Does chilly climate make you sick? Specialists debunk winter well being myths
It has possible occurred to you or somebody you recognize.
You head to the toilet to take a bathe and right here comes a member of the family – normally involved moms – with a stern warning about showers, chilly climate and the way the 2 simply don’t combine.
“You already know, you shouldn’t bathe after which depart the home,” they are saying. “You’ll get sick.”
And there’s extra the place that got here from within the realm of chilly climate myths. There are additionally beliefs similar to “You don’t want to remain hydrated in chilly climate” and “Consuming alcohol will preserve you heat.”
Dr. Jeffrey Linder is professor, a main care doctor at Northwestern Drugs and chief of the Division of Basic Inside Drugs at Northwestern College. He stated the rationale for therefore many chilly climate myths could also be as a result of components similar to proximity.
“We’re extra inclined to bugs just like the flu due to low humidity and we’re all collectively inside extra,” he stated. “This stuff are related so when it will get chilly, we do get sick extra usually but it surely’s really in a roundabout way the chilly itself. It’s type of an oblique reason for us getting sick extra.”
We wished to seek out out the reality about chilly climate myths, so we talked to Linder, in addition to Dr. Terry Chiganos, an emergency medication doctor at Advocate Lutheran Basic Hospital in Illinois. We additionally ran a few of these beliefs by Dr. Robert Lichfield, a household apply specialist at Windfall Well being & Companies in Spokane, Washington.
Maintain studying to seek out out what specialists needed to say about 12 chilly climate myths which have circulated all through houses, households and buddy teams for years.
Fable #1: Wetting your hair or showering earlier than leaving the home may cause you to turn into sick
Lichfield: “The brief reply is not any. The precise temperature within the air really does not make us kind of more likely to get sick straight. What tends to occur is we usually tend to be inside through the winter months when it is chilly and we’re subsequently extra more likely to contract viral diseases from the opposite of us which might be round us. It simply so occurs to be chilly outdoors and one other piece of the correlation too is that we have even adopted the phrase “a chilly” to explain the expertise that we find yourself having once we get sick. I feel in individuals’s minds, it is virtually irresistible. It is chilly outdoors and now I’ve received a chilly. The temperature itself doesn’t make us extra more likely to get sick, however we usually tend to be sick within the winter as a result of we’re inside collectively extra.”
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Fable #2: Swimming through the winter will make you extra more likely to catch a chilly
Lichfield: “That can also be a fable. In truth, you can argue that any good, wholesome, secure bodily exercise really makes us much less more likely to get sick as a result of it really stimulates our immune system. Our our bodies have been made to maneuver and the extra we transfer, usually typically, the extra wholesome we’re. If we’re in tight quarters, like in a locker room or with different individuals, then that is how we generally might get sick or get a chilly.”
Fable #3: Swimming through the winter might make you extra in danger for an ear an infection
Chiganos: “Swimming typically or another water publicity is a identified danger issue for exterior (outer) ear infections often known as swimmer’s ear, however that danger shouldn’t be elevated within the winter. That danger is similar whether or not you are swimming within the winter or swimming in the summertime. Chilly publicity or swimming should not enhance the chance of a bacterial center ear an infection. “
Fable #4: Dressing in layers will assist you to keep heat
Linder: “I really bike to work year-round in Chicago. Layers, significantly one thing that is insulating and might entice heat air close to your physique that is a pleasant heat material or wool, is sweet. An outer layer that is windproof and waterproof will assist you to preserve heat.”
Fable #5: Consuming alcohol will preserve you heat
Lichfield: “Alcohol dulls a few of our sensations and really could be fairly harmful within the wintertime. If we get an excessive amount of to drink, it dulls our notion of chilly and of ache. If we’re outdoors within the chilly and our physique temperature is dropping an excessive amount of, our central nervous system will try to inform us ‘Hey, it’s too chilly. It is advisable to placed on a coat or you want to get inside.’” The alcohol dulls these sensations so we might find yourself staying out too lengthy and we will get right into a harmful scenario for hypothermia.
Fable #6: You don’t want sunscreen within the winter
Chiganos: “Sunscreen is all the time a should, whatever the season. In truth, UV publicity could be elevated or intensified by reflection off snow and ice, so skiers and hikers have to take additional precaution as a result of each the altitude and the dry mountain air can enhance UV ranges. The physique tends to supply extra melatonin in the summertime, which is UV protecting much less within the winter.”
Fable #7: You lose 90% p.c of your physique’s warmth by means of your head
Lichfield: “That is false. Our heads do have a very, actually wealthy blood provide, so numerous warmth is transferring by means of our mind and our scalp and the muscle tissues round our scalp. On high of that, our head has far more nerve endings than among the different elements of our physique. The chilly publicity, we really feel it instantly. The truth of warmth loss is our physique loses warmth roughly equally all through most of its floor space. The quantity is definitely extra like 10%. We lose about 10% of our warmth by means of our head and that is really simply because our head is roughly 10% of our floor space.”
Fable #8: For those who fall by means of ice and into water, you’ll die of hypothermia instantly
Chiganos: “You will not die of hypothermia instantly however the shock of the chilly water may cause a panic response and the urge to reflexively inhale whereas underwater, which might result in drowning. For those who can forestall that, then over the subsequent a number of minutes, you possibly can have lack of muscle management, which could be a problem when it comes to making an attempt to remain afloat. Hypothermia itself will set in over the course of minutes – half an hour or so. It will not be hypothermia that will get you instantly. It might be drowning from inhaling water, however clearly, should you keep within the water for a chronic time period, hypothermia will set in. It is all the time greatest to attempt to keep as a lot of your physique outdoors of the water. In case you have a flotation system, keep on high of that after which after all work to get your self out of the water.”
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Fable #9: For those who’re stranded and thirsty, you must eat snow
Lichfield: “That is solely true in a pair conditions. It’s greatest to keep away from consuming snow, if attainable. The danger of consuming the snow is that it’s going to in a short time decrease your core physique temperature. It is not essentially snug however you possibly can go with out water for a number of days and normally do OK so far as surviving. However as an instance somebody was misplaced or caught out within the chilly climate and so they simply did not occur to be near any supply of water, they did not carry any water with them, in that scenario, their largest enemy goes to be the chilly. Their most beneficial useful resource is the warmth that is already of their physique and by consuming the snow, you are type of squandering that valuable useful resource of the warmth by making an attempt to soften the snow. The water itself in that second will not be almost as helpful to you as the warmth.”
Fable #10: It is not essential to remain hydrated in chilly climate
Linder: “Undoubtedly not true. You possibly can very a lot get dehydrated in chilly climate. In truth, as a result of the air is normally so dry when it is chilly, it’s important to watch out to not get dehydrated when it is chilly out. For those who’re doing stuff that is over an hour, you are in all probability going to be sweating and/or respiration off sufficient fluid that you simply do must be excited about ingesting fluid and holding your self hydrated.”
Fable #11: Exercising in chilly climate is harmful
Lichfield: “It is not harmful apart from the ice. The one factor that’s uniquely harmful about exercising within the chilly climate is icy surfaces. Falls are terribly harmful. Operating or biking on icy roads is certainly harmful. I usually encourage of us to not bike on icy roads. If they will stroll or run, it is best to have some type of traction coated like Yaktrax or one thing on their trainers. There’s fairly a couple of corporations who manufacture and market shoe covers which have traction cleats on them.”
Fable #12: Chilly climate means extra migraines
Chiganos: “Migraines could be triggered by a bunch of environmental components similar to altering barometric stress (air stress), humidity, main, abrupt climate modifications (one thing that is inflicting the temperature to drop all of a sudden or rise all of a sudden). Everyone seems to be totally different and I feel it is necessary that you simply acknowledge and be taught what your migraine triggers could also be to keep away from them.”
Remaining ideas from well being specialists on chilly climate and tips on how to shield your self
Along with chilly climate myths which have made their rounds in communities everywhere in the nation, there are additionally some neglected well being points that contain chilly climate.
Most individuals don’t notice there’s a significantly excessive danger for coronary heart assaults when they’re shoveling snow, stated Lichfield, the household apply specialist from Washington.
“Plenty of actually wholesome, robust males have died having coronary heart assaults whereas they’re shoveling snow,” Lichfield informed USA TODAY. “There’s numerous theories … one is that oftentimes, once we exit to shovel snow we do not heat up in any respect. We take our coronary heart from the bottom resting coronary heart price to actually excessive actually shortly.”
The dearth of a transition from a resting coronary heart price to a excessive one creates a pressure on the physique. Medical doctors additionally suppose the guts assaults could also be as a result of arm actions snow shoveling requires, he stated.
“You are type of mobilizing your coronary heart and your torso a bit otherwise once we’re shoveling snow versus once I’m strolling or operating or doing another sort of train,” he stated.
Chiganos, the emergency medication doctor in Illinois, stated frostbite is usually underdiagnosed or dismissed as properly. He confused that it’s necessary to know the indicators of frostbite or frostnip, the much less extreme model.
Indicators embody lack of sensation and ache, Chiganos stated.
“Take away any moist clothes and begin to heat the efficient tissues as greatest you possibly can,” he stated. “It is necessary that you do not stroll on frostbitten ft. Do not rub or therapeutic massage frostbitten areas … Come into the ER as quickly as attainable in order that we will check out the realm.”
