Here Are 6 Old Wives Tales About The Monsoons We Need To Stop Believing
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Let’s face it. There’s a lot of illogical information that gets passed around during the monsoon and with the season approaching soon, it’s time we debunked some of them. While the monsoons can aggravate an already existing cold, it will not give you a cold as it is a virus that gets passed on through contact with a sick individual. While you’re probably especially worried as COVID-19 is already spreading around in countries and the symptoms are often similar to the common flu, there is no need to panic. As long as you stay indoors, stay healthy, and maintain personal hygiene you can avoid catching the virus as social distancing is the only way to flatten the curve. So here are a few common old wives tales about falling sick during the monsoons, debunked (1):
1. Don’t Eat Seafood
Well, the real reason fishermen prefer not fishing during the monsoon season is because it is breeding season for most varieties of fish. However, eating seafood cannot make you sick unless you eat it raw without cooking. The safest thing to do is to purchase your meat and seafood from a trusted local source or a supermarket (2).
2. Curd Will Get You Sick
This common myth is similar to the myth about ice creams giving you colds. Reiterating the point stated in the first paragraph that the only thing that can actually cause a cold is catching the virus from an infected person. While cold items like ice cream and yogurt can aggravate a sore throat it cannot cause a cold. It is advisable however to avoid cold items once you discover that you have a cold but apart from aggravating your symptoms, no other harm would be caused (3).
3. Vegetables Are A Big No-No
While the excessive moisture in the air can cause your veggies to decay faster, washing your produce immediately after you reach home in clean water will get rid of any pesticides and other chemicals. Once you’ve washed the veggies thoroughly, you must store them in airtight ziplock containers in your fridge. This will increase their lifespan a lot. Eating raw vegetables without thoroughly cooking or boiling them during the monsoons, however, is not advisable (4).
4. Swimming During Monsoons Is Bad
Swimmers rejoice for there is such a thing known as “indoor pools”! Most pools are well aware of the fact that monsoons can lead to contaminated water if not cleaned thoroughly enough and thus will either shut for the season or amp up their cleaning methods. It’s okay to swim in light rain as well considering you’re already wet. However, swimming during heavy rain is not advisable as water can get into your eyes and nose and might lead to drowning (5).
5. Chicken Soup Will Cure Your Cold
Chicken soup is not medicine. A cold usually resolves on its own as most of us already have antibodies present to fight it off, or it can be resolved quickly through medicines. While it can soothe symptoms of a cold, chicken soup alone simply cannot cure a cold overnight. However, the heat of the soup can make your throat feel better and the protein in the meat can help keep you feel full for a longer period of time (7).
6. Wet Hair Will Give You A Cold
Just walking around with wet hair cannot give you a cold because once again, it is a virus. Wet hair coupled with low immunity however can make you more susceptible to acquiring it from an infected person. Since the monsoons are cold, it’s always advisable to wear warm clothing as your body is probably already weak from lack of sun exposure. However, if you’re just chilling inside your own house with the fan on and wet hair, you cannot simply come down with a cold (8).
While a lot of these myths are sort of ingrained into our heads by our mothers and grandmothers, we should try to look for more logical and scientific explanations to them. While some of these myths are partially true, most can easily be debunked as people in their generation did not understand exactly how viruses work. And many times, our mothers would tell us not to eat ice cream because we probably already had a cold and they did not want us to aggravate it further.
Do let us know if any of these myths came across as a shocker to you or if you had previously believed in them in the comment section below. Share this article if you learned something new!
