Singing in the rain and, the myth about the cold!
Note: First of all I hope you will excuse any spelling mistakes, the truth is that I am just learning English, and it is helping me a lot to make the effort to translate my articles from Spanish to English. I am 50 years old and although I have been told that "Loro viejo no aprende a hablar" / You can't teach an old dog new tricks! I am determined to learn on my own and Read-Cash is helping me a lot. That is why I ask you, please, to make any spelling and style corrections that you think are necessary to improve my English writing. Thank you in advance! :) Now let's get started!
We must have heard from our mothers, grandmothers, caregivers... Don't get wet because you might catch a cold! or, "Cover yourself well from the cold because you will get sick if you do not! The relationship between rain, cold, colds and flu is one of those beliefs that are taken for granted without there being any reliable evidence to prove that rain or cold are the culprits of colds. In spite of this, we continue to blame our colds and flus on rain or cold. And if it is because of getting cold or wet, I believe that the famous Wim Hof, or as many call him "Iceman", who spends his time immersed in ice water, has demonstrated that, contrary to what is thought, cold water positively stimulates our immune system making it stronger and more resistant against possible enemies such as respiratory viruses, the only culprits of colds and flus.
It's raining and it's so cold that invites us to stay very warm in our beds, but... the new day is calling us with the illusion that something wonderful has to happen to us, so we get up and, bravely like the heroes of our movie we arrive at that crowded station of people who like us "stoically" remain against wind and rain waiting for a carriage that will free us from that deluge. And while waiting for the miracle to happen - and in my country Venezuela, it really is a miracle that the subway car arrives - the dreaded sneezing starts to be heard here and there:
Achoo! a sneeze is heard in the station and everyone jumps up and down looking at each other, while we nervously make sure that at least one mask has been able to contain that rain of tiny particles of saliva that could contain a respiratory virus such as our archenemy Covid-19, or the Influenza virus responsible for the flu!
Certainly receiving a shower of particles containing a virus is going to make us sick, but I think it is clear that it is not precisely the water droplets coming from a rain that bring with them a respiratory virus, so why do we continue with the paranoia of avoiding getting wet with rainwater?
I particularly love to walk in the rain and then get home to take a warm shower - of course first I have to pray to God that the water has not been turned off - and if I am lucky I end up taking a bath and then have a cup of coffee, or a cup of tea, or a hot chocolate and...my friends, how good that feels!
Now it would be interesting to know how it is that rain and cold always end up being related to respiratory diseases! In this sense there are several hypotheses that we found on the web, and here are some of them:
The rain makes people in an attempt to avoid it end up crowding in spaces where they could have more contact with other people and therefore a greater possibility of contagion to the existence of someone affected with the already known respiratory viruses. Therefore, as a form of prevention, I recommend that instead of trying to avoid getting wet with rainwater, avoid being with a large number of people in closed spaces without the biosecurity measures known to all: Use your mask, avoid touching surfaces that may have been exposed to contact with other people, keep your hands clean ... among many other recommendations already widely publicized.
The lower the absolute humidity, the higher the propagation rate of respiratory viruses: When we talk about absolute humidity, we refer to the level of water vapor contained in the air. On hot days the air will have a higher humidity, while on a rainy or cold day the humidity tends to be much lower, which means that the particles of secretions such as saliva generated by sneezing and coughing stay much longer in the air because they are lighter, however, on a day without rain where the humidity tends to be much lower, the air will be more humid, However, on a day without rain where absolute humidity tends to be higher, these same particles behave differently, as they absorb the water from the humidity and quickly end up falling to the ground, preventing them from swarming in the air for longer, which will ultimately reduce the spread of respiratory viruses during times when rain and cold do not make their appearance.
I must say that of all the hypotheses that I have read, this is the one that seems to me the most coherent! So, I repeat that there is no problem with you getting wet with rainwater, but, as we are still in a kind of "Eternal Pandemic" please follow the biosecurity rules to avoid possible contagions. Because, although you will not get sick by getting wet with cold water - of course, unless you have low defenses and that is another story - what is clear is that in times of rain and cold respiratory viruses have a greater presence in the air as we already know. In the same way, people tend to spend more time in contact with each other, either protecting themselves from the rain in a temporary enclosure where everyone is close to each other and, consequently, the perfect environment is created for a possible contagion to occur if a person with a respiratory virus is found.
There is another hypothesis that talks about the decrease of ultraviolet rays during the cold and rainy seasons that result in a lower synthesis of vitamin D, which as we know needs the sun to generate its production in the body. So, if there is not a good amount of sunlight, our production of vitamin D can be diminished, which in turn could impact our immune system, which benefits greatly from this important vitamin, which according to some scientific studies is directly linked to the production of a molecule with antimicrobial capacity which manages to reduce the action of the influenza virus responsible for the flu.
For me this hypothesis, although it sounds quite logical, I do not know why it makes me think again of Wim Hof "ICEMAN" who by the way is originally from Holland, which as we know is not a tropical paradise, because it is cold enough over there and sunny enough! It would be necessary to see if statistically in cold countries the levels of vitamin D are lower than in "warm" countries, such as ours? I mean "hot" because of the sun, not because of anything else uhhhmmm! Although you know the popular saying that says that we Latinos are hot-blooded! Well now that I see it this makes some sense ... don't you think?
By the way, in spite of all the misfortunes that surround our beautiful Latin America, thank God the sun is still shining up there for the pleasure of all of us who live in this "Land of Grace" and thank goodness that nobody can get their hands on it, otherwise we wouldn't even have the sun!
As it usually happens to me, I am already beginning to wander outside the boundaries of this article that in principle had, or rather aims to dismantle those old positions that continue to blame all our respiratory ailments to the cold and rainy seasons!
I return to the subject at hand by asking you to leave me in the comments how many times you have been sick because of the evil rain or in cold weather and if you have any pleasant, funny, memorable memories... getting wet in the rain!
Obviously, I know that many of you will say that you have gotten cold and flu, it has happened to me too, but, obviously we already know that it is not because of what our grandmothers told us. The truth is that I believe that we also have the idea very deeply rooted and, maybe even psychologically, there is something that automatically activates this belief in us. This reminds me of an amusing article I read on this same subject where the author made reference to the fact that despite knowing that neither the rain nor the cold were directly responsible for his flu or the cold, he preferred to continue believing in what his grandmother had instilled in him since he was a child. And although the mere fact of hearing the rain already gave him a sneezing fit, he was content to drink his hot soup like the one his grandmother made him when he was a child to warm his body, and I suppose his heart with the memories of his childhood.
In this sense I think it is clear that there may also be a psychological component to all of this. And just like the friend who continues to believe in what his grandmother instilled in him as a child, many continue to cling to these myths learned in the family nucleus. Even though I am 50 years old, my mother, who is 80, still warns me to be careful in the rain!...And the truth is that makes me feel like a child again and I end up taking an umbrella to keep her calm! If she saw me getting wet in the rain she would have a fit!
Anyway, I recommend everyone to get wet or cold once in a while because it definitely won't make you sick!
What is making these new generations sick, and the truth is that I am very concerned about those children who do not even go out to play in a park anymore because they spend their time glued to a computer. When I see that, I am thankful that I grew up in a time when falling off a swing and breaking your forehead, leaving the slide with bruised legs, or scraping your knees...were an everyday thing, and that definitely made us healthier and stronger children, and gave our parents the stamina to deal with each of our misfortunes! Definitely, today more than ever we are getting sick of the great "comfort" with which our modern world lives. But I will tell you about that in a future article.
For the moment I can only invite you to stop being afraid and paranoid about getting sick, of course, taking care of ourselves in an intelligent way: eating the best way we can, exercising regularly, taking time to be at peace mentally and spiritually!
So it is important to take the necessary precautions if at some point you feel like taking a bath in rainwater like me! In the end we are not made of sugar and we are not going to fall apart!
As always I send you an online hug from Venezuela 🙂✌️🇻🇪, hoping with all my heart that this article has been to your liking and that in some way or another it will be of benefit to you!
...and remember just love yourself!
