Why we get respiratory diseases in the winter

New study claims to have discovered why.

This seems like it should be in the “studies with obvious results” thread. My mother has been telling me that since the 1970s, and I doubt she made it up.

It’s funny because there are also studies showing that the Finnish idea of jumping in icy cold water stimulates your immune response and the heightened immune response helps prevent the winter diseases. So is the difference just icy air in the nose vs the icy rest of the body, then?

I always chalked it up to more people gathering in tight spaces from across the country. Guess my momma was right that I’ll catch a cold from the cold.

I’m sure that’s a factor too.

Likely both are true in summer in warmer areas too: lots of people spending more time inside together, and accompanied by a big temperature drop from a/c

i had assumed the strain of maintaining body temp took energy that somehow diminished the energy available to fight off some infections.

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I thought it was the combination of dry air and people crowding together indoors. Cold air is dry air, since cold air can’t hold much moisture, so it’s still possible that’s part of the mechanism.

That’s super interesting, though. Maybe it’s worth wearing a mask outdoors in the winter, just to keep your nose warm. It does make a huge difference.

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Seems like someone posted a study about hospitals that installed humidifiers having a lot less cross-contamination of folks picking up stuff while they’re there. So I’m sure the dry air is part of it. But I suspect the cold is too, partly based on personal experience.

Falling vit D levels as we spend more time indoors with more skin covered may play a role too. Live in high enough latitudes and you can’t make vit D no matter how much winter sun you get due to the angle of the sun.

The world and everything in it is far more complex than we can comprehend.