Fact or Myth: Does Cold Weather Give You a Cold (Nazla)?

Verdict: Myth, with a twist. Cold air doesn’t give you nazla; a virus does. But winter makes it easier for those viruses to spread, which is why the timing feels so convincing.

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Why “thand lag gayi” feels so true

You walk home in a December drizzle without a shawl. Two days later your nose is running and your throat scratches. It seems obvious what happened. Ammi said it would, and she was right about the timing.

The link people notice is real. The explanation is off. A cold usually takes one to three days to show after the virus gets in, so the chilly walk and the sniffles line up neatly on the calendar, but the virus itself was picked up somewhere else entirely, from a relative’s hug at the door, a rickshaw handle, a shared glass at the dhaba or a nephew who sneezed into his hand and then grabbed the TV remote, and the walk simply gets the blame because it’s the thing you remember. Memory is a poor lab.

It’s worth saying kindly: for generations, before anyone could see a virus, cold weather was the most sensible guess. It still is a good cue to take care. It just isn’t the cause.

What actually causes a cold

A cold is an infection of the nose and throat by one of many viruses. Rhinoviruses are the most common, with some coronaviruses and RSV among the others, and whichever one it is has to physically reach the soft lining of your nose or eyes, usually carried there by your own fingers after they’ve touched a door handle or a phone, or breathed in as droplets hanging in the air near someone who is coughing or sneezing. That’s the whole route.

No virus, no cold. A person alone in a snowy hut with no contact can shiver for a week without catching one. That’s the simplest way to see it.

Why colds really do climb in winter

• Crowding indoors: in winter, families sit together under one razai with the heater on and windows closed. Air that doesn’t change carries more virus from person to person.
• Dry air: cold outdoor air and gas heaters indoors both dry the air. Some viruses seem to last longer in dry conditions, and a dry nose lining may catch them more easily.
• Schools and weddings: the season packs children into classrooms and adults into shaadi halls, the perfect mixing ground.
• Less sun and more time inside: daylight and fresh air drop, and everyone breathes the same room air for longer.

There’s also some evidence that a chilled nose may respond a little more weakly to a virus that’s already there. That’s the grain of truth in the old advice. It doesn’t make cold air the cause; it may just tip the balance when a virus is present.

Myth: going out with wet hair or without a sweater gives you a cold

Wet hair and a cold walk make you feel chilly and miserable, and that’s a perfectly good reason to dry your hair and pull on a sweater before stepping out on a foggy January morning, but neither the wet hair nor the cold can create a virus out of thin air. Comfort, yes. Cause, no. We looked at this one in detail in sleeping with wet hair. The same goes for cold drinks, ice cream in winter or sitting under a fan: none of them start a cold on their own.

What helps, today

1. Wash hands with soap for 20 seconds after coming home, before eating and after blowing your nose.
2. Open a window or door for 5 to 10 minutes a few times a day, even in winter, especially when someone at home is ill.
3. Give a sick family member their own glass, towel and pillowcase.
4. Cough or sneeze into a tissue or your elbow, and bin the tissue.
5. Sleep 7 to 9 hours for adults, eat regular meals, and keep up fruit and vegetables.
6. If a gas heater is on, keep the room ventilated for carbon monoxide safety, never sleep with it running in a closed room.
7. Ask your doctor whether the yearly flu vaccine suits you. Flu isn’t a cold, but it peaks in the same months; see who should get the flu vaccine.

If you already have a cold, our day-by-day nazla routine covers steam, fluids and rest. Antibiotics don’t work on cold viruses, so there’s no point asking for them for a plain cold.

Colds in children and older people

Young children catch several colds a year. Normal. Each one is part of an immune system meeting the world’s viruses for the first time, and parents who feel their child is “always sick” in the first years of school are usually seeing exactly this, not a sign that something is wrong or that they’ve failed to keep the child warm enough. A few lines matter. No honey under 1 year. No over-the-counter cough and cold medicines under 6. For a blocked baby nose, home saline is half a level teaspoon of salt in 250 ml of boiled, cooled water. Babies sleep flat on their back in a bare cot even with a cold, never propped up. Older people and anyone with asthma, heart or lung disease can get sicker from winter viruses and should see a doctor sooner.

More myths from the same shelf are in Fact or Myth.

Questions people ask about cold weather and colds