Some Untruth About The Common Cold

Every year I hear the same thing.  “Don’t go outside without your coat, you’ll catch cold”.  Truth is, I may very well catch cold…but it won’t be from being outside without a coat. Well, not directly anyway. 

Simply going out without your coat will not cause you to come in to contact with germs while you are outside.  What mom meant when she would tell you this, is our immune system actually weakens when we are colder, which is why we catch colds.  We catch the most common of colds, “rhinovirus”, when our noses are cold which typically happens when?  That’s right…when we are outside without a coat.  Hmmm…mom always did know best, right?  Although, she may not have had the science part of it down, she’ll always chalk it up to a mother’s intuition.

But it is not always as simple as cold noses.  There are certain cells that generate the chemicals that help detect and fight infection and when your nose is cold, these chemicals don’t work as effectively as we would hope.

There are other variables that contribute to the spreading of the common cold.  Consider this…when it is cold outside, we tend to spend more time indoors, right?  Indoors we are typically closer to other humans, who are more likely to being carrying a virus.  Aha, see where I’m going here?  Now we are all sick, thanks to somebody.

Ultimately the common cold is still spread only by person to person.  You won’t catch it by being outside in the cold.

Have a thought on this?  I’d love to hear your feedback on Facebook.  Happy winter everyone!