Can the Change of Season Really Make You Sick?

It's officially Spring, that glorious time of year when we finally start to see signs that warm weather is on the horizon. However, there are a lot of people out there who always seem to get sick when the temperature changes. Time and time again I've heard, 'Oh I must be getting sick because of the change in season', but I always chalked that up to a coincidence, and wrote it off as an old wives tale. Well, it turns out, I was wrong. Yup. Rarely do I like to admit this, but I'm just plain wrong.

According to an article in Time, medical experts agree that the change in seasons do effect peoples health.  Seasonal spikes are seen in common cold cases, the largest happening at the beginning of the Fall, but the second? You guessed it, SPRING!

Dr. Bradley Chipps, president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, says that the change in seasons irritates seasonal allergy sufferers, and nasal inflammation makes it easier for cold to 'set up shop' in our noses. On top of that, our bodies are already busy working hard to protect us from allergens, so it make us more vulnerable to other outside germs.

If you're someone who doesn't suffer from seasonal allergies (you lucky son of a gun) but always seem to get sick this time of year, dramatic seasonal changes in barometric pressure, wind and temperature can irritate nasal passages, just as allergens do, thus leaving you vulnerable as well. One study at Yale University suggests that just a seven degree drop in ambient temperature can mess with your immune systems ability to defend from pesky germs, which helps explain fall colds. Another variable that can add to springtime colds, is the fact that children (adorable little germ carrying varmints) are coming back to school with new germs picked up traveling on spring vacations.

So all and all, many different factors can lead to seasonal colds, but yes it's true, the change in season can have you feeling under the weather in no time at all.