Ask Lemmy
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
view the rest of the comments
I am convinced that I will come down with cold/flu if I breath too much cold air. When I walk in the cold, I always wrap a scarf around my mouth and nose. If I don't, the cold air will give me a sore throat. That sore throat will act as a Petri dish for illness to develop and spread into my lungs or nose.
I know plenty of medical professionals and all of them tell me that that is not how it works, but I have a datum of proof. In my first year of university, I had a nasty, persistent respiratory infection during the late fall/early winter. To keep my throat warm while it was recovering, I started wearing a scarf and my illness went away quickly. After that, I started wrapping up whenever I was walking to class in the cold and never got sick again.
I am now used to wrapping my face in the cold and feel wrong without it. When I don't, it seems like I am more likely to come home with a scratchy throat. I can definitely say that many of my flus start in the throat (though it could just be that the first flu symptom I tend to notice is the sore throat).
One doctor informed me that I have a chronic inflammation of the throat, which half of our large northern city also have, and best I can do is protect the throat from cold air by breathing through the nose.
I'm also rather non-muscular, particularly in regard to the neck, and thus get cold easily in the parts that aren't layered with fat. Namely, if I have the window cracked open for fresh air in the autumn or spring while I sleep, the throat gets sore and I can develop a full-blown cold.
I've also been drinking lots of cold beverages this summer, and now I really seem to have a nasty inflammation in the throat, that leads to annoying irritation and cough. This is while I'm asocial, stay inside a lot and have little contact with people.
Cold air tends to be very dry, which can most definitely irritate your nose and throat (among other body parts). That irritation and drying out can make the thin skin and mucous membranes more vulnerable to attack from bacteria and viruses.
The only really unscientific part of your post is that the cold air itself is not the direct cause of illness.
People with a strong immune system might not see a big difference, but if you are already more susceptible to getting sick, then the link to cold air may be more obvious to you.
same thing with being exposed to the cold generally. it reduces your immune response. hence why when you are sick, staying warm is important and if you have the flu, you can develop pneumonia from cold exposure.
Wrapping your face up is a good way to block the germs that cause illness. You're basically just masking up.
Except that I am using a very porous knit scarf as a mask and only masking up outdoors (the opposite of proper masking).