Cold Weather is Good For Your Immune System
Being outdoors can actually prevent you from getting sick.
“Are you wearing a hat? Make sure to cover your head”
“I hope you are not going out with wet hair. You’ll get sick.”
“Did you layer up? Make sure to layer up, it is cold out.”
It is winter again and for some of us, December/January are our favorite months.
It is just cold enough to keep cool and it is a break from those scorching hot summer months.
But, just how many times did you hear these questions being asked over and over?
“Are you wearing a hat? Make sure to cover your head”
“I hope you are not going out with wet hair. You’ll get sick.”
“Did you layer up? Make sure to layer up, it is cold out.”
The questions are like some kind of family tradition. Every year during winter before you head out, your mom asks you these because their mom used to ask them and I am sure your great grandma used to ask her kids to take these same precautions against the frigid winter weather as well.
As if you are headed for some kind of war in a new territory or a new country for the first time.
One must be prepared with the correct gear or you might come back defeated.
To get sick or not to get sick…
And it is not just your mom or dad, your friends ask you these questions too. Especially your girlfriends because their family asks them the same exact questions every year.
If you really think about it, done once or twice, this is quite nice and kind of a motherly attitude towards others. You kind of feel loved and cared for at that moment.
But what if you are going out a lot and they keep repeating these questions every time?
What if you have wet hair and no time to dry it out like me or you just prefer air dried hair because your hair tends to get fuzzy? — I have very thick and coarse hair texture so this can be quite time consuming and I also just like to oil up my wavy hair and air dry it instead.
What if you can’t find your hat or you just simply don’t want to wear one that day?
What if you do what you want, don’t listen to them and don’t get sick.
Then wonder if they even know what they are saying.
Maybe you just got lucky this one time…
Or what if you do all that and still catch a cold.
Ah the cold weather wins again…
Or does it?… Are you really fighting the cold weather to survive?
Maybe you turn on the TV and you see that more people are catching flu now or have a common cold compared to last month.
Maybe you hear about how the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, is spreading fast. Charts show the numbers gone up recently. You wonder if the cold weather is to blame for all this.
Then you start thinking like a scientist. You want to find out the correlation between the cold weather and increased number of bacterial and viral infections during winter and why those overlap.
You wonder if your grandma was right. And her mother and her mother.
…or is this just some kind of coincidence? That cold weather has nothing to do with it?
That is when you start your research…
I love cold weather and it rarely makes me sick.
Honestly, I always go out with wet hair. I just love air dried hair all year round.
And I hate wearing a hat.
Yes, I know. How did my parents deal with me?
I always loved to experiment with thoughts and find my own way against some of the advice out there.
Even if it was coming from my own family.
Even if 99% of the world said the same things.
This is how it must feel before the Era of The Internet.
“You can’t get sick from being cold in general, whether you are inside or outside… If you get frostbite or hypothermia, this can weaken the immune system, which leaves you more at risk for getting illnesses, such as the common cold and/or flu.” — Shannon Fecher, ARNP, UnityPoint Health
My point is that early on in my life, I found out that people are not always right and your fears are not always grounded in some truth.
If it doesn’t sound right, it is probably not right. You have to learn to listen to your gut.
And now I got the experts on the Internet to backup my original hypothesis that cold weather is not the culprit for getting sick.
YOLO…
However, it definitely wasn’t the YOLO (You Only Live Once) attitude that helped boost my immune system or give me an unfair advantage against bacterial and viral infections during winter.
After some introspection on the topic, I noticed I always wash my hands a lot when I am at public places — blame it on my OCD.
This was even before all the Covid-19 warnings and prevention efforts. I came to realize that it is important to sanitize or wash your hands as often before touching your own or others’ belongings.
Why?
Because when you are in others’ physical space — think of a possible handshake, a friendly hug, a tap on the shoulder, a gentle touch on the elbow… maybe even touching their cup because you just bought the two of you some coffee — you want to make sure you are not passing over germs you just picked up from another place by touching multiple surfaces that others touched just a moment ago. You don’t have to go crazy on this but it is a nice gesture to remind yourself that not everyone has a strong immune system. This is one of the most considerate things you can do for others.
Here is the crazy part:
To further prepare myself against the dry air in cold weather, I also make sure to moisturize my face and nose before I leave the house. I read this actually somewhat helps against catching infections.
Despite all my efforts to help with moisture, my nose still gets dry and sometimes it starts to drip against the dry weather. Nothing to worry about. This is your nose trying to prevent the germs from reaching your throat or your upper respiratory system.
I tell my friends that I am not actually sick and it is something that happens when I am outside — which is true, it doesn’t happen indoors. Only outside when the weather is too dry.
I do think that I owe a large part of my natural immunity to daily exercise and eating well. I try to go for runs outside as often as I can — up to 6–7 times a week — and I opt to have a diverse diet — alternating between eating vegetables and using vegetable oil, fish and meat throughout the week.
I really believe all of this helps me avoid getting sick.
Especially because I go out with wet hair, I don’t wear a hat or put my hoodie up and sometimes I don’t even wear the proper winter gear in multiple layers — cold usually doesn’t bother me as much when I am actively moving around.
How do I know all this works?
Because I rarely get sick. And if I do, it’s rarely as serious. Maybe once a year, a couple sneezes or a dry throat for a day or two, followed by sweating neck-deep in three burrito blankets in self-isolation and all natural remedies of hot food and drinks.
After all, it is not so bad to get sick once a year. Given that you don’t really have a chance anyway, I think it also might help you with your immune system — since the antigens stay in your system long after and your white cell count would go up during that time preventing against catching the same cold again.
Conclusion
Now that we defused the myth around cold weather causing common cold and/or flu, I am all for building natural tolerance and what better way to go out for a run in that cold weather to build up that mental and physical toughness.
Given that you don’t end up with hypothermia, there is nothing to worry about…
But you also have to realize not everyone has the same immune system and take the same precautions as you towards a healthy lifestyle. We may not be living in a collective society but we do live with people. This is why taking responsibility towards others’ health helps, such as washing your hands often around others, is really important. Because this is more effective towards preventing infections than telling people to layer up or not go out with wet hair.
My advice to everyone: Exercise, eat well and wash or sanitize your hands as often as you can when you’re around others, where you might interact with them. Make sure to open windows every once in a while to invite fresh air indoors. Using humidifiers indoors would also help against the dried air from the central heat. Making sure to get enough sleep and keeping the stress levels low are also among other ways to keep a healthy immune system.
If you are interested in finding out about positive impact of a diverse diet on your health, you could check out the following articles on the benefits of including smoked salmon and coconut oil in your diet:
