It’s no secret that winter is the favorite season of lots of individuals. And it’s no surprise, it’s a beautiful season with lots of fun things to do. But there are some drawbacks. It never fails, after a lot of time spent enjoying the wonderful winter weather, your body responds. Your nose won’t stop running, you’re starting to cough, and your throat feels sore. Sometimes, this becomes a full-blown cold.
So, can your tonsils be affected by the weather? It’s possible that these throat problems can be tracked back to your tonsils since they are a major part of your immune system. You may be able to stay a bit healthier this winter if you bolster your immune system (and your tonsils).
Your overall health can be impacted by cold weather
So let’s get this off the table: cold weather doesn’t make you sick. Viruses and bacteria get you sick and you don’t catch those from the cold. Cold weather can, however, result in major problems with your respiratory tract and weaken your body’s defenses. But it’s the virus that makes you sick, not the cold itself.
One of the biggest contributors here is the air. The air is typically really dry when it’s cold. If you normally get a soar throat only when it’s cold, it could be because the dry air is drying out the mucus lining in your throat. This dry air also reduces the amount of germ-fighting mucus present in your nose (yes, that mucus is good for something).
There are a few other reasons why cold weather may impact your health:
- You won’t go outdoors as often. And being indoors so much, with other people, and inadequate airflow, can be a health concern. Germs might have an easier time moving from person to person (and you’re a bit more likely to get sick as a result).
- During the winter months, when it’s cloudy and cold, we normally spend more time indoors. This means you’re likely to take in less vitamin D from the sun. An effectively working immune system requires vitamin D, and when it doesn’t get enough, it won’t be working at peak energy.
- You could have slightly lower body temperature. In cold temperatures, you can lose heat more quickly than you generate it. Over time, this can result in hypothermia (this is a serious condition when your body temperature goes below 95 degrees fahrenheit). When your body has to put a lot of its energy reserves into staying warm, it will have less available for the immune system to combat sickness.
How does cold weather affect your tonsils?
Your immune system relies on your tonsils. At the back of your throat sit these two clusters of lymph cells (tonsils). Their primary function is to filter out germs (that means you suck less germs directly into your lungs, and that’s good for your respiratory system). They even produce antibodies. You can think of them as the rather virtuous gatekeepers of your respiratory tract.
How cold weather affects your tonsils
Even though it’s not the cold weather by itself that causes you to get sick, it does have an impact on your tonsils. Here’s how it works:
- The more often you get ill, the more difficult your tonsils need to work.
- This means there’s a greater risk that your tonsils can become swollen and inflamed (inflammation is a typical immune reaction).
- A two or three day (plus) soar throat can be the outcome.
This infection of your tonsils is called tonsillitis. If you get tonsillitis during the winter it won’t be any fun, but if it won’t clear itself up, the sustained infection can cause more serious health concerns:
- Airways that are clogged by inflamed tonsils. This can make it hard to breathe.
- Infectious pockets of pus.
After a while, this can reduce immunity throughout your entire body. A significant aspect of your immune system are your lymph cells and that includes your tonsils. So you may be more vulnerable to infections if your tonsils aren’t functioning at full capacity (or recover from illness more slowly).
The symptoms of tonsillitis frequently feel quite close to what you’d expect from a cold or a flu. That’s why identifying tonsillitis can be a bit challenging.
Fighting tonsillitis caused by cold weather
Your tonsils aren’t necessarily doing a bad job, but they occasionally need a bit of help. With the right accessories, you can do just that.
Here are some strategies that might help with your winter throat problems:
- Take vitamin D supplements: Take vitamin D supplements if you’re not getting out into the sun very much. Or invest in a sunlamp. Or perhaps a couple of vacations to a sunnier place.
- Be certain to get outdoors: It might be colder outside than inside, but that sun-generated Vitamin D is crucial to an effectively working immune system. So put on some warm winter gear and get outside for some winter activities.
- Use a humidifier in your home, particularly in the winter: This will help keep the air from drying out too much. If the air is less dry, that protective mucus will be plentiful enough to help your immune system keep you healthy.
- Dress warm: If you let your body temperature get too low for too long it can be a serious problem. Over time, this makes it hard for your immune system to combat infections, bacteria, and viruses. So, perhaps you wear a sweater or sit by the fireplace or something!
- Drink tea: It’s packed with nutrients for you! We don’t recommend drinking caffeinated tea after 2 pm, but having some nice warm herbal tea can help bring your body temperature up and refresh all of your mucus makers.
- Gargle with salt water: You can wash away surface germs and soothe your soar throat by gargling with salty water.
If you’re unable to keep your tonsils healthy, you might need to have them removed
How long does a sore throat from cold air last? Normally, as long as you’re exposed to cold, dry air. Your sore throat should improve quickly when you move into a warmer more humid environment. Unless you have an infection, such as tonsillitis.
Usually, tonsillitis will subside on its own within a few days. But this kind of infection can, in some circumstances, become chronic. In these situations, a tonsillectomy may be required. While it isn’t quite as common as it once was (we know a lot more about tonsils now), tonsillectomy is still occasionally the best way to give relief to patients.
We will be able to help you figure out whether a tonsillectomy is appropriate for you, or whether there are other practical treatments to try first.