{"id":88550,"date":"2014-01-21T09:20:40","date_gmt":"2014-01-21T14:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=88550"},"modified":"2014-01-23T09:46:44","modified_gmt":"2014-01-23T14:46:44","slug":"are-temperature-swings-bad-for-your-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2014\/01\/are-temperature-swings-bad-for-your-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Temperature Swings Bad for Your Health?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Students<\/a>
Students bundle up to keep warm while walking to classes on a snowy winter day. (Ariel Dowski ’14 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When the temperature tops out in the single digits just a day after highs in the 40s, it\u2019s time to bundle up.<\/p>\n

But the drastic temperature shift doesn\u2019t in itself make you more prone to getting sick, according to Dr. Rebecca Andrews, a primary care physician at UConn Health.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis winter especially has reminded us how quickly the temperature can drop,\u201d says Andrews. \u201cIf you\u2019re not dressed for winter, you\u2019re putting yourself at risk for frostbite when the temperature drops.\u201d<\/p>\n

The frigid conditions in and of themselves do little to threaten the immune system of most, she says. But the secondary effects can.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember, the colder it is outside, the more we tend to stay inside, where the air is warm and comfortable but also dry,\u201d Andrews says. \u201cIndoor heat can dry out your nose and mouth, making them less effective in protecting from infection. But that\u2019s not due to the temperatures changes themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other thing about being indoors, especially when people are together in relatively small spaces, is it can become a breeding ground for germs,\u201d she continues. \u201cWe can have thousands of virus particles on our body. All you have to do is touch your face \u2026 now you potentially are leaving germs on anything you touch. They can get passed to the next person who touches the door knob or light switch, and so on. You can see how easy it is to spread a virus like a cold or flu.\u201d<\/p>\n

Public health data show influenza to be widespread in Connecticut this flu season, and the predominant strain involved in the influenza activity nationally is attributed to the H1N1 flu first introduced as swine flu in 2009, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good news is, this year\u2019s flu vaccine contains the H1N1 strain,\u201d says Andrews. \u201cAll the more reason to get your flu shot if you haven\u2019t already. There are Americans in their 40s and younger, generally healthy, in hospitals with the flu, a majority of whom did not get their flu vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n

It generally takes two weeks for the protective effects from the flu shot to start to take hold.<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

Follow the <\/i>UConn Health Center<\/i><\/a> on <\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a> and <\/i>YouTube<\/i><\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the temperature shifts 40 degrees in a day, you should obviously dress for winter. But it\u2019s not the temperature that will make you sick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":88053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[57,2010],"class_list":["post-88550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uconn-health","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-05 16:33:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88550"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88553,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88550\/revisions\/88553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/88053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88550"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=88550"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=88550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}