How health gets better with age - THIS WEEK: Colds
WE CATCH fewer colds as we age, and by the time we reach 60 we typically come down with just one a year. This compares with the average annual toll of six to 10 for a child. Habits, from not washing their hands to not covering their mouths when they cough, put children at higher risk than adults who have better hygiene.
Yet this isn’t the only reason we have fewer colds as grown-ups. Each time the body is exposed to one of the viruses that causes the common cold, it develops antibodies to fight off that particular bug in future, meaning the older you get, the more cold viruses you are likely to be immune to.
However, with more than 200 different bugs behind the cold, you will likely not be entirely impervious to the sniffles. And eventually the cold strikes back.
"While we do get fewer colds as we get older, maybe in our 70s and 80s, our immune system weakens and colds can progress to chest infections that may become more serious with age," says Professor Ron Eccles, founder of Cardiff University’s Common Cold Centre.
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