So everyone here still seems to adhere to that old folk wisdom that being cold will make you sick.
You've all heard it: "Don't go out in the rain without an umbrella, you'll catch a cold." "Put on a jacket, you don't want to catch cold." Part of the reason Germans won't let you walk around their houses without slippers on is that allowing your bare feet to come in contact with the cold floor will certainly mean having your death of pneumonia on their consciences.
Yet I've just never quite been able to buy this. I understand how being cold might make you feel susceptible to bugs and viruseses -- you're shivering and weak, just like you also shiver and feel weak when you have a fever. In addition, if a fever heats you up to fight off bugs, then perhaps it could stand to reason that, conversely, not enough heat means not enough bug-fighting.
But even if we accept that being cold weakens the immune system, don't you still have to come into contact with an infectious disease before you get infected? Can you really just pick up a cold out of nowhere because your socks get wet? I can see how wet socks might correlate with other factors that have historically encouraged sickness, such as poor/unhealthy living conditions, but I can't believe that it's the wet socks themselves which spontaneously generate a virus.
So enter last weekend, when we were in the Erzgebirge to celebrate two of Bert's friends' birthdays. In a fit of sentimentality, everyone decided to engage in an old pasttime: sneaking into the village swimming pool after midnight and skinny dipping under the starlight.
It was actually really fun. The stars were bright and thick that far away from any city, and the night was warm -- but the water was icy cold! So naturally, Alex was just sure that we'd all get sick. "Quatsch!" I retorted. "Temperature does not make you sick. Germs make you sick!"
Well... am I just as clueless as I'm accusing everyone else of being? Yesterday, I started to feel a tickle at the back of my throat; and today I'm pretty sure my body's fighting something off. Is this coincidence? Or was Alex right?
12 comments:
Yes, it's coincidence -- it's a virus! (You know this is one of those myths that drives me nuts, right?) Another factor as to why people seem to get sick more often when it's cold outside is because they stay inside more, sharing confined airspace. Perhaps there are more people on your train than last week because the weather is getting cooler? They wouldn't want to catch cold outside! (roll of the eyes :-)
Half of Chloe and Katie's school came down with a cold this week, despite the quite-comfortable 70+ degree, sunny weather we've been enjoying.... they are all suddenly cooped up in classrooms again, trading bugs! Poor kids.....
I'll get off my soapbox now....
...and poor you! I hope you feel better quickly! Take care, get lots of rest, drink lots of liquids, and forGodssake wear your slippers! :-)
ooh! and that trip to the pool sounds like fun! Hope you had a wonderful weekend!
MMMmmm ... Hanchen Zupe.
Colds and viruses are like mosquitoes....
Things we could do without on this planet. Period!
Oh, well. Glad to hear your feeling better already.
=o)
Warm love & hugs!
Dad forgot to mention other things we could do without, like TV commercials, roaches and uncharitable millionares!
Don't forget bad hair days, artificial sweeteners and mean people.
and bats!
Eeeewww....cockroaches gotta go!
As John put it (quote from somebody else, but I don't remember who), you're not an organism but an ecosystem. Every one of us is full of all sorts of different microorganisms at various states of balance in their numbers. Recently I read an article about how a _lack_ of the bacteria that causes ulcers might be causing serious problems like cancer and obesity as well. It's all about having things in the right proportions. Ever gotten a yeast infection? It's not like you've, um, put yeast there; it's just that the yeast that was already there got out of balance with the other bacteria it's usually in contention with all the time.
But, at any rate, no, you don't necessarily have to be exposed to anything to get sick. I heard of a study done that having your feet be cold for 20 minutes makes you some substantial percentage more likely to catch a cold in the following week. Is it as true in general as the folk wisdom would have you believe? Probably not, but as with superstition, it doesn't have to be right very often to make having that belief more a more survivable trait than not.
And... what's wrong with bats?? They get all vilified, but they're cute, harmless, and eat bugs.
I never minded a few bats before -- even appreciated all the mosquitoes they eat before the mosquitoes eat me.
Unfortunately, thousands (dare I go as far as millions? ...yes, I do...) of bats lived in this barn before we did. When you looked up at the ceiling before renovation it looked like it was covered in black fur -- all of it. They haven't totally gotten the idea that the structure wasn't built 100 years ago just for them and haven't been easy to evict! Every fall when we turn on our heater, turns out somebody's been squatting in the vents, so they get caught and die in there, resulting in a few days of open windows just when we decided we're finally going to cave and turn on the heat. Plus, there are just enough of them acting crazy that we're concerned about rabies.....
Hmmmm... that was probably more of an answer than you wear looking for, but.... I guess I'm pretty tired of bat poop. Guano. whatever....
Wow... okay, you actually have a reason for disliking bats. I assumed you were like the majority of bat-haters who think *squeaky valley-girl voice* "Eew, get them away! They're evil! They're like vampires! They're going to attack! And they're, like, evil!"
Not that I make fun of stereotypes or anything ;-)
republicans
Hahaha! Sarah, your description of the bat travails (pardon me, I'm sure "bat"tling with them is no squeaking, I mean, laughing matter) had me in stitches! Hmm, is Batman looking for a summer home? He might be able to do something with the en-batted part of the barn...
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