[QUOTE=groman]
A friend of mine rolled balls of mercury around in his mouth for fun with no ill effects. Does that mean all those things are safe? No, they’re just as dangerous if you survive them as they are if you do not.
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Actually, the way mercury gets into the brain is through inhilation of vapors, not mere contact with its liquid form. People need to not be so paranoid about mercury. Also, small doses of “poisons” and other temporary stressors make you healthier (not sure about mercury, but definately arsenic). This is called hermesis. In fact, I see many connections with the way we treat potentially poisionous substances (there is NO substances which are/are not poisonous, only ones with low toxic doses) and how koreans treat fans. It seems whenever there is a grain of truth regarding a danger, it gets encrusted into a pearl of misconception.
[QUOTE=groman]
a) Does the drying and cooling effect of moving air contribute to getting an illness (not making one worse) such as respiratory viruses, pneumonia, strep, or neuralgia or causing something that simply appears to be those things ?
My guess about (a) is ‘most likely’… Almost every single time I get severely wet and cold, even if I haven’t seen another human for a couple of days, I will start getting cold symptoms within 12-14 hours of the exposure.
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Actually, your experience is precisely why (a) is NOT true. It takes many days for an infection to develop. Organisms have to breed from a small number of individuals to billions/trillions, and they simply cannot do this that quickly inside the human body (or even a petri dish). In fact, I believe it takes about two weeks (definately at least one) from the time of infection for a cold to develop.
Rather, the body chooses to bring out the symptoms while it is battling a microorganism in response to stress. The symptoms of fever and runny nose are not caused by the invaders themselves. This is why neurotropic agents are used to combat them. Pain relievers against fevers, adrenaline-like substances (pseudoephedrine/psuedophed… way better than caffeine!) for runny noses. I do not know the full purpose of symptoms. Perhaps in part they help combat the infection (eg a fever). However, it seems for the most part their role is to make you miserable. I guess it’s to make you buckle down and relax. Whatever it is, seems like cold on your body and wind up your nose is the main trick to bring them out.
However, that brings me to the second point. Being regularly exposed to cold and wind is the only way to condition your body so that it doesn’t overreact when it encounters them during an infection. Despite having an entire word for this, “zakalka,” the Russians I know generally scoff at the idea and think one should shield himself from wind and cold all the time. In truth the joke is on them, because I think in the end they’ll experience more severe symptoms and more often. The trick is to know when you’re infected (I can kind of tell when I have some very slight symptoms… as I did last week) and protect yourself only then (as i should have done, since i have somewhat more noticeable symtoms now… though still not too bad because I follow the “stop being a pussy” method).
As many mentioned, there is also a widespread belief that drafts will cause muscle/body pain. Can’t say I noticed this myself. But… I dunno. There’s probably something to that as well. It’s true that learning is how myths get exaggerated and perpetuated. But it is NOT an explanation for why they arise to begin with. There is ALWAYS, in my opinion, some grain of truth, however deeply buried, behind folk wisdom.
Disclaimer: the things I have said are mostly coming from me, not from what I learned from doctors. Doctors are generally split into two camps: the cold-sickness connection is urban legend (those are the pretensious self-righteous types who get a kick out of thinking that everyone is wrong alex_d whistles and glances at the sky), and those who give the “lowers immune system” line. That latter explanation I find very lacking. Symptoms develop just too quick. One night is too quick, but yesterday I started getting a fever while being in a draft for a mere hour! The fever went away by the evening after I turned off the fan. Today the same thing happened this afternoon after an hour (I like my fresh air), and we’ll see if it goes away again. Also, there is a series of subtle arguments about the effects of cold and the role and cause of symptoms that leads me to think they’re just something the body throws at you out of whim to control your behavior. However, what there should be is a study which compares microorganism counts before and after a cold experience (ie before and after symptoms develop). If the numbers shoot up, it’s lowered defenses. If numbers stay the same, it’s the body’s whim.