When I was a kid and i learnt about diseases in school it was that micorganisms of various kinds cause them. However since growing up I’d always been told by my parents to cover myself properly when being exposed to the cold e.g. wearing warm clothes after getting out of a hot shower in winter even though you might not immediately feel cold.
I asked my science teacher and he told me that when exposed to temperatures outside of what our body is normally used to, our body becomes more susceptible to being ill because our immune system is compromised. I think about this every now and then if I’m ever cold or sick because I didnt feel fully satisfied with his answer. I’ve also read in some places on the internet that this is just an old wives tale. Would someone give me a definitive answer to this query? ( I am currently on sick leave after being in a cold place for a while and I was thinking about this again)
In: Biology
It’s a bunch of things that start to go wrong either due to the cold itself or drier air. Your body works very hard to keep your organs at a very exact temperature. Being exposed to the cold makes your body have to work extra hard to keep your organs warm, diverting energy away from your immune system to do this. Kinda like diverting power from the shields to life support on a spaceship. In addition to this, cold air dries up mucous in your nose, which stops it from filtering out things that can make you sick if they get inside your lungs.
There are some truths; but mostly a lot of bs.
Being cold or being in the cold or winter time does not make you sick. You can spend days out in the cold without an increased risk of being sick
Being cold outside usually means people are spending time inside; being around people inside. This makes germ transmission more likely (and the real culprit of the cold = sick)
Cold air is dry; which can cause changes in the nasal passages and throat. This might make it slightly easier for germs to penetrate the protective membranes…..but not to the degree which people claim
For a long time, it was thought that colder temperatures didn’t actually make you more likely to get sick. Instead, people spent more time in close proximity to each other indoors during the cold season, and thus were more likely to spread disease.
Last year, some research showed your body actually is worse at fighting infections in colder temperatures. Your nose is essentially less effective at filtering germs when it’s cold (https://www.uclahealth.org/news/article/new-study-links-nose-temperature-and-immune-response).
Increased time together indoors is still a contributing factor, but it’s not the whole story.
I have heard of people that claim that if they catch cold air on their belly they would get digestive issues / diarrea.
Because there is catch. Cold by itself does not make you sick, hoever you are **always** covered by bilion of bacterias and viruses. You are under attack every nanosecond of your life and your body relentlessly. Sudden exposure to cold simple open door ( just a bit) for those pesky invaders.
If you would be in perfectly sterile room you wond not became ill after cold exposure.
I have heard of people that claim that if they catch cold air on their belly they would get digestive issues / diarrea.
I always thought of it like thermodynamics. Energy can’t just be created right? When you’re in a cold environment, your body has to burn more energy to maintain appropriate heat levels, this means power is reduced in other areas of the body, making them weaker. I just honestly assumed that there was some sort of correlation and/or causation with your immune system when it comes to this.
I used to work in forestry in Canada. Would be outside all day in winter, often freezing cold. Walked home freezing cold.
Never got sick though.
Became a teacher and got sick all the time in winter.
Cold might have some affect on our immune systems, and cold dry air might make viral transmission mire efficient, but it’s mostly exposure to others inside, particularly children in schools spreading illness around.
Brisbane never gets cold, but has cold and flu seasons, and a similar incidence of these illnesses as colder places.
Brazil similarly never gets cold, but has cold and flu season during the rainy season (when the air is very much not cold and dry), but people are indoors a lot more.
The cold = sick is mostly just correlation, while the causation is everyone being indoors.
Reading responses has been interesting. I work at a preschool, and I’ve always been of the mindset that the cold is not what makes you sick. When parents come to pick up their kid and they are not wearing gloves or their warm jacket they can sometimes get angry and say “oh he is gonna get sick”. Reading the comments and one of the studies menyioned above, it does look like the cold air “opens” the door to infections more easily. However this brings me to my question : since the cold sir is dry and does the thing it does – does it really matter then, if a kid is wearing their warmest of clothes? Since, no matter what you are wearing, you will still breath the same cold, dry air. Or am I missing something?
Why are Americans so gullible? You want scientific data for everything, but you yourself do not observe anything with the naked eye. I live in a country in the Caucasus. Nobody gets the flu here in the summer. There is only one person in a million who gets the flu. But in winter, even the strongest person gets the flu at least twice. This has nothing to do with being in contact with people or not. This is a fact that has been known for thousands of years. winter>cold>flu. Are you really looking for research scientific yield to understand this?
Latest Answers