Obviously, diseases like the cold and flu are cause by viruses, so weather alone wouldn’t cause it. So why do we get runny nose, sneezing, and other symptoms when we go out in the cold without a jacket?
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Your body needs to stay a consistent temperature to prevent you from dying. Too high and you cook, too low and your chemistry can’t happen anymore. All the parts of you that are exposed to the temperature outside act as buffers, to prevent the temperature at your core from changing too much.
Your nose’s main job is to warm up and humidify the air as if enters your body, to prevent your lungs from getting too cold or drying out. The main way it does that is by increasing the blood flow to capillaries, which allows for heat to be transferred from your bloodstream to the air entering your body. That also causes water to filter out though, which makes for a runny nose. As your nose gets runny, the snot triggers the sensitive hairs in your nose, which cause a sneeze thinking that something is entering your body.
As for other symptoms, it has to do with how your body senses temperature. You have a sensor in your brain that tells it if you’re too cold or too hot. If you’re too cold, your brain amps up your metabolism, and forces your muscles to contract rapidly to turn glucose into heat. That’s called shivering. When you have an infection, your immune system highjacks the sensor, turning up the thermostat, in an attempt to kill the germs, which makes your brain think you’re too cold, and triggers the same shivering.
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