“Don’t go barefoot outside in the cold, you’ll get sick!”
I heard this statement countless times growing up. No doubt many children have heard their mothers harping on the dangers of going outdoors without a jacket, leaving your hair wet in the winter, or, in my case, going barefoot when the temperature dips dangerously to below 60 degrees. But is there any truth in these old wives’ (or mothers’) tales? Like so many medical-related proverbs, it turns out that there is some truth in the old superstitions.
To begin, no, cold weather does not cause someone to catch a cold. The common cold is caused by the rhinovirus. Medical science has proven countless times that the reason there is a spike in the number of people with cold-like symptoms in the winter is because we are indoors more often during the cold weather. When we are indoors more often, we encount
er more people. The greater the number of people we come into contact with, the higher the likelihood that one of them is carrying the rhinovirus.
Consider that research has shown that roughly one in five people are carriers for the rhinovirus during the winter months. Thus, cold weather does play a role in getting us indoors, however, it doesn’t necessarily cause us to become sick. Or does it?
Interestingly enough, researchers have found another link between the winter months and getting sick. When the rhinovirus was cultured by scientists in the 1960’s, they discove
red that the virus replicated more efficiently when temperatures were lower. That means that the common cold is able to thrive in the chilly months of the year. More than that, our nasal passages also are affected by the cold weather. Normally, our mucus (snot) does a great job of trapping foreign particles, bacteria, and viruses. However, in cold weather, our noses tend to dry up leaving us more exposed to sickness.
Okay, cold weather does lead to more cases of the common cold, but mom was wrong about cold weather causing it, right? Not so fast. It turns out that our cells launch a more robust defense against the rhinovirus whenever they are at normal core temperatures (98.6 degrees). When our core temperature is lowered to 91 degrees, our bodies’ response is far less powerful. That means that our body cannot effectively fight a cold when we allow ourselves to become cold. When we look at all the evidence, cold weather most definitely plays a role in catching a cold and how long it takes our body to defeat it.
There is no cure for the common cold. We just have to suffer through the symptoms such as coughing, congestion, and a runny nose (the prefix “rhin-” actually means nose in Greek, making the rhinovirus translate aptly to “nose-virus”) The good news is that most of us have no problem managing the signs and symptoms; they become an annoyance rather than a matter of life or death.
Speaking of annoyances, it looks like mom was right on this one, just don’t tell her I admitted that.
Stay safe out there.
M. Eric Williams, MS, NR-P is a Mississippi native and the Assistant Director of Emergency Medical Technology Education at Jones County Junior College. He is a current Doctoral researcher at Delta State University and has 15 years’ experience in healthcare. If you have questions or comments, you may contact him at eric.williams@jcjc.edu.
