[Captain Obvious]

So I just got off the phone with my Grams and I told her I have had a bad cold for a couple days. She suggested I sweat it out by drinking a hot tea and layering up on clothes so I sweat profusely which would in turn push out the cold.

Now like many grandmothers she has a whole slew of nonscientific remedies for everything under the sun. But I was wondering if there was any truth to "sweating out a cold" I know the virus tends to inhabit the nasopharynx partly because it has a slightly lower temp than the rest of the body. So if one were to raise their overall body temperature wouldn't it also make the nasopharynx less hospitable to the virus?

[RAILhead]

Don't forget to drink the water gathered in a stump under a full moon. That's another one.

But yeah, your Grams is right: speed-up the fever -- just make sure you don't get it too high -- and your body'll burn up the infection.

[cgc]

I actually sweat out colds. Not sure why but it does seem to help. Plus I usually guzzle some Country Style Tropicana orange juice. Here are a couple things I found:

Originally Posted by http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060906131204AA8xtl3

I was raised on that remedy and have to say it has merit. Our "hot toddy" was a mixture of hot tea, lemon, and a shot of whiskey or rum. While we are both very healthy so we don't get colds much now, I have used it on my husband and myself when we do get colds, and IT WORKS!

There is some scientific logic behind sweating out a cold. A fever is merely your body's way of creating an environment unfavorable to viruses which can only survive in a very narrow temperature range. By artificially raising the body's temperature, you are creating that same environment...only more so.

Originally Posted by http://www.hhmi.org/cgi-bin/askascientist/highlight.pl?kw=&file=answers%2Fgeneral%2Fans_037. html

Why do we feel cold when we have a fever?

Provided by Jonathan Blum, M.D., Ph.D., Division of Infectious Disease, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School
(former HHMI physician postdoctoral fellow)

The hypothalamus, a part of the brain just above the pituitary gland, contains the body's "thermostat." It senses the temperature of the blood and compares it with a "setpoint"—the desired temperature. If the actual temperature differs from the setpoint, it tries to adjust the temperature. This is similar to what a thermostat in your house or car does. However, it can't just turn on the furnace or the air conditioner. Instead, it sends out signals that cause us to sweat if we are too hot or to shiver if we are too cold. (Sweating cools the body as the sweat evaporates; shivering warms the body, because much of the energy used by shivering muscles is converted to heat.) In addition, it causes us to feel uncomfortable, which prompts us to seek out a source of heat or cold. For example, if your body temperature is too low, you'll look for a warmer place or some blankets. If it's too high, you'll look for a cooler spot or reduce your exercise level (since exercise generates heat).

When you develop a fever, the body sends signals to the hypothalamus that tells it to raise the setpoint to a higher temperature. Often, but not always, this is a response to an infection, such as a bacterium or a virus. The immune cells that respond to the infection secrete molecules called "endogenous pyrogens." (Endogenous means made by the body, and a pyrogen is something that causes the temperature to rise.) The endogenous pyrogens travel through the blood and reach the hypothalamus, where they cause the setpoint to increase. Once that happens, the hypothalamus tells the body, "You're too cold." Remember that the temperature may be normal in this situation, but what matters is that the temperature is lower than the setpoint, which has been raised. So you feel cold, get under the blankets, and shiver.

A while later, when the temperature has risen to the setpoint, the hypothalamus sends out the signal, "Your temperature is fine now." Then you no longer feel cold and often throw off some of the blankets. And when the fever "breaks," the level of endogenous pyrogens decreases, the hypothalamus changes its setpoint back to normal, and now the elevated temperature again seems too hot. Suddenly you start to sweat and throw off all the blankets! Soon this leads to a decrease in temperature back to the normal setpoint, and you feel normal again.

So you actually feel coldest when the temperature is starting to rise and hottest when it's starting to fall. This seems strange, but it's all the hypothalamus's way of getting you to alter your behavior to change the temperature to a new setpoint. When your temperature is at the setpoint—whatever it is—you tend to feel normal, even if the actual temperature is high. What you perceive is not the temperature itself, but the difference between the setpoint and the actual temperature.

Elevated temperature resulting from exercise (such as heat exhaustion) is different. In this situation, the body temperature rises because of hot weather or heavy exercise. Because the body is not producing pyrogens, the hypothalamus does not raise its setpoint. So people whose temperature rises during exercise typically feel hot, not cold, because their temperature is above the setpoint. (In heatstroke, they may not feel hot, but that's because the temperature is so high that the hypothalamus actually malfunctions.)

When my patients come to me and say they've had a fever, the first thing I ask them is, "What do you mean?" Often people think they should feel warm when they have a fever, but as you've pointed out, as the temperature goes up, they feel cold, and when it stays high, they may feel normal (until it falls). So I always ask about their symptoms and whether they've actually measured their temperature. In my experience, most patients are not very good at knowing when they've had a fever. I also ask if they've had shakes or chills or if they've had sweats—all signs of changing temperatures. Of course, people may shake from fear or sweat from exercise, so the answers have to be interpreted in terms of the whole situation.

Why do we have fevers? The most likely answer is that fever represents part of the body's immune response to infections and that it is somehow involved in controlling the infection. The details of this are not fully understood. The point is that the fever is generally not harmful in itself, unless it's very high.

Originally Posted by http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2001/12/wives.html

A: You can’t starve a cold to death. Neither can you drown it, blast it with pills, or sweat it out. A cold can take one or two weeks to run its course, and the only way to get rid of it is to take care of yourself. But sweating isn’t harmful when you’re sick, as long as you replenish your body with fluids, change your clothes, and avoid sweating in the cold. You also can’t excercise out a cold. Your body needs to conserve energy to fight it. Exercising is a good way to keep your immune system strong when you’re well, but skip your workout if you’re feeling run down. Exercise can be a stress on a body that is trying to fight an illness.

[Jawbone54]

Grandmothers' treatments rock.

But I still don't buy the whole "if you shave your arm hair, it grows back thicker" thing.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious 

So I just got off the phone with my Grams and I told her I have had a bad cold for a couple days. She suggested I sweat it out by drinking a hot tea and layering up on clothes so I sweat profusely which would in turn push out the cold.

Now like many grandmothers she has a whole slew of nonscientific remedies for everything under the sun. But I was wondering if there was any truth to "sweating out a cold" I know the virus tends to inhabit the nasopharynx partly because it has a slightly lower temp than the rest of the body. So if one were to raise their overall body temperature wouldn't it also make the nasopharynx less hospitable to the virus?

This is essentially the very reason your body responds to an infection by raising your core temperature. Bacteria have a very limited temp. range in which they can survive so raising it just a few degrees will kill the majority of the offending bacteria. But if temps get too high and you suffer brain damage.

I rarely take pain medicine when I have a cold because it will lower your fever. Although that will make you feel better, it lengthens the amount of time you suffer.

Virus' are another story. For some reason your body doesn't respond with a higher temp to a virus.

[voodoo]

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious 

So I just got off the phone with my Grams and I told her I have had a bad cold for a couple days. She suggested I sweat it out by drinking a hot tea and layering up on clothes so I sweat profusely which would in turn push out the cold.

Now like many grandmothers she has a whole slew of nonscientific remedies for everything under the sun. But I was wondering if there was any truth to "sweating out a cold" I know the virus tends to inhabit the nasopharynx partly because it has a slightly lower temp than the rest of the body. So if one were to raise their overall body temperature wouldn't it also make the nasopharynx less hospitable to the virus?

Grandmothers know a lot. Drinking hot tea and layering on clothes is wise. In many ways.

However it won't 'sweat out' any viruses. They inhabit the cells of your body and do their damage from there. Sweat does not contain any viruses, nor can one get a cold from being exposed to sweat from a person with the flu.

Just listen to your gramma.

V

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

But I still don't buy the whole "if you shave your arm hair, it grows back thicker" thing.

Snopes.com entry for "shaving hair makes it grow back thicker" myth.

[alligator]

Cold-eze. They work wonders to reduce symptoms.

[Sherman Homan]

Scotch.

[cjrivera]

Originally Posted by Railroader 

This is essentially the very reason your body responds to an infection by raising your core temperature. Bacteria have a very limited temp. range in which they can survive so raising it just a few degrees will kill the majority of the offending bacteria. But if temps get too high and you suffer brain damage.

I rarely take pain medicine when I have a cold because it will lower your fever. Although that will make you feel better, it lengthens the amount of time you suffer.

Virus' are another story. For some reason your body doesn't respond with a higher temp to a virus.

Actually, many viruses can also cause fever. (Influenza A & B can cause fevers of 102-104F on a regular basis). In fact, colds are often caused by a rhinovirus, so if you are getting mild fevers from a "cold", it can be due to a virus.

Also, you can take "pain" meds (if needed) during febrile illnesses, even if you don't want your temperature to be lowered. Some pain medicines such as codeine and Ultram won't reduce fever. The problem is that many of the over the counter "pain" meds (ibuprofen & Tylenol) are also "antipyretics" which reduce fever.

Fever, by itself, will not cure bacterial/viral infections. The rest of your immune system (B-cells/T-cells/complement system/etc.) actually do the majority of the work in dealing with pathogens, with fever playing a much lesser role.

In general and in most cases, fever is a good thing and does help the body get over many infections quicker than if you reduce fever. But sometimes, especially dealing with children, reduction of fevers for certain reasons (hydration/prevention of seizures) are more beneficial than cutting down the duration of infection by a few days.

[macintologist]

Originally Posted by Sherman Homan 

Scotch.

Even better, Zivania