Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hi brain Stuff.
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Vogelbomb, and today's episode is a classic from
Speaker 1: the vault. This one is timely here in our headquarters
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, anyway, because the temperature has been bouncing from
Speaker 1: near freezing to downright summary, and certainly we have a
Speaker 1: few colds going around. But is it the actual changes
Speaker 1: in temperature that make people sick? Hey, brain Stuff, Lauren
Speaker 1: vogel Bomb. Here, raise your hand. If a parent, grandparent,
Speaker 1: or an older, wiser caretaker of any kind has scolded
Speaker 1: you for not bundling up when the temperatures drop, if
Speaker 1: you are waving your arm frantically, you're far from alone.
Speaker 1: Across cultures and geographical boundaries, there seems to be a
Speaker 1: long held, pervasive belief that sudden meteorological changes automatically trigger
Speaker 1: colds and flus. But does the theory really pan out? Well,
Speaker 1: yes and no. According to health experts, weather driven sickness
Speaker 1: is a thing, but the temperature itself is more of
Speaker 1: an indirect cause of the resulting illness. In other words,
Speaker 1: it's not the cold itself that makes you sick, but
Speaker 1: the environmental factors related to it. A two thousand and
Speaker 1: two meta analysis found that exposing your skin to chili
Speaker 1: temperatures doesn't automatically make you more susceptible to the common cold.
Speaker 1: What does likely set you up for sickness is the
Speaker 1: drop in humidity. Associated with that sudden drop in temperature,
Speaker 1: the mucous membranes in your eyes, nose, and lungs all
Speaker 1: dry out. Those mucous membranes are your first gooiest line
Speaker 1: of defense against bacteria and viruses, so losing the goo
Speaker 1: makes you more susceptible to sickness, and because viruses are
Speaker 1: more likely to survive and replicate in cold than in heat,
Speaker 1: you're more likely to get sick when the weather turns frigid.
Speaker 1: In a twenty ten study, Columbia Universities Jeffrey Shaman and
Speaker 1: his colleagues compared thirty years worth of climate records to
Speaker 1: health records. They determined that flu epidemics almost always followed
Speaker 1: a drop in air humidity. Their evidence reviewed in a
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen study and replicate it again in a two
Speaker 1: thousand and nine analysis of the swine flu pandemic. The
Speaker 1: research paints a pretty compelling picture of why and how
Speaker 1: dry air fosters this kind of cold and flu free
Speaker 1: for all. When there's moisture in the air, the particles
Speaker 1: we release from our noses and mouths when we cough
Speaker 1: and sneeze stay large, but in dry air they break
Speaker 1: into tiny pieces that can stay suspended in the environment
Speaker 1: for hours or even days, creating a virus filled cloud
Speaker 1: for us to inhale. Furthermore, when it starts getting cold
Speaker 1: or more likely to stay indoors for more of the time,
Speaker 1: exposing ourselves to that virus soup. One easy trick to
Speaker 1: lowering your risk for illness during the colder months is
Speaker 1: to run an air humidifier. A twenty thirteen study found
Speaker 1: that doing so for just an hour a day could
Speaker 1: kill thirty percent of the airborne viruses in schools. But
Speaker 1: like everything else in life, balance appears to be key,
Speaker 1: since some pathogens like mold actually thrive in human environments,
Speaker 1: and of course, relying on good old standbys like vaccines
Speaker 1: and hand washing is always a good idea to reduce
Speaker 1: your risk, whether you bundle up in cold weather or not.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article can the change
Speaker 1: in temperature really make you sick? On HowStuffWorks dot Com,
Speaker 1: written by Michelle constantinofsky. Brainstuff is a production of iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: in partnership with hostuffworks dot Com and is produced by
Speaker 1: Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from iHeartRadio. Visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.