People hold many mistaken beliefs about health knowledge and remedies. Maybe as a concerned parent, you’ve come across or held on to some of them:
- Vitamins, antibiotics, and over-the-counter medication cure cough.
- Phlegm discharge color equates to a certain state of sickness.
- The hand-over-forehead technique is a decent way to get one’s temperature.
And
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Staying in the rain makes you sick.
We’ve heard this a couple of times, especially from parents who want their children to remain indoors and not catch a virus. It is considered an old wives’ tale half a century old, according to Jennifer Walker-Journey. But does an ample amount of drizzle really make you cough? Is it the rain that makes you sick? In this article, we will talk about this misconception about the rain.
First and foremost, if we followed the logic that the rain make us sick, then we wouldn’t be drinking water or taking baths for that matter. Also, we’d be perpetually unwell. 70% of the human body is composed mainly of H20.
What then makes children get sick during the rainy season? Science de-bunks this myth with a study done by a team of experts from Cardiff University’s Common Cold Center. According to an online article by CNN, leads Claire Johnson and Professor Ron Eccles brought together 180 respondents during the cold season. Half of which immersed their feet in ice water for 20 minutes, while the other half put their feet in an empty bucket.
The results? In about 5 working days, 30 of the respondents who put their feet in a bucket of ice water got sick, against an estimate of 3 of participants who put their feet in a bucket full of nothing. According to Professor Ron Eccles, people exposed to cold weather are more susceptible to sicknesses. The reason? The freezing climate contracts blood vessels, preventing warm blood to reach white blood cells. The warm blood is the leukocytes’ fuel to fight foreign invasion in the body.
With these findings, the old wives’ tale isn’t true at all. The rain doesn’t make one sick. It’s the cold weather that makes us more prone to diseases. Mothers, you may want to change your advice from “Don’t play in the rain” to “Keep warm in the freezing weather”. A nice, warm jacket and umbrella would come in handy right about now. Or if your children already have a case of coughs and colds, medicine for cough would help them feel better.