To think sleeping with a window open is not what is causing my cough - argument between DM and I

[Miaowing]

HI,

I had a cold in June when I got back from holiday.. DEveloped into a bad cough. This is normal for me. Everytime I get a lurgy I get a cough that lasts for weeks. Very rarely does it become a chest infection - its just a damn cough. This has happened for about 15 years.

Early September, someone in the office brought in a bad virus and I caught the lurgy;. This really annoyed me since the client I'm working with has no problem with WFH so there was no reason to come in ill. Guess what, bad cough again.

Now, here is the AIBU and the poll.

I have, for the last 17 years, slept with my window open. I run hot as does my DH and I actually like being cold - especially with a duvet to snuggle into. It can be -10 outside and we will still have the window open.

Staying with mother during the week for work. My cough was dying off then night before last it was quite bad through the night.

Got a lecture from my mother - its sleeping with the window open when its cold and damp, thats good for no mans chest. However she is also of the opinion that going out with wet hair causes a cold (it doesnt - cold is a virus).

AIBU - it is the window causing me to still cough
AINBU - my mother is full of old wives horse shit

I always used to get bad coughs that lasted weeks after a cold. At age 40 I was diagnosed with cough variant asthma.

I also always sleep with the window open, I can't get to sleep otherwise.
It doesn't affect my cough. More likely to be a change of environment, different dust or pollen or just coincidence.

I think sleeping in a dry stale-aired room is much more likely to give you a cough. Obviously if the air outside is poor-quality having the window open won’t help if you have chest problems.

if only there was some way you could test if having the window closed helped your cough...

I can't think how you could possibly find out.

Is there a way?

I am pretty sure that it's way better for you to sleep with the window open to let some fresh air circulate through the stuffy room overnight.

ignore your DM - mine says the same.

@PigletJohn

If I close the window I won't sleep! I'd have to have the fan on because I hate still air.

And all summer I kept getting lectures from DM about people who sleep with fans getting sick more often.

So it wouldnt prove anything.

All windows open here in the day upstairs and downstairs and bedroom windows open over night, no coughs here.

YANBU

One night last year we slept with window open as usual. Woke up to snow in the bedroom.
No cough though!!
We both have asthma and window open is beneficial ime!!
Stuffy /hot room makes me headachey.

Yabu. Obviously a spider climbed Into the bedroom through the open window. You inhaled it into your lungs whilst sleeping. It’s laid spider eggs in your lungs and that’s what is causing the coughing.

Simples!!!

I have the same problem.

I imagine it is something at your mum's house that has aggravated it, something that might well be outside, which then causes phlegm and sits on your chest which then causes you to cough.

No idea but I have the same problem with getting coughs!

I have had 4 colds in 4 months and it’s developed again into a nasty cough- bringing up phelgm and being sick sometimes. I’m off work again as I can’t see clients in this state.

For me it usually happens when my immune system is low. I’ve only been back at work a few months after mat leave and DD is at nursery so I’m catching everything.

I’ve got loads of vitamins to take. Hoping I can stop catching so many colds. Coughs are the worst. And I sleep with my window closed and always blow dry my hair!

I have the same need to have the window either wide open or at least ajar, depending on the temperature outside, all year round. It has never caused me to cough. But I HAVE developed issues from people insisting the window is closed, and I've had a very stuffy head and nose as a result.

No, open windows don't cause colds, an open window isn't a virus.

www.bbc.com/future/story/20120305-youll-catch-a-cold-with-wet-hair

Your Mum may be sort of correct about the wet hair link. I remembered this study. Wet hair doesn't cause the cold but it may trigger an already present flu virus to cause symptoms.

I'm the same I prefer to sleep with the window open too. Try a salt lamp next to your bed to help with your chest. I have them in all our rooms and leave them on all night if someone has a cold. Get one with a dimmer switch. We love ours.

Like you @yugi I also had this problem and was also diagnosed with cough variant asthma, oddly enough, also at age 40. I have a pulmicort inhaler which I take when I have a cold. My mum also has a ton of those bullshit theories, I don't know what it's about, just ignore.

Your cough might be asthma. Asthma can present as a cough without wheezing or breathing difficulties. I developed it aged 40. It always gets worse after a cold. since dust is a major trigger it makes sense to have fresh air.

Sounds like cough variant asthma to me and nothing to do with having the window open at night, how does an open window lead to a cough?

Going out with wet hair can add to the chances of you not fighting off the cold virus. This old wives tale was proven true, being cold lowers are immune system. It was Doctors who told us are babies were born blind and needed feeding only every four hours.

However sleeping with a window open isn't causing your cough.

Sleeping in a draft can cause issues and pre the 90's, for many, we didn't need to open a window because we didn't have central heating and double glazing. Given the times, the sayings and advice made sense.

we have a family member with very bad lung disease and almost constant cough, that gets worse at many times of year, ( often on steroids, takes oxygen almost all of the day, etc) anyway medical advice has always been that open windows are to be avoided, that its important to keep the temperature thoughout house as even as possible as cold air will trigger cough reflex, so heating has to come on in house during night when its getting cold, and relative often sleeps sitting propped up as being prone will trigger cough reflex. That said medical advice is also to try get some exercise daily in form of a short walk without oxygen, so there are some contraditions but generally we have been told taht goinhg from warm sitting room to cold bathroom will make coughing worse so all internall doors are to be kept open and no windows open.

I go out with wet hair every single day. Have for over 40 years.
Never had a single cold. Ever.

I have cough variant asthma and go out with wet hair and always have done. It’s cold air temperature that is one of my major triggers, not wet hair.

I know you said you stayed with your mother recently for work and she may have noticed the open windows then. But otherwise, why discuss it with her? Just nod and smile and say you now keep the windows shut thanks to her sage advice.