Hey. I like to barefoot all the time in the summer and whenever its warm enough. In the winter I have to switch to wearing shoes 'cus of the weather. I still like to be barefoot inside my house though. I'm 17 live at home. My parents don't seem to approve of my barefeet and in the winter they say that my barefeet getting cold through walking on cold floors like tiles will cause me to get ill. Is their any/alot of truth in this? Thanks alot Dave
As long as you keep your main body warm enough, your paws will be just fine. I've never worn socks/slippers or anything inside during winter, really makes no sense.
Catching a cold by getting cold is a myth. The flu virus is transmitted by contact and as airborn particles. The reasons you are more likely to catch a cold in cold weather is quite simple. Firstly when it is cold and wet you are more likely to be in contact with a carrier of the virus exposing you to the risk. Have you ever wondered why school kids and their parents always seem to have colds? Also another theory. After a cold front has passed there is an increased risk of catching a cold. This is not because the air is cold. Behind the cold front is a dry conveyer where stratospheric air decends into the troposphere. Don't confuse this with the BS in "The Day After Tomorrow"! The fact that the air is dryer is all you need to worry about. The dry air drys out your nasal passages making them more prone to infection. The fact that cold fronts seem to dump a lot of rain and the air temperature drops (Quite dramatically sometimes) makes the connection that most people make. What ever you do don't believe any thing about decending stratospheric air and sudden drops in temperature from that film I mentioned. It doesn't work like that! If it did decend that quick the temperatures would be the exact opposite! Matt
If you get cold, you do increase your risk of getting a cold somewhat, but only because getting cold (a cold *core* temperature) strains your body. Getting cold feet does NOT influence this if you keep the rest of your body warm. There's been some recent research done, where they did tests by chilling people who had to put their feet in cold water, and this group was indeed more likely to catch a cold afterwards. If you read more detailed reports on this research, you'll see that what they measured was the test subjects' core temperature, and putting their feet into cold water just happened to be a convenient way to chill them. Unfortunately, several not-so-accurate newspapers reported this as 'cold feet cause colds'. They obviously didn't understand the true conclusions of the research! You can find a pretty good article about this at CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/11/14/cold.chill/index.html and if you've got a Pipeline subscription (it's more than a week old so it's not free anymore) be sure to check out the video too! In it, especially, the doctor explains clearly that they could've used any other method to chill the test subjects, that what mattered was the core temperature (measured at the nose) and NOT the cold feet themselves. Also there's my page at http://www.xs4all.nl/~myranya/bf_sickness.html that I've rewritten to include this recent research and all.
I had some pretty tough winters in Boston... When it's -10 fahrenheit outside and you're living in an old building, you keep your flip flops around... bare minimum...has nothing to do with anything except comfort. Cold floors suck! And that folks is why I now live in Orlando.
