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getting colds in cold .. myth?
yeah, so all my life i grew up thinking you could get a cold by being cold. but then a few years ago my bio teacher said no, you get colds only from contact with other humans, which is why you seem to get sick more easily in the winter since that's when you're at school and all that. but then my mom firmly believes that it's possible to catch a cold just by getting chilled. soooo wat do u guys think? this is irking me.
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Being cold will not, in itself, give you a cold.
What being cold does, is lower your body temperature. If your body temperature changes too far in either direction, it can impact your immune system.
When that happens, you might catch a cold from someone that you might otherwise have resisted, because your immune system is weaker at that moment.
Thats where the old wives tale comes from. Being cold won't give you anything, but changing your body's environment to something less hospitable can render you more vulnerable to infections and the like. The same way its easier to get sick in a hospital. Most people think its because hospitals are gross, but in actuality hospitals are very clean. Its just that when you are in a hospital, theres usually something wrong with you, and if your body is trying to fix one thing and you expose it to another its going to have a harder time fighting both.
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haha i love the word irk!
um, yea ur right.
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I read an article about this and the definitive answer is:
You catch colds from being in contact with the virus, by people sneezing and not covering their nose or coughing and not covering their mouth. However the cold part comes in too. Cold makes the immune system less effective so that when you come into contact with these viruses you are less able to fight them off. Therefore you get more colds in the winter.
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You must come into contact with the cold virus to get a cold. This can happen anywhere, but is quite often from door knobs, washroom sink handles and other peoples hands. It enters the body mostly through the eyes, nose and to less of a degree then you would think, through the mouth.
Your mom is partly right in a way, cold, among other things, does have a tendency, to diminish your immune system, making you more susceptible to the virus, but the virus still needs to be present.
Several things to help you avoid getting a cold. Get away from the habit of touching your face with your hands, that is where you get infected the vast majority of the time. Never in a public bathroom, turn the water off with your bare hands, after you have washed them, or touch the door knob with your bare hands as you exit.
If your school classrooms require you to open the classroom doors, avoid using your hands to do it. Avoid shaking hands during cold season and do things that boost your immune system, vitamins, orange juice and other juices are a great help.
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No, the cold has nothing to do with the amount of colds you get. Colds can only be caught or passed by passing of germs, which isn't only contact with humans. You can touch a wall and get the germs needed to get a cold. The reason most people get sick in the winter is because majority of people are kept close together in the winter becuase people are geneally inside by eachother when in the summer people can go outside.
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