By Janelle Galarza
Have your parents or relatives ever told you to never go outside on a cold day with wet hair?
They claim you might catch a cold due to the weather, but that's not really true.
When you play outside in the cold you sometimes get a runny nose but that doesn't mean you're sick. Same thing with wet hair. Colds are caused by bacteria or maybe a virus, not because it's cold.
Dr. Ian Tullberg from uchealth says, "Colds are caused by viruses, which you can’t get just from being outside in the cold. You may feel sick if you’re outside all day in the cold or rain — runny nose, chills, fatigue — but it’s not because of a virus."
While you can have symtoms of a cold after outside, that doesn't necessarily mean you are sick. Dr. Tullberg later says, "It’s because you can experience the same symptoms when you are chilled as when you are sick." Being chilled is different from having a cold or another illness. Being chilled usually tends to go away after being warmed back inside.
