Winter Myths

As winter is now upon us, I thought it would be appropriate of me to reveal the truth about some myths that surround the season and the cold weather it brings with it.

So, what is a cold, and how do you get one?
The common cold; the annoying illness we know all too well. Despite the old wives' tale you surely would have heard of, you don't catch colds, or become more susceptible to them, by standing out in the rain, sitting in the wind with wet hair, or cold weather. The runny noses and other unpleasant symptoms are all caused by a virus. These viruses are contagious, and are generally passed on from person to person by the touching of the same objects. Keyboards, door-handles, telephones; if someone with a cold has touched touched their nose, or coughed or sneezed into their hands and then touched an object such as this, if you come along and come in to contact with it later, the virus will have been passed on.

Then why do we get more colds in winter?
The reason behind the epidemic of colds in winter is not directly related to the weather. In the chilly season we tend to stay inside more, and therefore closer to virus-ridden people and objects. Also, if it is raining, gusty, or snowing, we close the windows, keeping the viruses in the room. Think about it, if a cold, wet climate caused colds, wouldn't Eskimos and people living in the Antarctic suffer severely? In truth, though, they don't, because those regions are pretty much germ free.

Why, then, hasn't anyone invented a cure for the common cold?
As I previously mentioned, the common cold is a viral infection. These infections can be caused by up to 200 different types of viruses. After a virus has infected your body's cells, your body will produce antibodies which fight the virus. For many years after catching the virus, your body will continue to produce these antibodies, and prevent you from catching that virus again. As you may have concluded, even though your immune system has antibodies to fight numerous different cold viruses, you will still continue to catch them because of the large amount of them that there are. Antibiotics would in fact be harmful if used to fight the common cold. This is because viruses enter and multiply within the bodies own cells, and so any antibiotic would have to kill the body's cells to effectively kill the virus.

You can avoid catching these viruses by washing your hands regularly and getting outdoors as much you can during the winter months.

Why on Earth do we sneeze? And How?
A sneeze occurs when we feel a tickle behind the nostril and a nerve sends a message to the brain. The body sneezes to clear the breathing passages, and get rid of potential irritants.
To sneeze, the abdomen, chest, diaphragm, throat, vocal chords, and eye lids all have to work together. To get rid of the irritants such as dust, pollen, or pepper, our chest muscles have to contract with enough force to squeeze air up from the lungs and out through the nose. Said air can reach speeds of up to 160km/ph.

Rhinorrhea is the medical term for a running nose.
But why? You ask. Well, it comes from the Greek words, 'rhinos', meaning 'of the nose', and 'rhoia', meaning 'a flowing'.
[MedicineNet.com]

The answers to all these nagging questions and more are within the bright pink covers of Francesca Gould's book, Why is Yawning Contagious?