The Nuance
Can Temperature Swings Really Make You Sick?
What warm spells and cold snaps mean for your health
Global warming continues to push the mercury up across the planet. But even before climate scientists started sounding alarms about rising temperatures, winter warm spells were a well-known phenomenon. According to the Farmers’ Almanac, brief winter warm-ups often happen during the last week of January.
While most people appreciate a break from the cold weather, some may have noticed an uptick in common colds and other health complaints during these warm spells. This association isn’t backed up by much hard data. But experts say there’s reason to believe that drastic seasonal temperature changes could leave some people more susceptible to infections.
“Nothing affects everybody the same way, but some individuals seem to have an immune response to big changes in temperature or barometric pressure,” says Dr. Bradley Chipps, past president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, and medical director of respiratory therapy at Sutter Health in Sacramento.
Exposure to outdoor allergens may have a lot to do with this. One 2018 study in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology found an association between thunderstorms and asthma attacks. The…
