Cold feet and colds – is there a connection?
Colds and cold feet – can it be true?
Well, both yes and no.
No, because: Cold viruses do not enter the body through the feet.
Yes, because: Cold viruses sneak in through the mucous membranes in your nose and mouth – especially when you are cold.
And then we are in trouble with a runny nose, sneezing and a heavy head, while we frantically look for the next packet of tissues and hurry down to the pharmacy
so how do you catch a cold?
The mucous membranes in your nose and throat have simply been cold at the wrong moment; it sounds simple, does it not?
When the mucous membranes in your nose and throat get cold, perhaps because you are a tiny bit chilly, not as much blood reaches them.
We are so ingeniously put together that if we are even slightly cold, the blood immediately rushes off to the more vital parts of our body to look after them, rather than keeping toes, fingers and the tip of the nose warm.
In the blood we have antibodies or immune cells / white blood cells, ready to chase viruses away the moment they sneak inside our system.
You could say that your defence in the nose was a little paralysed. That is why you ended up with yet another cold.
The tiresome winter sniffles.
We catch colds more often in winter than in summer, quite simply because we spend more time indoors when it is dark outside.
In there, in the warm living room, the amount of virus is much more concentrated.
We are often closer to each other indoors, and perhaps there is not quite as much airing out as in summer, when it is warm and the sun is shining.
So:
when there is a lot of virus in the air and you are even the tiniest bit cold around the feet, the likelihood of catching a stubborn cold is somewhat greater than otherwise.
In sum:
You do not catch a cold from having cold feet, because cold viruses do not enter the body through the feet.
But viruses find it easier to slip into your airways when it is cold, because the blood withdraws from arms and legs. It has to go back to the body and look after our vital internal organs.
Heart, lungs, liver, brain and so on keep our body going, and they need the blood to be able to flow through them and deliver oxygen as well as remove waste products.
Toes and fingers, on the other hand, do not have quite the same demands for blood out at the tips as the organs do.
That is why the blood withdraws from legs and arms when we are cold, and concentrates on servicing the body itself.
So;
I am sorry, but your mother is right … again.
You will have to hop into a pair of good socks, slippers or some proper footwear that can insulate well against the cold, if you want to avoid a runny nose, sneezing and piles of used tissues.
Do you need a little inspiration for how to keep your cold feet warm?
Let me show you a pair of lovely slippers or good boots – or take a closer look here.
All of them treats in Greenlandic sealskin.
Fur is a good and windproof material.
That is why it is also good for warm footwear, so you can keep your feet warm and colds at a distance.
Just a word of warning at the end
There may well be other and perhaps more serious reasons why your feet are cold. There you will have to pop by your doctor’s surgery – they know much more about that.
So call the kind receptionist and make an appointment with the sharp doctor if you think your feet are rather too cold all the time.
