DENVER — As cold weather and snow linger across Colorado, leading many of u
s to spend more time indoors, medical professionals warn that temperature fluctuations can affect your health.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, changing weather can specifically impact the immune system.
“The cold weather doesn't cause people to get sick. Viruses cause people to get sick, but the cold weather does influence some things. One is that viruses tend to proliferate much more effectively in colder times. In addition, people tend to migrate indoors when it's cold, because we're going to escape the elements,” Dr. Eric Lung, HCA HealthONE Sky Ridge chief medical officer, said.
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Lung said the cold weather's effect on the body also makes it easier for viruses to spread.
“When we are outside, the body has responses where our mucous membranes tend to dry up, and we start to get some runny nose, and then we spread those viruses easily, and when we're indoors, and we don't have a very strong immune system, when we're spreading viruses, you're more likely to get sick,” Lung said.
Lung said that changing from warmer to colder temperatures also has some impact.
“Not so much the temperature itself, although extremes of any kind do lower one's immune system, but it's all the other things that when the temperature does drop, like, you know, a week ago, it was 70 degrees, and today, obviously it's very cold. It's the same thing that people will migrate inside, and our mucous membranes dry up, and the viruses can proliferate, and then we tend to get sick that way,” Lung said.
Lung suggests spending time in well-ventilated spaces, washing hands regularly, avoiding people who are exhibiting virus symptoms, and wearing a mask when sick.
