Deadly drafts, open windows

[Legion]

This is common knowledge in many locations, especially Europe. Drafts behave in a different way from raw wind. Indoors, sitting in front of an open window is very sickening for me. Immediate symptoms include sore throat, mucus, dizziness, eventually progressing to intestinal spams, headaches, fever, etc.

When the wind enters a home, it "creeps" to an exit, usually another window. This effect also enables it to sweep across the body in a more severe way. My apartment has the unfortunate combination of east and west windows, being very poorly built and failing to seal out incoming drafts. The wind won't hurt me outdoors, but in the same weather, sitting indoors with an open window will make me ill.

Google search led me to another forum's thread (http://www.toytowngermany.com/lofi/index.php/t21607-30.html). The responses... :picard2:

[Anusiya]

It's in your head. No, it can't be, come on! Get out of the house, find a job, leave your parents, annihilate every single drop of their influence, it just doesn't work anymore.

[Legion]

It's in your head. No, it can't be, come on! Get out of the house, find a job, leave your parents, annihilate every single drop of their influence, it just doesn't work anymore.

Are you trolling?

:D

[The Lawspeaker]

Well.. I remember always being warned for it: "close the window or the door because you're going to get sick this way." So yes: it does play a role here, I guess. But then again: we are a very flat and windswept country.

[mysticism]

Serbs have a widespread superstition called "Promaja" that says you must close windows and prevent draft or you can fall sick or cursed.

[arcticwolf]

It's more of a European phobia, totally unknown in the USA. I love the draft, especially in the summer! I am as healthy as one can get, so I guess it's not working to my detriment. ;)

[rhiannon]

I love open windows for letting fresh air in during every season. For me, it's the still, stagnant air that makes me feel sick and feverish....especially in places that use standard forced air heating set at 68-72 degree Fahrenheit. I could just fucking die.

Ambient temperature around here lately has hovered in the low to mid 50s. I leave windows open (there are screens on our windows to keep the bugs out though) all the time. I don't heat the house at all right now, either :)

[Methmatician]

In Bosnia there's the fear of "promaha" from open windows, also standing in doorways. It's one of the most dangerous things in the Balkans :D

[Legion]

Maybe Anusiya is also healthy like arcticwolf then :)

It's widely known that cold causes spasms and dryness. Heat does the opposite, hence why people use heat packs for relief.

Since I have CFS, I am hypersensitive to drafts and temperature extremes. Maybe someone in good condition will be unaffected, but common sense will prevent one from putting infants or ill people in a draft's path. In Russian it's called skvozniak and feared too. Talking about this stuff here will make you sound crazy...

[Albion]

We don't have this superposition in England. I open the window a a few times for a few minutes each day since the house can get stuffy and too hot.

[Jackson]

I've never experienced this, and never met anyone who i has as far as i know. Having the window open is nice. It is more unhealthy to leave it closed, poor ventilation and growth of mold when combined can be especially unhealthy. I used to keep windows closed a lot (or rather didn't get around to opening them) but now the only time i don't open them is if it is dark and i have a light on (as it will attract a whole menagerie of insects into the room).

I would have thought it was rubbish if i hadn't heard that it isn't, from your own experiences.

[Jackson]

I love open windows for letting fresh air in during every season. For me, it's the still, stagnant air that makes me feel sick and feverish....especially in places that use standard forced air heating set at 68-72 degree Fahrenheit. I could just fucking die.

Ambient temperature around here lately has hovered in the low to mid 50s. I leave windows open (there are screens on our windows to keep the bugs out though) all the time. I don't heat the house at all right now, either :)

I agree, a healthy breeze is good for you, inside or outside. Constant movement of fresh air. Almost like water - I wouldn't want to drink from a stagnant pool of water and would rather drink from a river upstream, in the same manner as i would rather have good ventilation, even if i sometimes don't or can't.

[Graham]

Not having fresh air, gives you a headache.

Maybe you live in polluted inner city?

[Albion]

I've never experienced this, and never met anyone who i has as far as i know. Having the window open is nice. It is more unhealthy to leave it closed, poor ventilation and growth of mold when combined can be especially unhealthy. I used to keep windows closed a lot (or rather didn't get around to opening them) but now the only time i don't open them is if it is dark and i have a light on (as it will attract a whole menagerie of insects into the room).

I would have thought it was rubbish if i hadn't heard that it isn't, from your own experiences.

Yes, lack of exposure to different conditions is detrimental to health and just creates "soft" people. I guess this relates to the hygiene hypothesis.
Russians jump into frozen lakes and even put their kids in them, they do this to toughen up to the cold. If they can jump into freezing water then a draft isn't going to hurt anybody.

This whole way of thinking probably dates back to previous ages when people though most diseases were carried in the wind and thus sought to exclude drafts to keep diseases away.

[Albion]

Not having fresh air, gives you a headache.

Maybe you live in a polluted city?

Yes, the build up of CO2 and depleting oxygen probably does that. I open the window a few times in the night and in the morning for a few minutes. In mild weather it can stay open for hours even if it isn't particularly warm outside. Allowing air into the home brings a sort of freshness, cold air coming in makes it easier to breath than in a stuffy room and moderates the temperature.

[Germanicus]

I am married..my wife is one of those women that feels the cold even in summer, reluctantly I have to suffer my bedroom window closed on an evening..but I leave the bedroom door wide open....non negotiable..!!

[Jackson]

Yes, the build up of CO2 and depleting oxygen probably does that. I open the window a few times in the night and in the morning for a few minutes. In mild weather it can stay open for hours even if it isn't particularly warm outside. Allowing air into the home brings a sort of freshness, cold air coming in makes it easier to breath than in a stuffy room and moderates the temperature.

Bad ventilation can also lead to the build up of radon in some areas, I've read.

[Germanicus]

Bad ventilation can also lead to the build up of radon in some areas, I've read.

True..on older houses, my house was built in the 90s so a plastic membrane was fitted on the concrete supports and base to my house, thus preventing harmful gases entering.

[Albion]

Bad ventilation can also lead to the build up of radon in some areas, I've read.

Yes, notably in Cornwall. It's not really a problem in Lowland England, higher natural radioactivity is associated with igneous rocks in more western and northern areas. Basically areas of volcanic rock.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/internalops/ocs/500-599/560_50/560-50radon%20map-2.gif

Upland areas of the British Isles became a bit more radioactive with the fallout from Chernobyl:

http://www.tuurdemeester.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Chernobyl-map-Caesium-137-contaminated-areas-in-European-countries.jpeg

[Kazimiera]

My mom's partner grew up in Europe and he never opens windows. She, on the other hand, lets everything stand open. She accuses him of being afraid of fresh air.