Summer is the time of the constant struggle for the remote control from the air conditioner and the confrontation between those who are hot and those who are blowing. The latter often argue their position by the fact that this household appliance causes many diseases. We decided to check what diseases can actually provoke air conditioning and which ones could not.
Hot weather is a danger to the body. Long impact High temperatures leads to overheating and a heat impact, body temperature may increase from the heat, nausea, vomiting and headache, cramps, and even death occur. For example, abnormal heat in 2003 Conducted To the death of 70,000 people in 16 European countries, and the rise in temperature in May 2010 in India provoked mortality growth by 43.1%. Too high temperature in the living room worsens Sleep quality, Raises The risk of cardiovascular diseases, Increases stress level and even slight Raises The likelihood of adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as stillbirth or miscarriage. At the same time, how Showed The research of scientists from South Korea, those who have air conditioning at home or at work, during an abnormal heat in 2018, less likely from cardiovascular pathologies and neurological diseases compared to those who had no domestic device.
Is it true that you can get a cold from the air conditioner?
On the network you can meet many Internet storiesusers About how they Cooking under air conditioning. Describe Symptoms as follows: “A colds caused by hypothermia from the air conditioner at the initial stage (the first two or three days) is very similar to a viral infection and is accompanied by headache, weakness and aches throughout the body, drowsiness and constant feeling of fatigue, a slight increase in temperature, sneezing, rhinoma and pain in the throat, which make it difficult to swallow and take swallowing and difficult to swallow and take swallowing swallow food ".
Distributed beliefthat colds occur due to cooling the body, that is, hypothermia. However, this is not so. Cold, or ARVI (acute respiratory viral disease), arises Due to the ingress of a pathogenic virus, which is transmitted only from the carrier of the disease-with personal contact or through objects. That is, the air conditioner itself cannot lead to a cold, because it, unlike a sneezing and coughing person, does not spread viruses.
However, we do not live in a sterile environment and in one way or another we are in contact with a huge number of pathogenic microorganisms. Some of them are our immunity Successfully suppresses, the other part still becomes the cause of the disease. At the same time, the low air temperature and the general cooling of the body are customary to associate with a deterioration in the work immune system And, as a result, more exposed to various diseases.
In 2005, a group of scientists decided check, can cooling of the surface of the body provoke the development of a cold. They gained a group of 180 healthy volunteers, half of which they offered to lower their legs into a container with cold (+10 ° C) water for 20 minutes, the second half held his legs the same time in an empty capacity. In the first group about the symptoms of SARS, over the next five days, 13 people reported, and in the second - five. Scientists came to the conclusion that the difference in the number of cases is not indicative and cannot be unequivocally judged that it is cooling that causes symptoms of a cold.
In 2017, scientists were able to provethat at low temperatures, the body produces cytokines worse - substances responsible for the immune response. True, the experiment was carried out on the cell culture in vitro (in a test tube), that is, its results cannot be unequivocally transferred to the body as a whole. Moreover, a decrease in the level of cytokines occurred at a cell temperature in the range between +25 ° C and +33 ° C, and such a temperature of the whole body Threats First of all, not a cold, but death. And of course, the air conditioner is not able to radically reduce the temperature of our body.
In this case, there are separate researchdemonstrating that inhalation of cold air dries The mucous membranes of the respiratory tract, making them more susceptible to the penetration of viruses. And vice versa, more humid air Hare difficult Transfer, for example, the influenza virus. However, dry air in the room can be without air conditioning, that is, it will be incorrect to blame this device exclusively.
Thus, the air conditioner is not able to cause a cold or cool the body in such a way as to radically reduce the protective functions of immunity and make a person more prone to diseases. However, excessively dry air in the room, the cause of which, along with other factors, may be air conditioning, makes us more vulnerable to viruses and bacteria.
Most of the untruth
Is it true that you can get a tonsillitis from the air conditioner?
Forums And Media Also inclined blame Air conditioning in the occurrence of tonsillitis. For example, "arguments and facts" Published Material called "Angina from the air conditioner?", And "City News" set The question: "When will the air conditioner bring to Angina?"
Angina, or acute tonsillitis, is disease respiratory tract, most often Bacterial Nature (it is mainly caused by streptococci or staphylococci). In more rare cases, mushrooms and other pathogens can cause angina.
As in the case of SARS, in order to get a sore throat, several factors must coincide. The first and most important - contact (straight or through objects) with a sick person. Without a pathogen entering the body, the disease cannot develop in any case. At the same time, as already noted above, the air conditioner can lead to a decrease in humidity in the room, which, in turn, is associated with a greater susceptibility of mucous membranes to various pathogens. Thus, it is also incorrect to assign responsibility for sore throat only on air conditioning.
Most of the untruth
Is it true that the air conditioner can cause trigeminal neuralgia?
Another disease, V occurrence which are inclined blame Air conditioning is a trigeminal neuralgia. Users Bind painful Sensations in the area of the head and neck precisely with the fact that they “We sat Under the air conditioner ”and even drove in the summer in a car with open windows.
However, to blame air conditioning in the occurrence of trigeminal neuralgia is not worth it. Neuralgia arises Due to the compression of the nerve, a pathologically altered artery or vein, as well as a tumor or cyst. The disease is chronic with periodic exacerbations. According to the American Association of Neurosurgeons, reason The next exacerbation can be many actions that are familiar to any person: touching the skin of the face, washing, shaving, brushing teeth, a smile, conversation, applying makeup, consumption of hot or cold drinks or the impact of wind, including a breath from the air conditioner.
Thus, the air conditioner on the room itself will not be able to squeeze the nerve in such a way as to cause neuralgia. However, those who have already been diagnosed with this disease should protect the face from directed air flows, including from the wind and air conditioning. That is, in contrast to the cold and tonsillitis, where the air conditioner does not act as a trigger factor in the disease, but only indirectly affects the possibility of transmitting pathogens, in the case of trigeminal neuralgia, it may not start the disease itself, but its exacerbation.
Half truth
Is it true that in the room with a working air conditioner, the head can get sick?
Distributed alreadyE complaining To what Long Finding a room with air conditioning leads to a headache. About headache from the device operating in the machine Report Also motorists.
In order for the premises or car interior to cool thanks to the working air conditioner, it is recommended to close the windows and doors during its operation. Because of this, natural circulation of air is disturbed, oxygen becomes less, and more carbon dioxide-more. A condition arises in the body Hypoxia, one of the symptoms of which is a headache. Indian scientists Identified The pattern between the frequency of headache and the work in the room where the air conditioner constantly worked and there was no regular air exchange. At the same time, poor ventilation in itself has become the same provoking factor for headache. Thus, a headache was caused by a lack of oxygen, due to closed windows and doors, and not the household device itself.
Most of the untruth
Is it true that the air conditioner causes pneumonia?
Blame these Devices and in occurrence pneumonia or inflammation Light. Especially dangerous, according to statements users Forums, sleep in the room where the air conditioner works.
Although in recent years, we have most often meet with pneumonia caused by the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus, inflammation of the lungs can Call other pathogens (viruses, bacteria, fungi and even protozoa). Among the bacteria, it is especially worth noting Legionella Pneumophila, responsible for the severe form of bacterial pneumonia, also known as legionelles or legged disease. The most famous outbreak of illness occurred in 1976 in Philadelphia (USA) during the congress of the American Legion. The bacterium, as further studies showed, settled precisely in the hotel air conditioning system, in which the congress participants were placed.
Now Legionella Related To the so-called technogenic infections, since the main environment of its habitat is structures built by man with water tanks of a certain temperature, in particular industrial and domestic cooling systems, boiler and showers, jacuzzi and spa sites. The air conditioner colonized by the bacterium is a direct danger. Thus, this household appliance can be considered really capable of causing a bacterial form of pneumonia or the disease of legionnaires. Fortunately, most often the bacterium “chooses” industrial air conditioning systems installed in office buildings, and not individual devices located in apartments.
Most of the truth
Thus, the air conditioner can be directly responsible for only one disease of many who attribute it to him. Legionella pneumophila bacteria can really settle in the air conditioning system and cause severe pneumonia. But it is impossible to catch a cold, getting sick with tonsillitis or neuralgia because of the device itself. It is also worth noting that the use of the air conditioner can improve the condition of patients with bronchial asthma or allergies, and worsen It, if you do not clean the device in time and do not change the filters.
Read on the topic:
- Is it true that in the heat it is hotter to drink more useful than cold?
- Is it true that drinking cold and there is ice cream with colds?
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