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!

冬季正信步走来（对于北半球而言），伴随它一同进入大众视线的是关于感冒的误区。我们怀揣着对感冒的各种认识长大，各家有各家对于感冒的见解。但事实是，大部分是错误的。我们列出以下10个误区是为了帮助纠正每个人对于感冒和流感所持有的错误认识，并且忠心希望能帮助我们大家武装好自己，在未来的日子同感冒作斗争。

10. 流汗的苦熬

我们都干过——或者至少看到别人这么干过：用毛毯盖住脑袋正对一盆热水——企图能把感冒病毒通过流汗的方式排出体外。不幸的是，并不奏效——这种方法完全没有用。它所仅有的好处就是这样做或许会让你觉得好受些（因其减轻了感冒症状）。

9. 注射流感疫苗存在隐患

这是个相当奇怪的错误认识——许多人认为流感疫苗注射可能让你患流感。这个错误认识来源于一个错误概念，那就是流感疫苗中包含了流感病毒的一种弱化形式。事实上，疫苗里仅含有病毒的一些成分而非病毒的一种完整版本。因此，你是不会因注射流感疫苗而感染流感病毒的。

8. 弱免疫系统

一个弱免疫系统是不会增加感冒的感染可能性的。研究表明，健康之人与不健康之人表现出受感冒影响的程度是相同的。有趣的是，那项研究还发现，95%感染感冒病毒的人，他们的直接感染部位是鼻粘膜，但他们中仅75%的人表现出感冒的症状。这被称作一次“无临床症状的感染”。

7. 维生素C

另一个误区是，大量维生素C和锌的摄入能抵御（或治愈）感冒。虽然摄入维生素和矿物质通常是个保持健康的好方法，但对感冒病毒并不奏效。当感冒病毒侵入你的身体，最好的方法是定时吃药，耐心等待身体复原。

6. 冬季感冒

误区：大部分感冒感染于冬季。事实：大部分感冒感染于春秋季并非冬季。这是因为，在春秋季感冒病毒更活跃，而在冬季它们看起来更倾向于潜伏在人体内。

5. 勿饮牛奶

许多人认为感冒了喝牛奶是不对的，因为这样会在你口腔内积聚更多粘稠液。事实上，牛奶并不会导致粘稠液的堆积——你可以想喝多少就喝多少，这对你的感冒没有任何影响。

4. 感冒时接吻

另一大众误区是：与感冒之人接吻会让你也被传染到。事实是，嘴巴与嘴唇上的感冒病毒数量是极少的，而你感染到感冒需要大量的病毒量。鼻黏液才是你所要担心的——所以切忌鼻吻。

3. 低温导致感冒

我确信这里大多数人都曾听过这样的话：别湿着头发出门，或是穿暖和些你就不会感冒了。事实上，体温（或是周围的温度）对于感冒与否并无影响。当你接触到感冒病毒时才会患感冒——一旦病毒进入你体内，你便会感觉不适。这跟你的热、冷、暖、干并无关系。

2. 勿对感冒症状采取治疗措施

许多人认为感冒症状（流涕，咳嗽等）有助于我们快速摆脱感冒——因此他们不认为需要药物来缓解感冒症状。但事实是，症状不仅对感冒的持续时间没有任何影响，它们还会把病毒传染给他人——通过流涕和咳嗽的方式。你应该放轻松，相信止痛药和其它感冒药不仅能缓解不适的反应，还能减少相互传染的几率。

1. 挨饿治发烧

我敢肯定每个人都听说过这样一句话“挨饿治发烧，感冒勿饮食。”事实上，这大错特错了。感冒时，是禁食而非进食对你的身体有消极影响。食物能为你的身体提供对付感冒的能量——因此，感冒时健康且正常饮食是明智之举。我建议大家可以从一碗鸡汤开始。