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Does being out in the cold make you sick?
Answer:
You can get sick from exposure to weather without shelter, but it won't be from an infection, it will be due to tissue damage, frostbite, etc. Colds and flu have long been thought to be caused by being cold and/or wet. This has been proven incorrect by numerous studies.
Being in the hot or cold weather can not put virus particles in your body. Viruses are what gives a cold or flu. Pneumonia is usually caused by a virus or bacteria. Being in the cold does not give you viruses or bacteria. Purely coincidence, unless the cold makes you hypothermic which is not just shivering or feeling cold. Some studies have made a link between hypothermia and having a less effective immune system which would aid in viruses and bacteria making you sick. But hypothermia is entirely different than getting cold.
The truth is, the flu and the common cold are caused by viruses. Newest research indicates that people get sick more often with colds and flu in the winter because the absolute humidity is lower and cold and flu viruses like it dry.
There is probably some factor involved relating to being exposed closely to each other more in the winter than in the summer. When it is cold outside, people tend to stay inside and are more likely to spread germs to one another. Also, because school is in session, kids are around each other all day and are not afraid to share their germs. With so many people in such close contact, the likelihood of passing germs is much higher when it is cold outside than when it is warm and people are outdoors.
Being out in the cold for a long time without proper clothing and shelter can make you sick from injury to your tissues. But you can't catch a common cold from being cold, that is a long held and commonly spoken belief that has been disproven by science experimentation.
No, it is bacteria and/or viruses that cause you to get sick. If you are indoors with poor ventilation you may feel sick, or if your extremities have got very cold you may get frostbite.
Yes, the lowering of a person's body temperature also lowers the immune system which makes a person more vulnerable to catching illnesses. This is has been a known fact through out history. Anytime a person's body is under great stress such as being too cold will have an undesirable effect on the immune system.
How cold are we talking here? Lowering of body temperature is more severe than being outside for 15 minutes without wearing a coat. That's why we shake when we are cold...our body temperature isn't going to lower significantly in a short period of time.
Also: Being in the cold doesn't mean your body temperature is lowered. If you are so cold that your body temperature is lowered, you have worse things to worry about than getting a cold.
According to one study, even mild hypothermia can weaken your immune response. See related link section.
New research has shown both warm and cold people when exposed to a virus had the same chance of getting sick.
If the question were, "Does cold weather cause you to get a cold or the flu?", then the answer would be: no, there is no scientific proof that it does. The studies so far have shown no cause:effect relationship between being wet or cold and having an infection by a common cold or flu virus.
There are connections made by some people through anecdotal evidence, since the viral cold and flu "season" is in the cold time of year. Cold weather isn't the reason more people can be sick with viruses then, though. The cold temperatures and flu/viral illnesses are merely concomitant. Those infections are coincidental to the lower temperatures, not a direct result of cold temperatures on the individual or their immune systems. It is not that the cold temperature will directly influence an increase in infection rates, it is just that they tend to be at the same time of year.
There may be some indirect effect of cold weather keeping us indoors together more closely where we are more likely to spread viruses to each other. Also, the lowered amount of sunshine in the winter allows more viruses to be in the environment because there are fewer sun rays to "kill" them than in other times of year. When someone has a runny nose from a cold and then goes outside, the nose will usually produce more rhinorrhea (runny noses) allowing the spread of more viral infections, especially in children who are not as careful with hand washing and other preventive methods.
However, the question does not limit being "sick" to only infections, so the answer to this particular question is: yes, it can make you sick. Obviously, exposure to extreme weather conditions can make you sick and even kill you. But the cause of the sickness is the injury from exposure, not an infection by a germ.
Just feeling chilly or even getting "goosebumps" or shivering from the cold weather is not hypothermia. When medical studies use that term, it is used to refer to a specific measurement of core body temperature. The term is not used just to mean that someone felt cold.
Hypothermia is not the same as being cold, it is a specific medical diagnosis and :
Yes, you can be sick from exposure to extreme temperatures but it is from injury from the cold temperature, not from getting an infectious disease. To catch a common cold, you need to be exposed to the virus that causes it, it won't matter if you get chilly or go out for a few minutes without a jacket. That is a myth.
No you can not get sick by cold weather.
Cold weather can cause hypothermia and frost bite! Getting cold can weaken the body, worsening existing illnesses and making the body more susceptible to infection.
Being in the hot or cold weather can not put virus particles in your body. Viruses are what gives a cold or flu. Pneumonia is usually caused by a virus or bacteria. Being in the cold does not give you viruses or bacteria. Purely coincidence, unless the cold makes you hypothermic which is not just shivering or feeling cold. Some studies have made a link between hypothermia and having a less effective immune system which would aid in viruses and bacteria making you sick. But hypothermia is entirely different than getting cold.
The truth is, the flu and the common cold are caused by viruses. Newest research indicates that people get sick more often with colds and flu in the winter because the absolute humidity is lower and cold and flu viruses like it dry.
There is probably some factor involved relating to being exposed closely to each other more in the winter than in the summer. When it is cold outside, people tend to stay inside and are more likely to spread germs to one another. Also, because school is in session, kids are around each other all day and are not afraid to share their germs. With so many people in such close contact, the likelihood of passing germs is much higher when it is cold outside than when it is warm and people are outdoors.
Being out in the cold for a long time without proper clothing and shelter can make you sick from injury to your tissues. But you can't catch a common cold from being cold, that is a long held and commonly spoken belief that has been disproven by science experimentation.
No, it is bacteria and/or viruses that cause you to get sick. If you are indoors with poor ventilation you may feel sick, or if your extremities have got very cold you may get frostbite.
Yes, the lowering of a person's body temperature also lowers the immune system which makes a person more vulnerable to catching illnesses. This is has been a known fact through out history. Anytime a person's body is under great stress such as being too cold will have an undesirable effect on the immune system.
How cold are we talking here? Lowering of body temperature is more severe than being outside for 15 minutes without wearing a coat. That's why we shake when we are cold...our body temperature isn't going to lower significantly in a short period of time.
Also: Being in the cold doesn't mean your body temperature is lowered. If you are so cold that your body temperature is lowered, you have worse things to worry about than getting a cold.
According to one study, even mild hypothermia can weaken your immune response. See related link section.
New research has shown both warm and cold people when exposed to a virus had the same chance of getting sick.
If the question were, "Does cold weather cause you to get a cold or the flu?", then the answer would be: no, there is no scientific proof that it does. The studies so far have shown no cause:effect relationship between being wet or cold and having an infection by a common cold or flu virus.
There are connections made by some people through anecdotal evidence, since the viral cold and flu "season" is in the cold time of year. Cold weather isn't the reason more people can be sick with viruses then, though. The cold temperatures and flu/viral illnesses are merely concomitant. Those infections are coincidental to the lower temperatures, not a direct result of cold temperatures on the individual or their immune systems. It is not that the cold temperature will directly influence an increase in infection rates, it is just that they tend to be at the same time of year.
There may be some indirect effect of cold weather keeping us indoors together more closely where we are more likely to spread viruses to each other. Also, the lowered amount of sunshine in the winter allows more viruses to be in the environment because there are fewer sun rays to "kill" them than in other times of year. When someone has a runny nose from a cold and then goes outside, the nose will usually produce more rhinorrhea (runny noses) allowing the spread of more viral infections, especially in children who are not as careful with hand washing and other preventive methods.
However, the question does not limit being "sick" to only infections, so the answer to this particular question is: yes, it can make you sick. Obviously, exposure to extreme weather conditions can make you sick and even kill you. But the cause of the sickness is the injury from exposure, not an infection by a germ.
Just feeling chilly or even getting "goosebumps" or shivering from the cold weather is not hypothermia. When medical studies use that term, it is used to refer to a specific measurement of core body temperature. The term is not used just to mean that someone felt cold.
Hypothermia is not the same as being cold, it is a specific medical diagnosis and :
- It is defined as a core body temperature that is at or below 95 F (35 C). The normal human core body temperature is 98.6 F (37 C).
- Needs to be treated if core body temperature goes below 95 F (35 C).
- Affects motor coordination through impact to the nervous system at core body temperatures of 95 F (35 C).
- Becomes life threatening below core body temperatures of 90 F (32.2 C).
- When the core body temperature drops that low, at the start of a hypothermic condition, symptoms can include intense uncontrollable shaking and shivering, then if your body continues to get colder, the shivering stops when the core temperature gets between 90 F and 86 F.
- It causes heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure to rise during the first stages of hypothermia as your body tries to increase metabolism and warm itself, but these vital signs fall once the core temperature gets 90°F (32.2°C).
- Creates coma at below 86 F.
- Heart rate becomes very irregular below 82 F and death can soon follow.
Yes, you can be sick from exposure to extreme temperatures but it is from injury from the cold temperature, not from getting an infectious disease. To catch a common cold, you need to be exposed to the virus that causes it, it won't matter if you get chilly or go out for a few minutes without a jacket. That is a myth.
No you can not get sick by cold weather.
Cold weather can cause hypothermia and frost bite! Getting cold can weaken the body, worsening existing illnesses and making the body more susceptible to infection.
First answer by GreyRoger.
Last edit by D4est.
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