“Being cold causes you to get sick (e.g., common cold or flu).”

The belief that simply being cold can make you sick, often heard in warnings like "don't go out with wet hair," has deep historical roots. This misconception dates back to ancient theories of bodily humors, which proposed that an imbalance of bodily fluids caused illness. For centuries, this theory, though lacking modern scientific backing, shaped popular understanding, suggesting a cold resulted from the body becoming "too