Winter is on its way (to the Northern Hemisphere) and with it comes myths of the common cold. We all grow up with a variety of beliefs about the common cold that often differ from home to home, but the fact is, most of them are wrong. With this list we will help to educate everyone about the myths relating to the cold and flu and hopefully help us to be better prepared to cope with it in future.

10. Sweat it out

We have all done it - or at least seen others do it: covering up with extra blankets, sticking your head over a bowl of hot water - all in the hopes that we will sweat the cold out. Unfortunately, this does not work - it is completely ineffective. The only benefit this may have is to make you feel a little better (because it addresses the symptoms).

9. Flu Shot Dangers

This is a particularly odd myth - many people believe that you can catch a flu from the flu injection. This myth comes about from the misconception that the flu vaccine contains a weakened form of the flu virus. The vaccine actually includes only components of the virus, and not a complete version of it. Therefore, you won’t catch the flu from a flu shot.

8. Weak Immune System

A weakened immune system does not heighten the risks of catching a cold. Healthy and unhealthy people exhibit the same amount of susceptibility to colds in studies that have been done. Interestingly, the same study found that 95% of people who had the cold virus directly applied to their nasal membranes became infected, but only 75% of them exhibited any symptoms of the cold. This is called an “asymptomatic infection”.

7. Vitamin C

It is a myth that loads of vitamin c and zinc help to stave off (or cure) a cold. While it is often a good idea to take vitamin and mineral supplements, they have no effect on the cold virus. Once the cold hits, you are better off taking painkillers and waiting it out.

6. Winter Colds

Myth: most colds are caught in the Winter. Fact: most colds are caught in the Spring/Fall seasons and not Winter at all. This is because the virus becomes much more active in those seasons and seems to become largely dormant in the Winter.

5. Don’t Drink Milk

A lot of people think that drinking milk while you have a cold is a bad idea because it causes more mucous to build up. Actually, milk does not cause a build up of mucous at all - you can drink as much of it as you like and it will have no effect on your cold.

4. Cold Kissing

There is a popular myth that kissing a person with a cold will cause you to catch it. The reality is that the quantity of virus on the lips and mouth are miniscule and a much larger dose would be required for you to become infected. It is the nasal mucous you have to worry about - so no nose-kissing.

3. Cold Causes a Cold

I bet most people here have been told, at one time or another, not to go out with wet or damp hair, or to wrap up warm so you don’t catch cold. In fact, the body temperature (or ambient temperature) makes no difference at all. You catch a cold when you come into contact with the cold virus - once the virus gets into your system you will get sick. It doesn’t matter if you are hot, cold, warm, or dry.

2. Don’t Treat Cold Symptoms

Many people believe that the symptoms of a cold (running nose, coughing etc.) are designed to help us get over the sickness quickly - therefore they don’t believe that we should treat the symptoms with medicines. But the truth is that the symptoms not only make no difference to the duration of the cold, they can help spread the bug to other people - through noseblowing and coughing. You should take comfort in knowing that pain killers and other cold medicines will not only make the illness more tolerable, they will help to keep it contained.

1. Starve a Fever

I am sure that everyone has heard the phrase “starve a fever, feed a cold.” The fact is, it is completely untrue. Eating has no negative impact on the body when you are sick, in fact, the opposite is true. Food provides the body with fuel to cope with illness - so when we are sick, it is a good idea to eat healthy and well. I recommend a good bowl of chicken soup for a start!

冬季正信步走來（對于北半球而言），伴隨它一同進入大眾視線的是關于感冒的誤區。我們懷揣著對感冒的各種認識長大，各家有各家對于感冒的見解。但事實是，大部分是錯誤的。我們列出以下10個誤區是為了幫助糾正每個人對于感冒和流感所持有的錯誤認識，并且忠心希望能幫助我們大家武裝好自己，在未來的日子同感冒作斗爭。

10. 流汗的苦熬

我們都干過——或者至少看到別人這么干過：用毛毯蓋住腦袋正對一盆熱水——企圖能把感冒病毒通過流汗的方式排出體外。不幸的是，并不奏效——這種方法完全沒有用。它所僅有的好處就是這樣做或許會讓你覺得好受些（因其減輕了感冒癥狀）。

9. 注射流感疫苗存在隱患

這是個相當奇怪的錯誤認識——許多人認為流感疫苗注射可能讓你患流感。這個錯誤認識來源于一個錯誤概念，那就是流感疫苗中包含了流感病毒的一種弱化形式。事實上，疫苗里僅含有病毒的一些成分而非病毒的一種完整版本。因此，你是不會因注射流感疫苗而感染流感病毒的。

8. 弱免疫系統

一個弱免疫系統是不會增加感冒的感染可能性的。研究表明，健康之人與不健康之人表現出受感冒影響的程度是相同的。有趣的是，那項研究還發現，95%感染感冒病毒的人，他們的直接感染部位是鼻粘膜，但他們中僅75%的人表現出感冒的癥狀。這被稱作一次“無臨床癥狀的感染”。

7. 維生素C

另一個誤區是，大量維生素C和鋅的攝入能抵御（或治愈）感冒。雖然攝入維生素和礦物質通常是個保持健康的好方法，但對感冒病毒并不奏效。當感冒病毒侵入你的身體，最好的方法是定時吃藥，耐心等待身體復原。

6. 冬季感冒

誤區：大部分感冒感染于冬季。事實：大部分感冒感染于春秋季并非冬季。這是因為，在春秋季感冒病毒更活躍，而在冬季它們看起來更傾向于潛伏在人體內。

5. 勿飲牛奶

許多人認為感冒了喝牛奶是不對的，因為這樣會在你口腔內積聚更多粘稠液。事實上，牛奶并不會導致粘稠液的堆積——你可以想喝多少就喝多少，這對你的感冒沒有任何影響。

4. 感冒時接吻

另一大眾誤區是：與感冒之人接吻會讓你也被傳染到。事實是，嘴巴與嘴唇上的感冒病毒數量是極少的，而你感染到感冒需要大量的病毒量。鼻黏液才是你所要擔心的——所以切忌鼻吻。

3. 低溫導致感冒

我確信這里大多數人都曾聽過這樣的話：別濕著頭發出門，或是穿暖和些你就不會感冒了。事實上，體溫（或是周圍的溫度）對于感冒與否并無影響。當你接觸到感冒病毒時才會患感冒——一旦病毒進入你體內，你便會感覺不適。這跟你的熱、冷、暖、干并無關系。

2. 勿對感冒癥狀采取治療措施

許多人認為感冒癥狀（流涕，咳嗽等）有助于我們快速擺脫感冒——因此他們不認為需要藥物來緩解感冒癥狀。但事實是，癥狀不僅對感冒的持續時間沒有任何影響，它們還會把病毒傳染給他人——通過流涕和咳嗽的方式。你應該放輕松，相信止痛藥和其它感冒藥不僅能緩解不適的反應，還能減少相互傳染的幾率。

1. 挨餓治發燒

我敢肯定每個人都聽說過這樣一句話“挨餓治發燒，感冒勿飲食。”事實上，這大錯特錯了。感冒時，是禁食而非進食對你的身體有消極影響。食物能為你的身體提供對付感冒的能量——因此，感冒時健康且正常飲食是明智之舉。我建議大家可以從一碗雞湯開始。