Extreme cold could cause many types of illness and newspapers tried to pre-empt some common problems with sensible, practical advice, like this from The Croydon Chronicle, 15th April 1893.
"Never go to bed with cold feet. Never try to sleep without being perfectly certain that you will be able to keep them warm. To lie one night with cold feet gives such a strain to the system as will be felt seriously perhaps ending in a fit of sickness. Cold feet shew an unbalanced circulation. The very best thing to do is warm them by exercise, if that be practicable; if not, by dipping them in cold and hot water alternately, two or three times, and then using vigorous fiction. If that does not warm them and keep them warm, heat them before the fire, drying them thoroughly, and then correct your habits or improve your health, for to be sure, one of them is wrong, perhaps both."
