3 ms·
I've never really understood the link between "being cold" and catching the "cold". I assume it's because your immune system is somehow slower when you're cold,
by Leherenn 6y ago
I've never really understood the link between "being cold" and catching the "cold". I assume it's because your immune system is somehow slower when you're cold, but the correlation seems pretty strong based on what I have observed. Other people and I very rarely catch a cold without being cold, and after being cold it's common to catch a cold. Are there *viruses floating (?) around constantly, and your body is severely less effective at fighting them off when cold? Is it just confirmation/survivorship bias?
From what I can find online, there's a correlation, but it's pretty light on details about how strong it is.
- second--shift 6y agoI'm pretty sure (unverified claim) that the "cold" description got linked with the illness in pre-germ-theory-of-disease days, where being outside in the cold for too long would imply one "caches a cold" when they feel ill the next day.
- Izkata 6y agohttps://www.etymonline.com/word/cold https://www.etymonline.com/word/cold > Sense of "indisposition involving catarrhal inflammation of the mucous membranes of the nose or throat" is from 1530s, so called because the symptoms resemble those of exposure to cold; compare cold (n.) in earlier senses "indisposition or disease caused by excessive exposure to cold" (early 14c.), "chills of intermittent fever" (late 14c.). Put less technical: shivering, runny nose, etc, are symptoms of both the common cold and being cold.