Perhaps you grew up with your mom telling you to bundle yourself up properly or to avoid going out when the temperatures drop to avoid developing a cold. Until now you're still wondering if there's any truth to the cold-cold relationship.
Well, according to a new research, there is-and that means your mom is right, as she's always been.
For quite some time, the supposed connection between a cold temperature or weather and colds is real. The problem is there's not much proof available. Thus, it's been considered as one of the many old wives' tales.
But based on a new study conducted by scientists from Yale University, cold temperatures can not only make you more susceptible to a cold, but make it so the virus enters the body almost undetected. In other words, because your immune system cannot immediately catch it, the chances of developing a full-blown cold during a colder weather are much higher.
How can cold weather promote colds? First you have to go back to a study more than 40 years ago. During the 1960s, scientists had already determined that the rhinovirus, the virus that causes colds, tend to multiply a lot faster when the body temperature was around 33 degrees Celsius. The normal body temperature is 37 degrees Celsius.
From this results, the scientists worked on mice and try to check if there's any change to the immune system when the temperature dips colder to 33 degrees Celsius.
It turns out that the chilly weather changes the way the immune system works. For example, interferon, which is the protein responsible for fighting the virus, is less active, when checked on the nasal passages of the mice. Moreover, since the cold weather also prevents the virus-detecting molecules from functioning properly, the body doesn't produce enough interferon.
The scientists mentioned that the beginning of the cold still remains exposure to the virus. However, if you are exposed to it during colder days, it may be difficult to prevent it from getting into your system.
