warm meals and drinks, which raise your body’s heat production as you digest them.
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Include B12-rich foods like eggs, fish, meat and dairy, and consider a supplement if you are over 50.
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Ask your GP to check your B12 and thyroid levels if you feel cold most of the time.
Support Your Body From the Inside
TMG B-Complex gives your body the vitamin B12 it absorbs less efficiently with age, along with the B vitamins that work alongside it, in forms it can use straight away. Each serving combines 1,000 mg of TMG with methylcobalamin (activated B12), 5-MTHF (activated folate), P-5-P (activated B6), thiamine, riboflavin and choline.
Activated B vitamins skip the conversion steps your body would otherwise have to complete, so they are ready to support energy metabolism, red blood cell formation and healthy methylation from the first capsule. Pair TMG B-Complex with regular strength training and warm, protein-rich meals, and you give your body what it needs to keep producing the energy and heat it relies on.
