Parenting Myth Monday: Can Cold, Wet
Weather Really Be The Death of You?

It's time once again (or, errr...slightly past time!) for Parenting Myth Monday! Last week's question was inspired by my recent TV viewing, and this week's question originates from yet another pastime of mine: reading. 

Lately, I have been reading a lot of 18th- and 19th-century literature. (Yes, I realize this probably sounds strange, but the bleakness of 20th-century literature has been wearing on me. Besides, it's a good opportunity to catch up on all those authors I probably should've read a long time ago!) But I digress. As I've been reading these older novels, one common malady kept jumping out at me: sickness via weather. 

If you judge by these books, no person in the 19th century (especially no female person!) could set foot out of doors in bad weather and live to tell about it! Hehe...OK, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but at the very least, exposure to rain or cold weather seemed to bring about a nasty cold or the flu.
 
And yes, I realize the whole sickness-via-weather phenomenon is mostly a convenient plot device (otherwise, how would Pride and Prejudice's Jane Bennett ever have gotten to know Mr. Bingley better?), but this idea still lingers in popular consciousness. We've all heard some vague warning along the lines of, "Don't go out in the rain. You'll catch your death from cold!" Which leads me to wonder...

Question: Can you catch a cold or the flu from getting caught in wet or cold weather? 

Answer: No. There is no scientific evidence that exposure to either cold or wet weather causes colds or the flu (or pneumonia, for that matter). In reality, colds and the flu are caused by viruses and thus have nothing to do with the weather.

No matter how logical this myth may seem, as this USA Today article discusses, the research simply does not support it: 

In 1958, H.F. Dowling exposed 400 volunteers to cold viruses. The volunteers experienced different temperatures and dress protection — some shivering in extreme cold of 10°F (-12°C) but wearing heavy coats, others chilly in 60°F (16°C) temperature wearing only underwear, and still others sweltering in 80°F (27°C) temperatures. They all, however, caught colds at "about the same rate."
Ten years later, R. G. Douglas, Jr. experimented in a similar fashion with inmates at a Texas prison.
Again, no difference. The men caught colds at about the same frequency and the resulting colds were about equally severe whether or not the inmates had endured cold and no matter how they were dressed.

So where, then, did this myth come from? Perhaps this weather-illness connection originated from our concept of winter as "cold and flu season." And, in fact, more people do catch colds and the flu during cold weather. However, the reason is not exposure to the weather; it's just the opposite! Because people avoid cold and wet weather during the winter season, they are more often cooped up together indoors, making the transfer of viruses that much easier. As one PA (Physician's Assistant) points out, "the Inuits along the Arctic Circle get considerably less colds than people who work in crowded offices with little or no ventilation."

And in a world obsessed with pointing out all the little things around you that may be harming your child, I, for one, am glad to know that I can strike one thing off that list! 

Rainstorms--no longer the silent killer...but forever the convenient literary device!

Monday, August 18, 2008 | Labels: |

 

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