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Rant: I argued with my friend for years that you can't get a cold from being cold.
He kept saying his mom in Chicago always warned him about wet hair in winter, but I thought it was just an old wives' tale. Then I read a study from Yale University that showed cold temperatures can weaken your nose's immune response, making you more likely to catch a rhinovirus. Has anyone else seen solid proof for or against this?
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graygonzalez1mo ago
Read that Yale study too. It makes sense that being cold stresses your body. So your friend's mom was kinda right.
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jamesf261mo ago
Exactly, the stress response is a big part of it. Your body has to work harder just to keep its core temperature up. That extra load can mess with your immune system, making you more open to catching whatever's going around. It's not just an old wives' tale, there's real science behind bundling up. Makes you wonder what other common sense advice from parents actually has a solid biological basis.
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parkerp801mo ago
Yeah and it's not just the immune system. That stress from being cold can mess with your sleep quality big time. If you're shivering all night or your body is fighting to stay warm, you don't get into that deep restful sleep. And we all know being tired and run down is like rolling out the welcome mat for every virus going around the office. So the cold might not give you the bug directly, but it sets up the perfect conditions for it to take hold.
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