Every summer, it seems like the cruel hand of fate plays its final card. There you are, packed and ready for some fun summer adventure, ready to go enjoy the beautiful weather, when out of nowhere you get it: the summer cold. Now you’re sick and the cold just won’t go away. It lingers on, taunting you, and ruins all your fun plans.
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If you’ve ever thought that summer colds were worse than winter ones, you would be correct. Turns out, they really are the worst type of cold.
While you are (thankfully) less likely to catch a cold during the summer months, those colds are particularly rough because of the types of viruses associated with summertime colds. While winter colds tend to dole out flu-symptoms, in the summertime, those viruses that give you those aforementioned symptoms are joined by the dreaded enterovirus, which can give a whole range of messy symptoms.
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Although most of the pain from summer colds come from the afflicting viruses, part of the severity of the summer cold is actually psychosomatic. According to Ronald Eccles, Director of the Common Cold Institute at the University of Cardiff, some of the association with summer colds being worse than winter colds does come from our perception that colds aren’t supposed to happen to us during warmer weather months.
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Plus, they tend to stick around and make you suffer. According to Dr. Bruce Hirsch, summer colds really do last longer than their winter counterparts and have higher rates of recurrence. One of the main reasons why people stay sicker in the summer is because of typical summertime activities, like being outdoors and air-conditioning.
As the weather begins to heat back up, make sure you’re taking steps to avoid catching a dreaded summer cold. Stay healthy, Spooners!