The fairer sex has a higher percentage of body fat and conserves more heat around the core. That helps keep vital organs nice and toasty but not the extremities—and when your hands and feet feel cold, so does the rest of your body.

 

Plus, research suggests that women have a lower threshold for cold than men.

 

When exposed to the same freezing temperature, the blood vessels in women's fingers constrict more than men's do, which is why they turn white more quickly.