Every time I would leave the house in the winter, my dad would automatically give me the “Wear a jacket, you can’t don’t want to get sick.” As I got older I started to question it. Can being cold actually get you sick? That can’t possibly make sense. How could being in a colder temperature make you sick? But more people are sick when its cold out, so temperature must have some influence on catching a sickness.
According to HealthLine.com, colds and flu viruses peak in the wintertime. However this isn’t because of the cold weather is giving you these sicknesses. What the cold does do is it makes people more susceptible to contracting them. In a 2015 Yale experimental study cells were taken from the airways of mice. Then the immune responses of the cells after being in contact with the rhinovirus, the leading cause of the common cold, were tested when the cells were at two different temperatures. The control group for the test were the cells incubated at core body temperature, 37 degrees celsius. The experimental group’s cells were kept at 33 degrees celsius. Dr. Iwasaki, an investigator in the study states, “We found that the innate immune response to the rhinovirus is impaired at the lower body temperature compared to the core body temperature.” The cells kept at 33 degrees had a harder time detecting and reacting to the virus as opposed to the cells in the control group. What can be taken from this is that the cold weather has an impact on the immune system’s ability to fight off a cold. While unlikely, since the study was conducted using mouse cells, the results could differ in humans. Regardless, still no evidence that it is the cold weather itself giving you the sickness. However, it does open discussion for a third variable that the cold weather causes the influenza virus to thrive.
Cells infected by the rhinovirus. (Spherical, bumpy)
The next study was an observational study performed by Jeffrey Shaman and Melvin Kohn. This was a study to find out what environmental factors have the biggest impact on getting sick. Through the study he tested how the transmission rate of influenza differed with different factors that change seasonally. These factors were relative humidity (RH), absolute humidity (AH), and vapor pressure (VP). Through the study they found a simple negative linear relationship between the transmission of the virus and vapor pressure. They then went further to test what it is about low vapor pressure that causes the virus to thrive. It turns out the virus has a higher survivability rate when matched with low vapor pressure. Vapor pressure is lowest, both indoors and outdoors, in the winter. This is more evidence supporting the third variable: influenza thrives in the cold weather.
Picture the winter; its cold out, probably snowy, if its snowy the streets might be bad and theres not as much to do as the other seasons. Chances aren’t at your house, you will probably be at work or school. The point is, in the winter people tend to stay indoors. When indoors, people tend to be in closer contact with one another. This makes it easier for the virus to spread from person to person. According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, the most common transmission of the influenza virus is from person to person. Thus, being indoors in close quarters with someone who harbors the virus will leave you susceptible to its favorite method of transmission. Again, another key point supporting the third variable mentioned previously.
Person to person is the cold’s favorite method of transmission. Cover up!
To come to a conclusion: the cold weather and things that come with it can have an influence on getting you sick, but colder weather itself does not make you sick directly. There is an underlying third variable in the equation that came up throughout the research: the cold weather is when the influenza virus thrives. It makes it less likely that our bodies will fight off the virus, easier for the virus to survive, and makes it more easily transmitted. Some useful things that can be taken from this? When its cold out you should increase your Vitamin C input to help your immune system fight off the sicknesses, keep your nose warm, cover up when you cough or sneeze, and if you’re sick, try to stay away from others.
This blog post was interesting. Being a swimmer all throughout high school, l spent a lot of time in the cold, and being wet. My mom would always make me take a hat to wear, but I told her it wasn’t possible to get sick from having a wet head: http://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/cold-flu/wet-head-cold.htm. And it isn’t. I thought it was also interesting that you note the confounding variable and that while the cold doesn’t induce sickness, but it forces people to stay inside, therefore making them more likely to catch a cold. I think this can be easily applied to life on campus living in a dorm. It’s super close quarters, plus everyone on my floor is sharing the same bathroom, a place for germs to easily spread. Also, the whole building shares the elevators and is pressing buttons. I guess dorms are breeding grounds the the PSU Plague, especially because most people in dorms have never lived in such close quarters with so many people.
Ewwww! That second picture was just gross. It’s true whenever it’s cold out my parents still tell me to put a coat on. It’s interesting to think that is such a highly misconceived correlation. It makes sense cold weather would curtail your immune system. It just really grosses me out thinking about how many more germs there are inside as we are in close quarters with each other all winter, especially in the dorms. I absolutely hate it when I sit in class, and the person behind me can’t stop sneezing. It would seem that cold and sickness correlate; the possible third variables are most likely cold weather because it hurts your immune system and the idea that people are more likely to be indoors.
When I was growing up, my mom would always tell me to put on a coat when I left or I would get sick. I think that this is a perfect example of correlation not equaling causation and confounding variables. There seems to be no direct link between the colder weather and catching a cold. However, third variables do influence why a majority of people get sick during the wintertime. I thought that it was really interesting how particular researchers looked at humidity and vapor pressure in order to determine the spread of influenza. While wearing a jacket will not prevent you from getting sick, it wouldn’t hurt!