“Honey don’t forget your jacket, it’s cold outside” is a line that we have all heard from our parents many times. And how about this, “Don’t go outside with wet hair and wear a hat in the winter sweetie!” are still lines that we have all heard plenty of times. However, does cold weather actually make you sick? There has been many misconceptions based on the answer to this very common question. However, scientists may finally be able to verify the widely-held suspicion that cold weather can in fact, make you sick.
In an article proclaiming about scientists potential new find, “Yale University announced their discovery that lower temperatures weaken the nose’s first line of immune defenses.” An experimental study that was conducted by researchers started off with the modification of a strain of rhinovirus, and testing it on mice. Rhinoviruses are the most common viral infectious agents in humans and are the leading cause of the common cold. After giving the mice this modified strand, scientists recorded how the mice fought off the disease when there were changes in temperature. They concluded that, cooler temperatures meant a more lethargic immune response and a greater sensitivity to incoming infection. As a result this study proves the fact that cold weather affects our defenses against rhinovirus infection.
The question posed has been of curiosity for 50+ years. In the 1960s, researchers first noticed a rapid multiplication in the rhinoviruses if it was incubated a few degrees below body temperature. This finding was beneficial to scientists because, rhinoviruses often infect the lining of the nostrils, which are cooled by incoming air.
There are many misconceptions on what actually causes colds within humans. Examples are, catching a cold because of low immunity, the prevention of colds by Vitamin C and Zinc, Antibiotics curing colds, getting sick from a flu shot, and participating in home cough remedies. However, our personal favorite, does dry or cold air cause colds?, is also covered. In terms of dry air, people believe that the hot dry air can potentially dry up the mucus in your nasal passages. This is not true and it does not matter what the weather is! Humidity is the only weather condition that could be beneficial, this is because the moist air can help ease congestion and coughing. Cold weather is next, and this reputable source also states that cold weather does not cause colds. There is no correlation between cold weather and viruses. The source states that there is a better chance of getting sick from being in close and hot quarters, and opposed to cold temperatures. It is what we as humans do when it gets cold out, we run indoors to places that contain recycled air with those who all are sick with different virsues. Viruses spread very easily when directly exposed to someone else that is sick. The tendency of blaming colds and viruses on cold weather is ultimately a myth!
Just to be sure, more experimental studies were performed to prove the findings. For example, The New England Journal of Medicine conducted a study based on Exposure to Cold Environment and the Rhinovirus Common Cold – Failure to Demonstrate Effect. The study was conducted on inmates selected from federal correctional institutions or the Texas State Department of Corrections. The subjects in this study were exposed to a cold at each stage of the infection process, therefore this experiment was not a single blind, nor was it a double blind trial. The article explains these time periods as during, “inoculation and incubation, illness and recovery. The results indicate that exposure to cold by methods similar to natural exposure to low temperatures did not increase the frequency or severity of illness from infection with the strain of rhinovirus Type 15 used in this study.” As you can see, this is another study that proves the often wronged opinion that cold weather causes colds.
So next time you’re mom yells at you for not wearing a coat in the winter, you can answer her with “there were copious studies on this mom, I won’t get sick Mom its the confounding variables that will make me sick!”
I find this topic to be very interesting mostly because of the predicament that I am currently in. Last week I got diagnosed with pneumonia. The doctor told me that this was because of the coldness that I have been currently experiencing, from water and weather late at night. He told me that it caused my immune system to weaken and from there is when I became infected and the pneumonia took off. When I looked this up, I stumbled across this from Web Md, http://www.webmd.com/lung/bacterial-pneumonia?print=true . It states that I can not contract pneumonia from the cold. So the doctor was correct in saying the cold did not cause it, but rather it played a role in me obtaining it.
I was always conflicted on this topic. My grandmother would share her opinion about how a jacket is critical in all temperatures to void getting sick while my dad would argue that getting sick in the cold is just a wise tale and bacteria does not mass reproduce in cold weather. I am glad you decided to blog about this topic and included valid mechanisms. You also included several reliable sources that supported your claim on whether or not cold temperatures can induce colds. I notice when I walk into a warm building after being outside in the cold, my nose runs. I would be interested to find out if this was the body’s response to fight off colds. Overall, nicely done.
It’s not the cold that is going to make a person sick, but the confounding variables associated with cold weather that makes you sick. Being out in the cold can cut off your blood flow decreases the number of white blood cells which would reduce your immunity to certain viruses and make you sick, hence many more people are sick in the winter.