# Is being a little cold unhealthy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2017, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-little-cold-unhealthy/786486 "2017-05-12T21:22:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blueslipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@blueslipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blueslipper)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-little-cold-unhealthy/786486/1 "2017-05-12T21:22:39Z")
I didn’t bring my jacket yesterday when going to work. I had to walk about ten minutes to my work. It was around seven Celsius - 45 Fahrenheit. Is this unhealthy for me? At all or in the future? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-little-cold-unhealthy/786486/2 "2017-05-12T21:29:58Z")
It can increase the risk of a heart attack (cold restricts blood vessels putting a strain on your cardiovascular system) so that’s definitely a potential problem. ---
**Author:** ![blueslipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@blueslipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blueslipper)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-little-cold-unhealthy/786486/3 "2017-05-12T21:34:03Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > It can increase the risk of a heart attack (cold restricts blood vessels putting a strain on your cardiovascular system) so that’s definitely a potential problem. Do you mean in that ten minutes or is that permanent? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-little-cold-unhealthy/786486/4 "2017-05-12T21:38:49Z")
To make it clear: Spending ten minutes in uncomfortably cool weather in insufficient clothing isn’t risky if you’re a normally healthy person. Spending ten minutes in frigid weather without a coat might be pushing it, especially if there’s a high wind or blowing snow which makes you wet. Going for a swim and walking around outside in wet clothes would be a monumentally stupid idea, but likely survivable. If you’re out long enough, you can become hypothermic and risk losing extremities as your body focuses on keeping your core warm at the expense of everything else. Ten minutes isn’t going to do that. Realistically? It isn’t a significant risk for anyone who is otherwise healthy. I wouldn’t want to get wet outside in weather like that, but even that isn’t necessarily a significant risk if you can get to warm conditions quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-little-cold-unhealthy/786486/5 "2017-05-12T21:39:30Z")
> [@blueslipper](#): > > Do you mean in that ten minutes or is that permanent? In that 10 minutes, especially if you’re engaged in heavy exercise. Like the common reports of people dying of heart attacks while shoveling snow. A long term effect would be dry skin for the parts you’d have covered with a jacket, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-little-cold-unhealthy/786486/6 "2017-05-12T22:20:53Z")
Long term exposure to cold can weaken your immune system. Short exposures like ten minutes or so aren’t harmful, as long as you are reasonably healthy (as was already mentioned). I have a fairly decent tolerance for cold (I don’t even own a winter jacket - when it snows a I wear a sweat jacket to work). Going ten minutes at 45 deg F without a jacket is normal for me. I wouldn’t even think twice about it. If it’s going to be longer than ten minutes then I’d probably put on a light sweat jacket. ---
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-little-cold-unhealthy/786486/7 "2017-05-12T22:55:56Z")
Your body will tell you what’s going on. If you’re not shivering, you’re not really cold. If you shiver a little and then stop, your’re cold but you’re coping. If you’re shivering uncontrollably, you’re in trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-little-cold-unhealthy/786486/8 "2017-05-13T07:45:44Z")
Until recently, in a part of Britain ( other parts get much colder ), 45 Fahrenheit was the average temperature in the day. It’s 54 today. It didn’t feel cold at all, so evidently one can survive it. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-little-cold-unhealthy/786486/9 "2017-05-13T11:57:13Z")
heart attacks ? its just the straw that broke the camels back. They are better off doing more excercise , such as the 10 minute walk to and from work , than sitting inside getting fat, and creating blood clots in the legs. walking is keeping the blood in the legs flowing, and creating lots of warmth. 10 minutes isn’t enough to create a windburn effect. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-little-cold-unhealthy/786486/10 "2017-05-13T14:54:23Z")
I never wear a coat, whether it is 115 outside or 30 below 0 (Fahrenheit, of course. Wyoming is great for temperature variance…) I keep a coat in the car for emergencies during the winter, of course. Granted, I don’t spend large amounts of time outside. I’m still alive and seldom get sick. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-little-cold-unhealthy/786486/11 "2017-05-14T02:21:31Z")
The 10 minutes walking, if the OP does that every day, probably does more good for his heart than any risk to his heart from the slightly cold-restricted blood vessels.