Is it possible to 'catch a chill'?

Oh I think that is true particularly for elderly/disabled people who cannot move about a lot. Sitting still in a cold place is not ever nice and clearly not healthy especially for anyone with underlying health problems.

But a basically fit person, able to move around and be busy, eating regular meals does not need to bundle up. My SiL is much younger than me..her son is just 13!

According to my late mother you could get a tummy upset if you walked around even in the house with no shoes on, as the "chill would go up your legs and into your tummy!

I do suspect that being cold possibly reduces the efficiency of the immune system.

And as for sitting on the grass! Instant chill on the bladder!

When I was nursing in the sixties we were still putting patients outside in their beds on the chest wards. Benefits must have outweighed the disadvantages.

The question as to whether cold depresses the immune system is still unresolved. The extra winter deaths are a fact - some of them are due to chest infections and some due to increased numbers of heart attacks. There is also a little bit of evidence that repeated exposure to extreme cold can improve your resistance to infections. e.g. daily sea bathing
Part of the trouble is that the immune system is really complicated - it is not one system but many subsystems. It is perfectly possible that some of these sub-systems work less well in the cold, some work better and some are unaffected.

Extra winter deaths are indeed a fact and well documented.

But is that because more germs are around in winter months or there are more germs because more people are ill in colder weather? Chicken & egg question!

I know my dad felt his angina was affected by cold weather but that was breathing in cold air..which you have to do outdoors regardless of the number of vets/scarves etc.

anno didnt that give you piles as well? Or was that sitting on radiators?

nanado nanaej I assume the "cold elderly" are dying of cold related diseases rather than plain hypothermia (being cold iself.)

Its an interesting point about the "chicken and egg" causation question.

Could "common cold viruses" do better in cold weather and bacteria in warm weather. I always think of bacteria needing warm conditions to grow. Like food left unchilled!

The cold research centre showed that cold had no effect on colds ( of the coryzal variety) .either catching them or treating them.

Actually , it is easier to catch a cold in winter as people stay indoors and generously spread their bugs around instead of giving them to the fresh air!

A lot of the winter deaths are due to hypothermia.

I have just put the heating back on as it was only about 17degC in my living room. Too chilly for comfort! It is surprising though what one degree or so more makes as to how warm it feels.

I have just read this! from Age UK!

www.ageuk.org.uk/health-wellbeing/keeping-your-body-healthy/winter-wrapped-up/

"You can protect your health by ensuring you're warm both inside and outside the house, and following these tips:

•Keep your bedroom windows closed at night
•Wrap up well when you go outside

•Keep your living room at 70F (21C)

•Keep your bedroom at 65F (18C)"

The ideal living room temperature is higher than I thought.
No wonder so many suffer. I am lucky enough to live in a modern well insulated house. It must be very hard to keep a lot of houses warm to these ideal temperatures.

Despite the deniers I take what Age UK and others working in the field seriously. You can't have it both ways ie saying that cold weather kills off the germs AND that there are more germs around in the winter!!! Though logically central heating must play a part here.

Interestingly why does Finland have much fewer winter deaths per capita than the UK?

I would point out that I'm not aware of any research into 'catching colds' that targets subjects in the 70+ age group. It would make sense that our immune system gets less efficient as we age though.

Crimson look on a needlework web site call something like creative grids. They have fingerless gloves which are expensive but really work. They say they are for anyone from craftworkers to fish packers. Horrible colour but they work.

Lots on here as well!

fingerless gloves

Wow; loads of them...I could wear a different pair each day and even lace ones on special occasions . Fish packing? Would it worry you if I said I worked for the NHS ? Caues it worries me ...

...cause....[see that's how you type when your fingers are numb]

My grandmother reckoned that everything, especially cold weather, gave you kingcough. It could occur anywhere, especially kidneys and chest. I finally asked her what it was - she had no idea!

Grannyknot. Sorry. Six days later! NO socks either. Hate them. Rarely wear them even when forced to wear boots.
Hardly ever get colds or flu. Always have windows open when I can.
Staying in hotel in London this next weekend, will feel horribly claustrophobic for two nights as usually cant open windows and heating far too high. Am comfortable at about 18 degrees indoors. Last time in same hotel, could open window in room but heating was stuck on about 25 so just as well! Moved furniture round and spent the night close to window with nothing but a sheet on.

On a slightly different tack.... Can anyone tell me how to get smiley faces etc onto gransnet. I have an iPad and use emocons or whatever it's called to get silly things to send grandkids but when I have used them on g.net they don't come through.

borstalgran I think kincough was an old name for whooping cough.

RINKY, you can only use the emoticons shown at the bottom of the page under the posting box - Gransnet doesn't have the facility to show imported smileys.

This is from the Common Cold Research website.

Folklore indicates that chilling such as getting your feet wet in winter and going out with wet hair may cause a common cold but until recently there has been no scientific research to support this idea. Recent research has demonstrated that chilling may cause the onset of common cold symptoms5. A study at the Common Cold Centre in Cardiff UK in 2005 took 90 students and chilled their feet in cold water for 20 minutes and showed that the chilled group had twice as many colds over the next 5 days as a control group of 90 students whose feet were not chilled. The authors propose that when colds are circulating in the community some persons carry the virus without symptoms and that chilling the feet causes a constriction of blood vessels in the nose and this inhibits the immune response and defences in the nose and allows the virus to replicate and cause cold symptoms. The chilled person believes they have caught a cold but in fact the virus was already present in the nose but not causing symptoms.

That is exactly what Dr Spock maintained in his book which I read avidly in 1968.

Actually, I could have told them that. Without the expense.

Well, whadda ya know!

I know that tissue in the nose is very similar to that in the penis, but in the feet?