Colds and the City
In more ways than one, city life and health don’t seem compatible. In particular, living and (or) working in the city can actually make you sick.
DNAIndia (for Daily News and Analysis - India) lists several factors that cause Indians (and maybe other city-dwellers the world over) to be more susceptible to colds:
- Weather change. Weather changes always affect health as it takes time for the body to acclimatize itself with the changing environment
- Pollution. Research has proved that pollution is definitely one of the risk factors for common cold and fever.
- Work environment. The main culprit in offices is the air conditioning system. Many offices use old air conditioners, which do not have a filter system. They simply recycle the air as opposed to filtering it
- Self-medication. the biggest grouse of doctors are patients who practice self-medication. Self-medication leads to people experimenting with too many drugs.
- Self-styled experts. The need (care providers need to learn new techniques to tackle ailments) is more acute now because the bugs are getting smarter and drug resistance is on the rise.
So I say, let’s all migrate to the country and breathe in more fresh air!
Tags: colds, city, dwelling, trigger, weather, pollution, lifestyle
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POSTED IN: Family and Home, Infectious Diseases
2 opinions for Colds and the City
Marijke
Feb 22, 2008 at 12:36 pm
One thing that *dramatically* cut the number of colds in my house was a very simple solution. We, of course, all have our own toothbrush, but we were sharing the toothpaste tube.
I bought everyone their own tube of toothpaste and you wouldn’t believe the difference in made in not just cold contamination but other viruses too.
Grace
Feb 24, 2008 at 4:34 pm
No way! I wouldn’t have thought of that, but that does make sense. Now I wonder what other ’shared’ stuff in our homes are homes to viruses and microbes…
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