Misconceptions About Getting Sick

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Mental Floss presents the latest in their ongoing video series on misconceptions about various topics. This episode concerns getting sick. Want to hear their take on vaccinations? Are you interested in whether those bits of advice from mom about ways to prevent or put a premature end to colds and flu have any merit? Then check it out.


Newest 4
Newest 4 Comments

Dion Chan, I agree that Mental Floss including #10 with #4 is confusing. My interpretation of the point they're trying to drive home is that above all, the virus causes the cold. Whether the immune system is strong or weak, no cold happens without a person being infected. Yet some people walk around as carriers, infected but not showing symptoms. Whether they will show symptoms depends on more factors than one. One factor is the immune system, but it is not the only factor. When you add in #10, "You MUST have a weak immune system if you catch a cold," that is false because one can show symptoms of a cold simply by being infected with the virus. So that's how I understood it; perhaps someone more knowledgeable will read this and stop by to provide their take on it. I agree with you, they muddied the waters a bit there.

With regard to what rcxb said, it's true that the two videos cite conflicting studies. The study this video cites for number four is here. In fact, that study agrees with a brand new one conducted at Yale University that was just published last week, which is here.. So perhaps that line of thought currently has the edge? I don't know. I do know that our readers are intelligent and they know that nothing posted here is intended as a medical directive, and that it pays to be skeptical concerning just about everything.
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Did anyone else find misconception 4: "cold feet bath lowers immune system which lead to more cold cases" and misconception 10:"immune system has little to do with whether you get a cold" are contradictory?
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