To not understand colds?

[ivytable]

Everyone around me says that colds spread from one person to the next. One cannot catch a cold by not wearing enough clothes.

Every time I'm not dressed according to weather ie hat and scarf in windy/freezing weather, I end up with sore throat, sometimes accompanied with runny nose and/or headaches for days.

Just this weekend I went for a walk along the beach with no hat and scarf on. Didn't interact with anyone, didn't sit down to have a coffee etc. It was very windy so I now have a headache and sore throat.

What is it called if it's not a cold?

I've never got this either.

Well colds have an incubation period (usually of a few days) so you will have just caught it a few days ago from someone and are now showing symptoms which happens to coincide with you going for a walk. Fairly straightforward.
They are caused by germs, not wind.

Perhaps you caught the bugs from someone and they just got carried around not making you ill cos they don't get a hold till you are a bit weak from being cold? (I am not a scientist or doctor so those that can laugh lots at my idea...I don't mind)

If the cold wind whistles around your ears you can get a headache. Not an illness.

If you have a cold, it's a virus and you caught it from someone. And you don't need to have spoken to someone. Touched a door handle then your face? Bingo!

I have heard that the cold virus is more likely to thrive once it reaches you if you are cold (or have a cold nose) so that could be why if you don't wrap up warm in cold weather you get more colds. This could be an old wives tale but I can't remember where I heard it!
I used to get a lot of colds, I get them a lot less frequently now I make a point of wearing a scarf whenever I go out usually from around September to March time. I started doing this about 5 years ago after having something like 6 different bouts of colds one winter. Now I'll get one if that.

Actually if we only interacted with people in the cold air, we'd all be less full of cold because the germs would die. It's actually central heating and close proximity that do for you.

This could be an old wives tale but I can't remember where I heard it! This is actually true. However, not as the OP describes it. Cold bugs (like sperm) like it just a little colder than body temperature. So your cold nose is a lovely petri dish to them.

Nothing to do with walking in the cold air and then immediately feeling bad.

Headaches can be caused by the cold, sore throats can be caused by your throat drying out in strong winds (especially around salt water) - a cold is a viral infection which you pick up from another person.

If your sinuses are a bit prone to inflammation then being out in the cold without wrapping up to keep pulse points & your scalp warm and protecting your face then you will have sniffles, cough, possibly headaches and sinus pain for a few days afterwards. It's not the same as a virus going to work on you though (which is not to say it's any less unpleasant, just different).

Frankly whatever causes it, it sucks.

I get a stinking sinus headache if I go out in cold, windy weather without a warm hat, as does my mum. I always wrap up - warm coat, hat, scarf and gloves in winter, hood or brolly in wet weather, and I rarely get colds. I think there is something in being cold making you more vulnerable to colds, really I do.

I didn't think I'd imagined it!

I do find that if I go out in cold weather, I do get a running nose etc for a while after, and sometimes sinus pain- but not an actual cold, just coldish symptoms for a bit.

Thanks all, makes a little more sense now!

My mum used to think this too.

She had a cold once that went on her chest and developed into a chest infection. When at the doctors she told the GP she'd first caught it after going out with wet hair from a quick shower.

The GP told her she was more likely to catch a cold from sitting on a packed bus than she was for going out with wet / damp hair because = germs.

Although I do think if you're run down to begin with you're more likely to catch it.

well, we are attacked exposed to lots of bacteria and viruses every day.
usually our bodies are very good at defending us against them, either by 'knowing' the disease (through vaccination for example) and just shrugging it off or by not letting bugs past the defences (the tonsil's job for example).
but our bodies can only defend properly if we are strong. as soon as defences are down (stress, poor sleep, getting too cold) infections can strike.