Aggravating a cold - possible?
November 11, 2011 5:40 PM Subscribe
Can drafts, wetness (shower, cold tiles, etc.) aggravate a cold?
I know that being in the cold will cause not a cold, but once you have it, (scratchy throat, flowing sinus, cough etc.) does it make it worse to catch a draft or wet your hair and go outside, etc.? Should I be trying to stay warm and dry or is that just wasted effort?
I know that being in the cold will cause not a cold, but once you have it, (scratchy throat, flowing sinus, cough etc.) does it make it worse to catch a draft or wet your hair and go outside, etc.? Should I be trying to stay warm and dry or is that just wasted effort?
Best answer: You absolutely should be staying warm and dry.
You're right that being cold will not cause a cold, but once you have one it's a different story. Your body only has so much energy - and when it's using that energy to stay warm, it's going to be that much harder for it to put extra energy to use fighting an infection.
Think of it in terms of calories: it takes x calories to stay warm normally. It takes y calories to warm up when you're cold. So, getting cold will take x+y calories to maintain normal temp. Then, if you're sick and you have to spend extra calories ramping up your immune system, that takes z calories. It's going to be easier on your body to spend x+z calories to stay warm and fight your cold rather than x+y+z to have to warm up and then fight the germs.
That's an extremely simplified explanation that others are welcome to refute at will, but sums up my basic understanding of homeostasis.
posted by sonika at 6:34 PM on November 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
You're right that being cold will not cause a cold, but once you have one it's a different story. Your body only has so much energy - and when it's using that energy to stay warm, it's going to be that much harder for it to put extra energy to use fighting an infection.
Think of it in terms of calories: it takes x calories to stay warm normally. It takes y calories to warm up when you're cold. So, getting cold will take x+y calories to maintain normal temp. Then, if you're sick and you have to spend extra calories ramping up your immune system, that takes z calories. It's going to be easier on your body to spend x+z calories to stay warm and fight your cold rather than x+y+z to have to warm up and then fight the germs.
That's an extremely simplified explanation that others are welcome to refute at will, but sums up my basic understanding of homeostasis.
posted by sonika at 6:34 PM on November 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
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posted by rtha at 5:54 PM on November 11, 2011 [2 favorites]