Whether it's the cold or flu, a scientific breakthrough was just announced on the real
reason so many of us get sick in the winter.
And it turns out, Mom was right when she said to wrap up that head and put a scarf around
your nose and neck.
EBC 3340's Bobbie Portavant joins us with details into a recent study.
Bobbie, this study revealed what cold air does to our nostrils.
Brenda found that the study says that the temperature in our noses plays a big part
in why we get sick during winter months.
During cold and flu season,
how do you bundle up?
We like to wear sweaters, scarves.
Actually, I just brought out all my beanies,
but do you protect your nose?
I I don't cover my face.
I guess would say after like the
pandemic and such a little bit more so now.
A new study in the Journal of Allergy
and Clinical Immunology suggests you
should keep your nose warm to fight
off flu, COVID and colds.
The study gets inside the nose like
never before. Doctor Colleen Donahue
with Ascension Saint Vincent's
Primary Care Vestavia was not part
of the study but caused the findings
exciting and wants to see more.
So I think we've known a lot about the nose being a source of protection and that it can do a lot of
great things, but I do think getting down to that in the weeds and in that minutia detail is what is new.
The study has to do with what
chilly air does to your nostrils.
If the temperature falls by as little
as 9 degrees inside the nose,
killing nearly half of its virus
and bacteria fighting cells,
making it easier for you to get sick.
Some doctors in our area
say the study makes sense.
I think that kind of helps to understand that masks, why they, you know, why they were found to be helpful during COVID.
I think some of it could remind people that the masking may actually have been more helpful
than we thought, not just to prevent things coming into your face, right, but
it may create a little bit of a warmth barrier that way.
Now that study was released today, it should be noted that the study was done not on people
but on human tissues in a lab. Brenda?
Bobby Portavant reporting.