Is there more to it than “people aren’t so close together all the time”?
In: Biology
Prevalence of the flu mostly lessens in the warmer months due to a few factors related to people doing things that weaken their immune systems in the winter, not necessarily being in closer quarters with more people (though that doesn’t help, to be sure).
1. The holiday season kicks off with Halloween and then proceeds with higher amounts of junk food and alcohol all the way through New Year’s Day. Junk food and alcohol significantly decrease your immune system’s ability to fight viruses.
2. People exercise less, which also weakens your immune system.
3. People tend to spend little to no time in direct sunlight, which helps your body naturally generate vitamin D. Unless you take supplements, your immune system has less vitamin D with which to work and is thus weaker.
4. Dehydration slows your immune system response, and the air inside tends to be dryer than the outdoors, especially heated air. Thus, drinking more water would lessen your chance of getting the flu.
5. People tend to get stressed during the holidays which weakens your immune system.
6. People tend to get very busy during the holidays, which means they get less sleep and thus have weaker immune system.
There are probably more immune-weakening behaviors that are more common in the winter, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Combination of things more Ultraviolet light which tends to damage flu, warmer weather meaning people aren’t pressed together in close proximity for long periods of time etc.
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I’ve heard the virus doesn’t survive as long in warm weather, my hunch is that other bacteria are more activated by the heat and consume them quicker than when they are cold and sluggish.
I was always told it was a temperature thing. The heat kills off the bacteria/virus, but not the cold. That sorta thing. Could be wrong, though.
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