Can cold weather cause illness?

Can cold weather itself cause illness?

When the temperature drops, it can seem like everyone starts sneezing and coughing. But germs and viruses exist all year round. So why do flu or colds happen more often in winter?

In 2022, scientists discovered evidence that people do indeed contract more respiratory diseases when it's cold. The main reason is that cold air damages the immune response in our noses, creating a favorable situation for germs to spread, Euronews reported 

Researchers in the US found that when the temperature inside the nose drops by 5 degrees Celsius, the nasal walls are weakened. This chilling effect kills off nearly 50% of the billions of good bacteria we need to fight off viruses.

As soon as these virus populations appear in the society, the protective forces of the organism decrease in the cold season of the year, said Mansoor Amiji, a professor at Northeastern University (Boston, USA). Even a 5-degree change, from 37 to 32 degrees Celsius, can lead to a weakening of our defenses against infections. But the presence of the virus can be decisive. A cold is impossible without the presence of a virus in the environment, he added.

This research contradicts the previous ones, according to which colds do not affect our immune system.

But in order to catch a cold, a person has to come into contact with the rhinovirus, and to get the flu, a person has to be infected with it.

So if you wear a hat or don't go outside with wet hair, it will not save you from the disease.

But which way is better?

It turns out that the Covid pandemic made public an important thing that helps fight against microbes.

"One thing we've found, which is something we're already doing in many parts of the world, is wearing a mask," Amiji continues. " Even though COVID-19 has decreased and the concerns are not as significant. But what wearing a mask does is that it keeps your nose warm. And that itself is also protective. This way, you can prevent these particles from entering, but you also keep your nose warm so that your defenses are also much stronger."

And while we wait for the development of nasal drugs that can help maintain the temperature inside the nose, it is worth covering the nose with masks.

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