Can you actually catch a cold from being cold?
The Real Answer
No, cold temperatures do not directly cause a cold. A cold is caused by a viral infection, most commonly from rhinoviruses. However, cold weather does increase your risk of catching a cold indirectly: people spend more time indoors in closer quarters, viruses survive longer in cold, dry air, and cold temperatures may slightly suppress immune function. You catch a cold from a virus, not from the temperature itself.
We've been running the same half-assed folk remedy for 400 years: 'Wear a coat or you'll get sick,' said with such confidence that nobody bothered to check if it was true. Cold doesn't infect you. But you ARE about to spend six hours in a room with 40 sneezing people, so congratulations, your winter is locked in.
Why People Ask This
This belief is so old and so universal that almost everyone's grandmother has said it. The weird part is it feels true because you DO get sick more in winter — but that's because of crowding and virus survival, not because temperature transfers illness. Winter is just a terrible coincidence machine.