Winter is on its way (to the Northern Hemisphere) and with it comes myths of the common cold. We all grow up with a variety of beliefs about the common cold that often differ from home to home, but the fact is, most of them are wrong. With this list we will help to educate everyone about the myths relating to the cold and flu and hopefully help us to be better prepared to cope with it in future.
We have all done it – or at least seen others do it: covering up with extra blankets, sticking your head over a bowl of hot water – all in the hopes that we will sweat the cold out. Unfortunately, this does not work – it is completely ineffective. The only benefit this may have is to make you feel a little better (because it addresses the symptoms).
This is a particularly odd myth – many people believe that you can catch a flu from the flu injection. This myth comes about from the misconception that the flu vaccine contains a weakened form of the flu virus. The vaccine actually includes only components of the virus, and not a complete version of it. Therefore, you won’t catch the flu from a flu shot.
A weakened immune system does not heighten the risks of catching a cold. Healthy and unhealthy people exhibit the same amount of susceptibility to colds in studies that have been done. Interestingly, the same study found that 95% of people who had the cold virus directly applied to their nasal membranes became infected, but only 75% of them exhibited any symptoms of the cold. This is called an “asymptomatic infection”.
It is a myth that loads of vitamin c and zinc help to stave off (or cure) a cold. While it is often a good idea to take vitamin and mineral supplements, they have no effect on the cold virus. Once the cold hits, you are better off taking painkillers and waiting it out.
Myth: most colds are caught in the Winter. Fact: most colds are caught in the Spring/Fall seasons and not Winter at all. This is because the virus becomes much more active in those seasons and seems to become largely dormant in the Winter.
A lot of people think that drinking milk while you have a cold is a bad idea because it causes more mucous to build up. Actually, milk does not cause a build up of mucous at all – you can drink as much of it as you like and it will have no effect on your cold.
There is a popular myth that kissing a person with a cold will cause you to catch it. The reality is that the quantity of virus on the lips and mouth are miniscule and a much larger dose would be required for you to become infected. It is the nasal mucous you have to worry about – so no nose-kissing.
I bet most people here have been told, at one time or another, not to go out with wet or damp hair, or to wrap up warm so you don’t catch cold. In fact, the body temperature (or ambient temperature) makes no difference at all. You catch a cold when you come into contact with the cold virus – once the virus gets into your system you will get sick. It doesn’t matter if you are hot, cold, warm, or dry.
Many people believe that the symptoms of a cold (running nose, coughing etc.) are designed to help us get over the sickness quickly – therefore they don’t believe that we should treat the symptoms with medicines. But the truth is that the symptoms not only make no difference to the duration of the cold, they can help spread the bug to other people – through noseblowing and coughing. You should take comfort in knowing that pain killers and other cold medicines will not only make the illness more tolerable, they will help to keep it contained.
I am sure that everyone has heard the phrase “starve a fever, feed a cold.” The fact is, it is completely untrue. Eating has no negative impact on the body when you are sick, in fact, the opposite is true. Food provides the body with fuel to cope with illness – so when we are sick, it is a good idea to eat healthy and well. I recommend a good bowl of chicken soup for a start!
Who actually feels like kissing when they have a cold?
True, but having a boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife looking after you and giving you little kisses from time to time always helps! Not full on snogs though
Huh, I always thought the flu vaccine could give you the flu. My whole family believed this because my Dad got a flu shot several times, and every single time he came down with the flu right afterwards. Eventually he just stopped getting the shot… and he hasn't had the flu since. Just a weird coincidence I guess. Good to know!
Flu vaccine cannot give you a flu infection, because all its viruses are dead, but it can absolutely give you mild flu *symptoms*, such as fever and tiredness, which are caused by your immune system, not the flu itself. The vaccines are actually designed provoke an immune response, otherwise you would not become immune. The reaction is much stronger and faster when you are exposed to a virus for the *second* time, which is why vaccines work. This means you may have flu like reactions to a vaccine if you have already been exposed to the viral strain in question, or one very similar. Still, vaccine symptoms should end much faster than real flu symptoms because the fake “infection” won’t resist your body’s attempts to clean it up.
i knew most of these already…lol
Good list – warm brandy and lemon juice gives me some relief
*****!!!!
I believed in all 10 of the above.
Obama!
I’d never even heard the one about not drinking milk. But I don’t like milk anyway.
harrr… i have colds now..huhuhu//
after reading number 6 ive noticed that i do nearly always get a cold in the spring, i always have a warm lemon and honey drink i think thats make you feel a bit better
Best way to deal with the common cold is a warm shot of whiskey and a long nap!
@Smeghead: Rightly said!!! But guess a small peck on lips can do no harm.
Very interesting… Most of these I already knew, but it’s always neat to learn new ones!
My mother always used to tell me that vitamin C would help a cold. Guess not
Darn, I can’t spread a cold by kissing? Always wanted to make my husband as miserable as me and get him sick too… Lol.
One thing I noticed that causes me to get sick frequently is quick temperature or humidity changes. Dunno why that is.
Yes I also get a feverish cold when the temperature changes quickly (especially if I’ve been out in the Australian sun for a few hours and walk into a cold house)
As I child my mother gave us hot lemon juice and honey. As an adult I discovered the magic ingredient: whisky! It doesn’t cure the cold but as sure hell makes me feel less bad about being sick! I’ve also found that beer is a good cough suppressant.
Right astraya, and wine is good for a headache, scotch is good for a sprained ankle and scotch is good for a papercut.
Sometimes Scotch is the cause of a sprained ankle!
3000: Of course!
AniH: It hasn’t been for me yet!
One bottle of scotch takes any cold away… well it feels like anyway… for a couple of hours…
I have been told by medical/homeopathic type people that, while Vitamin C doesn’t affect the cold in any way, it does change the ph (acidity) of your nasal cavity to the point where the bacteria and virus can’t live. It supposedly also acts as a diuretic and flushed out the system, thus clearing out the now dead bacteria and virus.
I don’t know about all that, but I do know that Vit. C helps me feel better when I have sinus stuff going on.
Z.
I actually have a cure for the common cold. My family has used it for years and it really works. Just do these 4 things:
1) Drinks lots of fluids (any will do,hot or cold).
2) Get as much rest as you can.
3) Keep eating.
4) Take warm baths and keep your hands and nose clean.
If you follow these steps your cold will disappear in 3-7 days. It always works.
Great list! Thanks!
I think you got number 1 the wrong way round… the version I always heard is ‘feed a cold, starve a fever’. Meaning that you should keep eating when you have a cold, to stop it turning into something worse!
Beer is a Histimine and not good for the common cold as it is antihistimines that are required. beer just clogs you up. In all other ways beer is good for you.
Zombie; I’m pretty sure medicine/homeopathic is an oxymoron. Anyone believes that a solution of a trillion to one is the cure for anything is a quack. Gonna paint your nasal cavities with that ascorbic acid?
Best way to avoid a cold: stay off the tube!
MT – Colds usually go away on their own within 3-7 days, so while your recommendations make sense, they don’t necessarily make your cold go away faster.
I believe that number 1 has nothing to do with eating at all. It means feed a fever (stay warm, even though you’ll feel it already) and starve a cold (refrain from being cold). So either way, you should be in bed, keeping warm.
.25 Peri
You’re sharp this morning aren’t you? LOL!
why is a cold called a “cold” anyway?
Vitamin C enhances the immune system helping you fight it off. I think
as i was reading this a cold and flu advert came on. scary. lemsip.
I drink lots and lots of hot tea, add some honey and it coats your throat. That always helps me.
I spent some time in Brazil and on extremely hot days, I found some comfort in opening a refrigerator/freezer to feel the effects of what air conditioning would feel like. I always found it humorous when well-intentioned mothers would gasp and exclaim “Don’t put your head in the freezer when its hot outside! YOU WILL GET SICK!” I waged a verbal battle once trying to set someone straight on the subject and it only made her fears worse.
Great list! These myths are alive and well all over the world. It must be the way humans think that lead us to drawing false conclusions like the ones above. Although, I will say that loading on vitamin C seems like it helps me. Maybe by doing some of the things we think will help was are psychologically fighting off the sickness… uh oh, that’s probably a myth too.
This might be a’ good a’ time as any… so what do you do then? Just treat the symptoms to make a cold more tolerable and wait it out?
The one time I got a flu shot was the only time I ever had the flu. Say what you want, but I’m never getting another flu shot.
I always heard fall/winter was the easiest time to catch a cold because as it gets colder people start spending more time indoors and all the togetherness makes it easy for the virus to spread.
Very nice list. My mom probably thinks that all of these are totally true
About #3: If you stay out in the cold, you will probably get several symptoms of a cold; sneezing, runny nose, coughing, etc. but of course that doesn’t mean you actually caught a cold. This is probably where this popular myth came from.
I stopped taking cold medicines when I was about 14 years old. Since then I’ve gotten sick twice, once when I was 15, and once a couple of years later. I haven’t had a cold in over 10 years.
It seems most of the myths are designed to either keep from catching a cold or easing the symptoms. None really pretend to “cure” a cold, which is a virus and must run its course.
Vitamin C helps boost your immune system so that you won’t CATCH a cold. Once you’ve caught it, citrus helps clear your nose.
Tea with lemon or honey helps soothe the throat.
Sleep is important and Whisky (and other alcohols) make you drowsy.
Aspirin and other cold meds help ease the pain (headache, muscle ache)
Fluids help replace what you’re sneezing out and sweating out. Warm fluids help when you have the chills.
Eating helps the body have energy to stay warm and fight the symptoms. (admittedly, since your nose is likely stuffed up, most food seems unappetizing – hence soups, crackers, broth, tea and other weak-tasting items work best)
I have never taken the flu vaccine, and very rarely get anything worse than a minor head cold.
When I went to nursing school, and when my boyfriend went to medical school, cold viruses were spread via droplet transmission, not through the nasal secretions as listed in this article. While the amount of virus in saliva drops is miniscule, it takes only a miniscule amount of virus to cause a cold, therefore, it is possible to catch a cold via kissing due to the exchange of fluids. The main way colds are transmitted, however, is via their hands. Coughing spreads saliva droplets over surfaces, where they can remain, sometimes for days. Hand washing is the best defense against colds, and viruses.
Just a small correction, the viruses don’t have hands, it is via a person’s hands touching an infected surface.
When I was a child and sick with a nasty cold, or even looked to be *getting* a cold, mum would immediately dose me with tall glasses of hot lemon juice with honey and whiskey. As long as the cold lasted, this “cure” was administered 4 times a day.
I don’t think it did a thing for my symptoms, but I’m fairly sure it kept me sleepy (if not sleeping), and quiet, and therefore undemanding and unannoying.
My mum’s parenting skills left a lot to be desired.
My mother ALWAYS gave us whiskey – from cold remedy to pain remedy. I used to get whiskey put on my gums when i was teething also. Now i’m an alcoholic – Thanks Mom!! (jk about the alkie thing!)
I always thought that spring/fall was the most active times for colds. It seems I always go through a period of time that I am not feeling 100% when the weather begins to change.
41. Dolphinator: Like the nick. Do you work with dolphins (the animal), or just like them? Or are you a football fan?
Segue-Thanks!!!
I am a Miami Dolphin fan first, I also live in Florida and when I am out on my boat I feed the dolphins in the Intercoastal Waterways.
I’m not sure about this list at all… I think a lot of these myths (though not all) have a grain of truth to them, and maybe some need further explanation. The kissing one for instance. Doesn’t it seem a little weird that the virus is spread primarily with the hands, but that the faces planting the virus on the hands are safe? I don’t know how you kiss, but I kiss on the lips, and the lips are actually mucous membrane. If sneezes are coming from that specific region, I think it’s probably best to steer clear, IMHO.
Hillery- I try to never kiss a sneezing woman!
If you recall those old charactertures of people sitting with their feet in hot water, wrapped in a blanket, and a cold pack on their heads, it’s actually a good remedy using the principles of hydrotherapy. Liquid is attracted to heat and repelled by cold. If you want to reduce inflammation or mucus in an area (like your nose) you would put a cold pack or ice around your sinuses and heat somewhere else. (Ice should be applied until numb and no longer.) Women can also use this technique during difficult cycles by placing cold on their stomachs and warm their feet. Also! you want to soothe aching feet with COLD not HEAT. I know, heat feels better, but your feet ache because of pooled blood from standing.
I sometimes brought these myths up to my wife concerning our daughter getting colds. She never believed me and finally I just gave up and went along with it. It wasn’t worth fighting about. I’m sure she has told me some things that are true too and I don’t want to listen. As any married couple knows you have to pick your battles. However I will bring this list to her attention.
Anon #11 – I’m the same way. I’m most susceptible to catching a cold when the temperature changes. Therefore, I usually catch colds in spring or in fall. I haven’t caught a cold in awhile now, so hopefully it stays that way, even though the temperature is just now starting to drop… into the 50′s and 60′s!!! OMG!!
Hehe, I live in Southern California.
Can of Campbells chicken noodle soup. mmm mmm good
Just because someone says its a myth does not mean its realy a myth. Plenty of research has been done to indicate that vitamin C does boost your immune system. Also exposure to extreme cold can weaken the immune system because the body must work harder to warm itself through shivering. Flu shots do have side effects.
I read on the internet a psychis predictions for 2009/2010 and one of her predictions was that in this time period there will be a cure for the cold to be found. She said it would have to do with temperature. How true this is, we shall have to wait and see
SO TRUE!! FUNNY HOW IT SEEMS!! right now i have flu…
why is it called cold? you feel hot when you have that right?
If vitamin C and zinc don’t help out then why would my doctor tell my to take it? And why would all of these over the counter remedies have vitamin C and zinc in them? You are right on a personal note, I can’t see that they have helped me, but they have to be in these items for a reason. And I don’t think it is because people just believe it helps.
why is it that you posted this thread today? while I’m in the middle of a terrible cold! how strange!
vitamin C & Zinc are both very important in the upkeep of your immune system, and can help prevent getting a cold to begin with, but once you have one…the “help” they provide is mostly placebo affect.
Thanks for the list, Jamie! It is a good one.
I try to avoid drinking milk when I am sick because it tends to coagulate in my throat and make me even more “mucusy”. That is the same reason that I avoid drinks with lots of high fructose corn syrup when I am ill. I usually stick to water or orange juice and eat lots of chicken noodle soup. I also recommend taking Vitamin C, Echinacea and L-Lysine supplements to boost the immune system.
That reminds me…I need to go get a flu shot before they stop giving them around here.
Thanks again for the list.
Nice list…knew a few of them, learned a couple more.
I think vaccinations are totally unatural, there have been many documented case of severe reactions which include getting the disease its self, autisim, and death. my step daughter was vaccinated against meningitis and ended up almost dying from the exact same strain of the disease! she now has learning difficulties attributed to meningitis which were diagnosed by three different doctors. please think very seriously and read the pros and cons of vaccination before you get the shots
So I hate to break it to everyone but number 8 is wrong. I am going to school for medicine, and we just talked about this last week. You can get the flu from a flu shot depending on how it is made. It can be made with simply components or it can be made with the weakened version of it, the former being more likely (at least in the states). This is because it is cheaper to make this way. And a lot of people do get the flu even after getting the shot, but it is no where nearly as bad as if they had gotten the full blown thing. And the flu shot is also simply a guess as to what the strand will be like each year so sometimes it works other times it doesn’t. Also one thing that most people don’t know is they can be sick for up to a week before any symptoms show, which is when they are actually the most contagious, and can be sick without showing symptoms for up to a week after the symptoms stop. This is why it is vital to take any medicine prescribed for the amount of time it is prescribed for or else when it comes back, the virus will be able to fight the medicine more effectively because it has seen it before.
I’ve read that the incubation period for a flu (time between exposure and symptoms) is 3 to 4 days, but you typically start to become contagious about a day before symptoms.