We have all heard the phrase put a jacket on or youll catch a cold. well there might be some truth to this. It turns out that the weather can actually help you get sick but not in the way that you might think. According to UL Assistant Professor of Immunology Ritwij Kulkarni, while the colder temperatures of this time of year might not directly make you sick they can help viruses survive longer.

Generally the way these viruses are transmitted transmitted through Aerosols so while you are speaking a little bit of spit comes out, sneeze a little bit of spit comes out. You can imagine that aerosol falls on the surface and surface is hot then it will get dried out quickly the viruses will not survive that you can imagine that all these things are going to happen more if if there is cold weather like it will take longer for these droplets to dry out.

On top of this, during the colder months we tend to stay inside more and with this the transmission of viruses and illnesses does increase.

Why we see these viruses are more common during cold months is because we are indoors. We are more in contact with each other in that time. Chances of transmission are higher and so thats why we get those infections at that time.

No matter the weather though there is one thing that you should always be doing to help keep yourself safe and that is to wash your hands.

Hand washing is the best thing that is going to clean your hands washing hands with warm water and soap; what we learn in elementary school singing happy birthday to you and making sure that youre washing hands.

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Can the Weather Make You Sick? - FOX 15