Alternating warm/cold days makes you sick?
Tom Sevart
seem to hear it. Here in Kansas it's not unusual during the winter to have
somewhat warm days mixed with very cold days, especially during the
transition from warm weather to cold and vice-versa. Consequently I always
sooner or later hear someone say, "This warm weather one day and cold
weather the next makes people get sick."
Now we all know that colds and flu are transmitted by various viruses, and
being cold is not a guarantee that someone will get sick.
However, what I'm wondering is if first, if anyone else has heard this claim
and secondly, if anyone's ever done any studies to show that there's a
difference between sickness during constant cold weather vs. sickness during
variable warm/cold weather? I'm sure that this is just an old wives tale
but I've never seen anything one way or the other to prove/disprove it.
Tom
R H Draney
>
>My apologies if this has been discussed before, but every winter I always
>seem to hear it. Here in Kansas it's not unusual during the winter to have
>somewhat warm days mixed with very cold days, especially during the
>transition from warm weather to cold and vice-versa. Consequently I always
>sooner or later hear someone say, "This warm weather one day and cold
>weather the next makes people get sick."
It works like this: Monday was unexpectedly warm and clear, and I was stuck
dragging around a heavy coat that I'd worn when I went out over the weekend...so
Tuesday, I left the coat at home, and by the time I had to leave the office, it
was pouring down rain..."not making *that* mistake again", I said on Wednesday,
so I wore the coat again and sweated my brains out in traffic, and vowed I'd
skip it on Thursday...Thursday I stayed home all day....
R H "oh, sure, we shadow Firefly...we shadow him all day...Shadowday!" Draney
Vicki Robinson
>Here in Kansas it's not unusual during the winter to have
>somewhat warm days mixed with very cold days, especially during the
>transition from warm weather to cold and vice-versa. Consequently I always
>sooner or later hear someone say, "This warm weather one day and cold
>weather the next makes people get sick."
>
>However, what I'm wondering is if first, if anyone else has heard this claim
>and secondly, if anyone's ever done any studies to show that there's a
>difference between sickness during constant cold weather vs. sickness during
>variable warm/cold weather? I'm sure that this is just an old wives tale
>but I've never seen anything one way or the other to prove/disprove it.
I'm not able to answer your question, but I can tell you that my
faddah the doctah (Chicago, in practice 1954 - 1989) said that
alternating warm and cold days in the spring correlated with an
increase in sniffy kinds of illnesses and sore throats. He
specifically declined to attribute causation, but noticed the increase
in patients with nuisance illnesses.
Vicki "And, no, he didn't correlate ER upticks with the full moon"
Robinson
--
Power may be justly compared to a great river; while kept within its
bounds it is both beautiful and useful, but when it overflows its banks,
it is then too impetuous to be stemmed; it bears down all before it,
and brings destruction and desolation wherever it goes." -- Alexander Hamilton.
Lee Ayrton
> In a previous article, "Tom Sevart" <n2uhc...@yahoo.com> said:
>
>> Here in Kansas it's not unusual during the winter to have somewhat warm
>> days mixed with very cold days, especially during the transition from
>> warm weather to cold and vice-versa. Consequently I always sooner or
>> later hear someone say, "This warm weather one day and cold weather the
>> next makes people get sick."
[snip doubts]
> I'm not able to answer your question, but I can tell you that my
> faddah the doctah (Chicago, in practice 1954 - 1989) said that
> alternating warm and cold days in the spring correlated with an
> increase in sniffy kinds of illnesses and sore throats. He
> specifically declined to attribute causation, but noticed the increase
> in patients with nuisance illnesses.
No data either (not a Motto Contest entry) but New England folklore holds
that, in early winter, the dread common cold will be widespread until the
first snowfall. The definition of "first snowfall", of course, can be a
rather variable thing -- "Ayah, `course that wer't a _real_ snowfhall, it
weah moreofa `dusten'" could reasonably be offered as a defence when
challenged.
Lee "Of course, I've got a cold now and it has snowed plenty so far this
winter. So much for old wives and their tales." Ayrton
--
"I defer to your plainly more vivid memories of topless women with
whips....r"
R. H. Draney recalls AFU in the Good Old Days.