This is doin' my friggin head in...

Hey all you fellow mad pedallers... heres some advice regarding post-ride routine...
I always carry a small cap- like a baseball cap- in my back pocket. When ride is finished, helmet OFF, cap ON.
You lose 75% of heat from your scone (thats Aussie for noggin\cranium\nut\skull\head)
and helmet removal can result in sudden thermal shock- its happened to me several times where i start sneezing and get a headache, can develop into a head cold...one time after a 100km ride i jumped on the train, the aircon felt good on my hot head but i got a cold from it.
So now, no matter if its a short 3 minutes from work basement to showers, on goes the cap. Its summer here in the Antipodes, so not so much an issue, but those of you in the northern winter may take note and prevent a cold.
Thanks for listening- now i will return to googling pics of Beyonces pins hahahaha oops

 

Good tip. I've started wearing a team hat to all my rides/races. They do an admirable job covering helmet-hair and embarrassing bald spots as well.

 

As a fashion statement, a post ride hat can't be beat. Heat loss head v. other parts is a bit of a wives tale. Given that most of you body is covered, it is only natural that you lose more heat from other parts that aren't covered. Strip naked and wear a hat and I guarantee that you will lose more heat, than the converse. Now that would be a compelling fashion statement.

Again, not to be a sticker, but colds, head cold or otherwise, are generally caused by the rhino-virus, or a variation. Washing you hands after a ride is probably better at reducing colds than wearing a hat.

But that being said, my grandmother would agree with your advice whole heartedly. She would also add that you should wear an undershirt until you see the first robin of spring, and that if you want to guarantee that you will be hit by a car and need to be rushed to the hospital, wear dirty underwear.

 

I would only add that abrupt changes in head temperature can quickly increase sinus irritation/activity/production, which can lead to sinus infections and very similar 'cold like' symptoms. Ultimately the bacterial/viral exposure is the cause, but I believe one's susceptibility can be affected by drastic changes in temperature, as an 'old wife' would attest.

 

Frenchy,

You need to give me a cite for that. I have heard many reasons for the association of "colds" and cold weather, including drier air, closer contact inside, historically better nutrition during the summer months, irritation caused by increased carbon emissions during the heating season, etc, but have never heard that causation chain before.

And still, I would say that hand washing is better than a hat. That being said, there is not question that cycling hats of all kinds are way cool for reasons having nothing to do with illness prevention.

But if the "wives" and my grandmother are correct, I will never hear the end of it.

 

A citation for what, specifically? That not wearing a hat after exercise would cause one to get a cold? I cannot do that, and that's not what I wrote.

"Temperature changes cause increase in sinus activity..." My personal experience with sneezing/runny nose on abrupt temperature changes is similar to the OP's, and also:

http://www.content4reprint.com/health/factors-on-what-causes-sinus-drainage.htm

"Increased sinus activity can lead to sinus infection, with cold-like symptoms..."

http://allergies.about.com/od/noseandsinusallergies/a/sinusitis.htm
My wife conducts a sinus rinse every morning at the suggestion of her doctor to treat her frequent sinus infections. He tells her that the saline rinse helps keep her passages open and allows for normal drainage rather than blockage and congestion buildup.

That might be. I make no claims of a greater impact of one over the other.

Although the specific causes aren't necessarily correct for many old wives' tales, the observations upon which they are based, along with the preventative measures, can be.

 

Rhino and Flu are virus' that can be carried without symtoms if vitamin D levels are optimum. The Flu never killed any one it was the immune system over shooting creating enough mucus to drown the patient. Vitamin D at optimum levels especially in the Fall and Winter reins in your immune system. It is a sunlight issue not a temperature issue.

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/2006-oct.shtml

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/11/13/what-is-the-real-cause-of-influenza-epidemics.aspx

 

One time our elevators (lifts) were way too slow in coming to the basement, so I had to leg it outside the building- it was about 10 degrees (Celsius! about 40 deg F?) and the exposure to sudden chill was felt on the head region, I thought "here we go" and sure enuff, jump in shower, sneeze till my brains were blown out, & all friggin day i was sneezing at work...

 

I was just jabbing you a bit. These are pretty sketchy sources but there is no question that some old wives tales are based upon long term observation and have some kernel of truth. As I said, a hat after a ride certainly isn't harmful

 

There's a guy in my office that will sometimes do this with saline but more often he uses a very small amount of hydrogen peroxide in water instead. (He doesn't do it every day, thankfully, only as a one-off thing when he needs it.) He said that the peroxide totally kills whatever is in there (and admittedly some other stuff too) and he's totally OK after it. He says that he has experienced no long-term harmful effects.

He got the idea from using a peroxide solution to spray wash his backyard porch (wooden) to kill mold and spores, etc. He noticed after breathing some of the fumes (though he did use a mask) that the infection that he had at the time went away. Since then, he's found some stuff on the internet about peroxide washes and sinus infections.

 

Interesting. She uses a little packet of "over the counter" something mixed into the squirt bottle, but I'm not sure exactly what's in there. I've suggested all kinds of 'old wife' remedies such as menthol vapor in steam, etc. to open up her sinuses, but she has asthma as well and all my suggestions meet with resistance for one reason or another. Our immune systems are very different, so I stay out of it now.

Agreed. They were the first links that popped up in Google and I haven't done any more extensive research. Fortunately, the only time I've ever been rushed to the hospital I was wearing bike shorts with *no* underwear, so I lucked out there.

 

Ok, i did chat with my father in law about the old wives tale. My FIL is an ENT surgeon. He says changes in temps do affect the nasal linings which can make folks more susceptible to infections. But did say, that unless the "hat" warms the air before it enters the nose, it probably does not change susceptibility to infections

 

Ok how about the hat not warming the air but keeping your sinuses at the same temp? sinuses (sinii?) are very large cavities in the scone - one of their functions is to reduce skull weight- so they're big; a hat would maintain their temp. I know your FIL has at least 7 years in med school + studying as a specialist but I only know what I've been experiencing myself and observations... at races and training, i note ppl who discard helmets usually experience phlegm and sneezing....

 

If it makes you feel better, my FIL recomends wearing a hat as well in the cold. He laughs and says, "I can't support anything scientifically with regard to its potential to reduce infections, but I do stay warmer and feel more comfortable wearing a hat." As a melanoma survivor, he strongly recomends a wide brimmed hat in the summer time as well. From my experience with doctors, what they tell patients and what they do themselves is sometimes completely different.

And I still thing the clean underwear advice from my grandmother is very sound.

 

Scientific study is all well and good, they base theories on repeated observations and deductions and cold hard logic, but there has to be room in our world for the other stuff we call "instinct" or gut feeling or whatever... like someone else said, Old Wives' Tales...

 

On cold days (its averaging about 28 degrees celcius here at the moment and very humid) I wear a thin lyrca skull cap under my helmet. I love it

As my wife, a nurse said being cold doesn't mean one will get a cold but as we can loose up to a third of our bodily warmth through our head it makes sense to keep our noggin warm when needed.

 

Yeah, that's what I would assume to be correct. Perhaps the immune system gets shocked or weakened from the sharp change.

Great tip though, I'll definitely use that. I have huge issues with cold weather. Living in Canada is a curse for me, and I lose a lot of outdoor training because of it. But even when working hard in a gym, the same effect can be noticed - going hard on a stationary bike working up an immense sweat and then stopping the ride and walking through the gym with the fans going can bring on the chills and by the time you're showering and changing, you're already cold and sneezing. I think I might wear a toque. I've always enjoyed being on the 'hot' side

 

Quite often I've driven my car with the bike in the back, to a rendezvous...then done the ride, and driving back home with the airconditioning on, it feels nice and cold and refreshing, however I get chills and get bronchitis- due to change in humidity etc...so i stopped doing that. I sometimes bring a T-shirt and change in the car before driving off, so I'm not sitting in a damp jersey...BTW whats a "toque?"