Body chills are your muscles rapidly contracting and relaxing to generate heat, and the fastest way to stop them is to warm your body from the outside while addressing whatever triggered them. Layering blankets, drinking warm fluids, and using a heating pad can bring relief within minutes. But if your chills keep coming back or arrive with other symptoms, the underlying cause matters more than the quick fix.
Warm Up Without Overdoing It
The most direct way to stop chills is to raise your body temperature gently. A heating pad placed on your chest or back can ease muscle tightness and reduce the frequency of shivering. Wrapping yourself in blankets, putting on warm socks, and drinking something hot like tea or broth all help your core temperature climb back to a comfortable range.
A lukewarm bath is another effective option, especially if your chills are paired with a fever. The key word is lukewarm. Avoid cold baths or ice packs, which can actually trigger more shivering and, paradoxically, raise your body temperature as your muscles burn calories trying to warm you. In children, a sudden cold bath can even provoke a febrile seizure. If you do take a bath, get out once the water starts to cool so you don’t lose the warmth you’ve gained.
Stay Hydrated
Dehydration makes it harder for your body to regulate its own temperature. If you have a fever alongside your chills, you’re losing extra water through sweat, which compounds the problem. Drinking water, herbal tea, or an electrolyte drink helps your body manage its internal thermostat more effectively. You don’t need to force massive amounts of fluid. Sipping steadily throughout the day is enough to correct mild to moderate dehydration, and for most people that alone makes a noticeable difference in how quickly chills resolve.
Over-the-Counter Fever Reducers
If your chills are caused by a fever, bringing the fever down will usually stop the shivering. Acetaminophen and ibuprofen both work for this. A common combination tablet contains 250 mg of acetaminophen and 125 mg of ibuprofen, taken as two tablets every eight hours, with a maximum of six tablets per day. If you’re taking acetaminophen on its own, stay under 4,000 mg in 24 hours to avoid liver stress. Follow the dosing intervals on the package and don’t stack multiple products that contain the same active ingredient.
Rest and Sleep Actually Matter
This isn’t generic advice. Sleep and temperature regulation are biologically linked. Research at Washington University found that sleep deprivation shifts the body’s temperature preference toward warmth, both in animal models and in humans. When you’re sleep-deprived or your sleep is fragmented (waking every 15 to 20 minutes), the neurons responsible for thermoregulation don’t function normally. Even something as common as “social jet lag,” shifting your sleep schedule by a few hours over the weekend, can disrupt your ability to stay warm.
If you’re fighting an infection, your immune system already demands more energy. Poor sleep on top of that makes chills worse and recovery slower. Prioritize uninterrupted rest, even if that means canceling plans or napping during the day.
Why You Have Chills in the First Place
Fever is the most common trigger. Your brain resets its target temperature higher to help fight an infection, and your body shivers to close the gap between where your temperature is and where your brain wants it to be. Flu viruses, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and other bacterial or parasitic infections all cause this response.
But chills don’t always come with a fever. Other causes include:
- Low blood sugar, especially in people with diabetes, can trigger shivering as the body struggles to maintain normal function.
- Hormonal shifts during menopause often cause alternating hot flashes and chills, sometimes waking you at night.
- Panic attacks and psychological trauma produce adrenaline surges that cause visible trembling. People with PTSD may experience this regularly.
- Hangovers disrupt your body’s temperature regulation as it processes alcohol.
- Drug withdrawal commonly produces chills as the nervous system recalibrates.
- Post-surgical anesthesia causes chills in roughly two out of three patients after general anesthesia.
If your chills are recurring and you don’t have an obvious infection, one of these underlying causes is likely responsible. Treating the root issue, whether that’s managing blood sugar, addressing anxiety, or adjusting hormone levels, is the only way to stop the pattern.
Signs Your Chills Need Medical Attention
Most chills from a common cold or mild flu resolve on their own within a day or two. But certain combinations of symptoms signal something more serious. For adults, a fever of 103°F (39.4°C) or higher typically means you look and feel noticeably sick, and that warrants a call to your doctor.
Get immediate care if chills come with any of these: confusion, seizures, a stiff neck, repeated vomiting or diarrhea, belly pain, skin rashes, trouble swallowing fluids, or signs of dehydration like dark urine and a dry mouth. For infants under three months old, any fever at all requires prompt medical evaluation. In children of any age, watch for behavior that doesn’t improve after fever-reducing medication, signs of dehydration (no wet diapers for eight to ten hours, crying without tears), or a stiff neck.