VIDEO SPECIAL: Does Being Cold Make You Sick?

By  //  January 27, 2017

IMMUNITY TO VIRUSES TEMPERATURE SENSITIVE

ABOVE VIDEO:  We often hear it, but how true is the phrase: “Bundle up so you don’t catch cold?” Is there really a correlation between exposure to the elements and viral illnesses like a cold and the flu? ASAPScience takes a look at what part seasonal factors and environmental temperatures play in the risk of contracting colds and the flu. 

ASAPSCIENCE is the creative brainchild of two Canadians, Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown, who, after graduating from the University of Guelph with biology degrees, recognized the power of YouTube to inform and entertain. Their very popular YouTube channel produces three-minute lessons that bring logic, reason, and scientific evidence to some of the most common of questions, the ones that everybody’s asking and no one’s actually answering, such as The Scientific Power of Naps,  What Causes a Hangover?, The Scientific Hangover Cure, The Science Of Aging, Can Stress Kill You? and The Science Of Hair Loss, just to name a few.

There is wisdom in the maternal warning: 'Bundle up or you'll catch cold.'
There is wisdom in the maternal warning: ‘Bundle up or you’ll catch cold.’

In the video above they tackle the oft asked question: Can being cold give you a cold? If asked that question, the usual response is: “Don’t be silly, the cold and flu are caused by a virus, and the moniker ‘cold’ has nothing to do with the etiology of the illness.”

However, when late fall and winter roll around it’s cold outside, and there are several environmental and behavioral factors that have an impact on our health and susceptibility to viral illnesses.

Moffit and Brown point out that there is scientific rationale for bundling up and protecting ourselves from the elements to decrease the risk of colds and the flu, but the mainstay for flu prevention in the fall and winter is first and foremost the flu vaccine.