A summertime cold can be rough — on your brain

There’s a nasty summer cold circulating in Baltimore. I’ve heard from at least a dozen people who have come down with the familiar symptoms.

For them I have two important messages: 1) Get well soon. And 2) Stay home.

Obviously, you don’t want to pass this crummy bug around. But there’s another good reason to stay put.

You’re working with an impaired brain.

U.K. researchers have found that cold symptoms are not the cause of slow thinking and feeling in the dumps. It’s the virus itself. They believe it sets off inflammatory proteins that interfere with neurotransmitters.

Of course, a throbbing sinus headache and irritated eyes don’t help.

Whatever the cause, the results are documented. Alertness drops off. Reaction time lags. Memory becomes spotty. Information processing slows.

So if you have responsibilities that depend on any of those functions, expect less-than-stellar results.

Better yet, take some down time if you can. You deserve it.

Sources:
“Effects of the common cold on mood, psychomotor performance, the encoding of new information, speed of working memory and semantic processing” Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, Vol. 26, No. 7, October 2012, sciencedirect.com