One of the best things you can do to your body when you feel cold is keeping your kidney area warm.
Why is this?
It is very simple. The kidneys are located very close to the surface of the body. Even if there is enough fat tissue in the body it is usually situated not in the kidney area. This means that whenever it’s cold outside, the body will try to preserve heat by decreasing blood flow through the most exposed areas (e.g. your limbs and your kidney area). You certainly don’t want to slow down your body’s main filter, because poor circulation creates good conditions for inflammatory processes and kidney stone formation. Moreover, backpain and abdominal pain can be releived as a “side effect” of improved circulation.
To find your kidneys let your arm hang down alongside your body; the lower part of the kidney should be approximately where your elbow bone is. The upper part of the kidney should be near false ribs 11 (last but one lowest pair of ribs at your back).
How to keep the kidney area warm
Well, “primitive and uneducated” people have known this fact for thousands of years and have invented different varieties of bellybands. We have HARAMAKI from Japan, REBOZO from Mexico, camel wool belts from Mongolia and many more. Some of them are thin and invisible, some are quite bulky but super warm. The choice is yours!
Anything else about this area of the body?
Yes! It has a lot to do with reproductive health. This includes not only fertility, but regularity of and absence of pain during the menstrual cycle, management of cysts, fibroids, PID, endometriosis etc.
In Ayurveda, the kidneys are governed by Vata, therefore they are affected a lot by inner and outer cold and dry conditions. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the kidneys are considered the storage place of the original or ancestral life force (Yuan Qi). “Cold and dry kidneys” are directly related to infertility.