Can the Cold Give You a Cold? There are many myths about the connection between weather and colds.

[rangerrebew]

Can the Cold Give You a Cold?
There are many myths about the connection between weather and colds.
By Linda Melone
Medically Reviewed by Pat F. Bass III, MD, MPH
 

Mom may have warned that you would catch a cold from going outside in chilly weather with a wet head or without a jacket, but experts say it's a myth.

"Bad weather does not cause colds," says Carl Olden, MD, a family practitioner in Yakima, Wash., who explains that Alaskans and Canadians living year-round above the Arctic Circle have no more winter colds than folks who live in Australia.

https://www.everydayhealth.com/cold-and-flu/colds-and-the-weather.aspx

[aligncare]

Duh.

But, still I hear people say getting chilled could give you a cold (some even say, pneumonia!).

The only way to catch a cold or flu is for your mucous membranes to come in contact with strains of the Rhinovirus or influenza virus when your immune system is sufficiently weakened or compromised and their are many causes of that (but not cold weather).

[Restored]

As a matter of fact, the dry air outside in the winter is less conducive to spreading disease.

[WingNot]

As a matter of fact, the dry air outside in the winter is less conducive to spreading disease.

Yep.  Its like Arizona in the summer time.  It's a dry cold.

[Neverdul]

As a matter of fact, the dry air outside in the winter is less conducive to spreading disease.

Yes, outside, but more people are inside during the winter months where it is cold.  That and dusty and or moldy heating ducts can exasperate asthma and other conditions and cause bronchitis and wintertime allergies which I understand may make one more susceptible to catching a virus.

But I do think that perhaps another reason people get sick as the weather turns cold it that the period right before Thanksgiving and up until New Years, people are busy, sometimes stretched too thin in getting ready for Christmas and the lack of sleep, schlepping in and out of stores, some folks very busy at work this time of year or working an extra seasonal job, their immune system suffers.

I spent Christmas Day at my niece’s house and she and her husband were by then completely exhausted. Their kids were happy though. 

[Restored]

My experience is that people wish bad things on themselves in the cold months. They get themselves depressed around Christmas. They hang around the house more.

For instance, my sister was depressed at Christmas because our parents died. My dad died 27 years ago. Mom died 5 years ago. Our remaining family is only 10 miles from her house but she refused to go see them because she was sad because she has no family left. Geez.
Get out of the house. Go. Go for a walk. Make cookies for someone. Take someone out for coffee. Go to church.

[the_doc]

@Suppressed
@Mom MD

Can the Cold Give You a Cold?
There are many myths about the connection between weather and colds.
By Linda Melone
Medically Reviewed by Pat F. Bass III, MD, MPH
 

Mom may have warned that you would catch a cold from going outside in chilly weather with a wet head or without a jacket, but experts say it's a myth.

"Bad weather does not cause colds," says Carl Olden, MD, a family practitioner in Yakima, Wash., who explains that Alaskans and Canadians living year-round above the Arctic Circle have no more winter colds than folks who live in Australia.

https://www.everydayhealth.com/cold-and-flu/colds-and-the-weather.aspx

Stupid article.  The comments about the incidence of colds above the Arctic Circle is irrelevant to the grandiose claim of the article.  Eskimos will have different experiences than folks in Southern California.  The demographic differences are geographic and ethnic and hence likely immunological. 

The correlation of colds with cold has been observed in temperate climes for hundreds of years.  (Beware of researchers who love to publish cute ironies, love to "bust myths."  Some myths are not myths.  Many scientific studies reach false conclusions.)       

[Applewood]

I don't know about the cold weather, but I have found that when the weather goes from mild to cold, I am more likely to catch something.  For example, end of November, I spent a few days in Florida where it was warm.  Came home about the time our weather here got cold.  I was sick as a dog.  Maybe the abrupt change in temperature affects my immune system?  I don't know.

[Sanguine]

I don't know about the cold weather, but I have found that when the weather goes from mild to cold, I am more likely to catch something.  For example, end of November, I spent a few days in Florida where it was warm.  Came home about the time our weather here got cold.  I was sick as a dog.  Maybe the abrupt change in temperature affects my immune system?  I don't know.

That's it.  If an event causes your immune system to drop, you can catch whatever is floating around out there much more easily.  Does cold do that?  I suppose it could.