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In Germany it’s a common belief that drafts/draughts can make you ill.
Because of that, car and train windows typically get/stay closed, even when it’s really hot; and, for instance, on a warm day in a beer garden, people might change seats/tables when they’re sitting in a draught. It’s believed that the negative effect is heavily increased if you have wet hair, or if you are in poor health.

  • The German Wikipedia article about draughts says that it might stem from a widespread ancient fear of daemons/wind.

    This is probably based on the German SPIEGEL article Dämonen am Fenster from 1968 (translated: Daemons at the window).

  • The English SPIEGEL ONLINE article Draftophobia: Blown Away by the Fear of Air says in its introduction that it’s a "German quirk":

    A lot of Germans don't like drafts. Some even seem to have an irrational fear of moving air, believing it can cause pneumonia, flu, colds, clogged arteries and just about every malady imaginable. Two readers offer their views of this unusual German quirk.

  • From the English GLS article Why I love German (archived by the Wayback Machine), which originally appeared in the FAZ:

    […] Don't be fooled. For obscure reasons, Germans have got it into their heads that air is the enemy, especially indoors.

    For a bit of enjoyment, go into a cafe on a dull winter's day, one where the guests can barely be distinguished through the cigarette smoke, and tilt open a window just a crack. Before you have retreated three steps, the cry Es zieht! -- "There's a draft!" -- will go up and in a flurry of panic the window will be slammed shut. […] What elsewhere is known as a breeze is, in the Teutonic realm, the grim reaper's mocking breath.

    This is also referenced by the German 'USA Erklärt' blog post Die seltsame Angst der Germanen vor sich bewegender Luft (translated: The strange fear of moving air by Germanic people).

Is there evidence that staying (e.g., sitting) in a draught can make humans ill? Can illnesses be caused by the "moving air" of the draft itself, not merely any resulting drop in temperature? (Cold alone is covered in a previous question, and examples are given above of people people avoiding drafts even when the resulting temperature is not cold).

(It seems to be more widespread to believe that draughts can lead to muscle tenseness, but I want to focus on illnesses in this question.)

Brythan
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unor
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  • Always thought the origin of this is the same typical confusion between correlation and causation also found for the other things you mention (wet hair/.../cold in general making you sick), namely that being cold (temporarily) causes a drop in your resistance making the body more susceptible to the constant flow of viruses and bacteria being fired at it. – stijn Oct 05 '15 at 07:29
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    Definitely NOT unique to Germany. Many Russians are sure of the same thing. – user5341 Oct 05 '15 at 18:29
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    @Flimzy - I don't think this is a duplicate. It's only a duplicate if there's proof that the **only** possible mechanism for this is via coldness (moreover, it's the draft part that's critical - e.g. it's considered more dangerous to have a 72 degree draft in hot room than 62 degree ambient room temp). – user5341 Oct 05 '15 at 18:31
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    @LarianLeQuella (no idea if mods that close questions be pinged?): I’m not sure that this is a duplicate. At least in Germany, these are considered two different things: getting too cold vs. sitting in a draught. -- While the reason for claim that draughts make ill *might* be related to the fact that your body gets colder that way, this connection is not claimed in answers to the marked-as-duplicate question, and AFAIK not what most people think about when avoiding draughts; especially as it’s not obvious when it’s hot outside. (…) – unor Oct 09 '15 at 03:43
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    (…) And when researching this topic, I read in some reports ([example in German](http://www.wetter.de/cms/zugluft-macht-doch-krank-1973678.html)) the claim that the reason draughts would make ill is especially because the body does not get cold *enough* (so that the body would not start fighting against the cold). -- So *maybe* the same answers from the marked-as-duplicate question apply here, but I think we can’t know unless there’s proof for the (possible) connection (draughts → cold) *and* unless there’s proof that nothing else is involved with draughts, maybe unrelated to temperature. – unor Oct 09 '15 at 03:51
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    I am open to re-opening this question if you can make it uniquely distinct, that wouldn't have the same answers that the linked question would generate. Sometimes the question may be different, but the answer is the same. – Larian LeQuella Oct 12 '15 at 02:37
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    Yeah, came here because somebody on the History stack exchange was actually arguing that drafts were the cause of a blocked neck. This question is very distinct from the 'does being cold increase the chance of a catching a cold' question. Temperature is irrelevant. – Ask About Monica Sep 22 '16 at 19:05
  • It seems that all the examples you have found show people not believing the claim. Do any Germans actually claim this? Or do they only claim *others* believe this? – Sklivvz May 18 '18 at 05:42
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    @Sklivvz: I would say most Germans believe and act on it. As I can’t compare it to other countries, I’m not sure how (un)common these behaviours are elsewhere, but for example: in a train, parents will tell their children to change seats when sitting in a draft; taxis often have at most one window open (and the driver still asks everyone to say something as soon as the draft is felt); even when a bus is full and everyone is sweating, people ask to close all windows except one, and no one will object; if someone becomes ill, they might say "I was sitting in a draft yesterday". – unor May 18 '18 at 07:33
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    @unor gotcha. We require examples of people believing the claim. Also, if you post example of people explaining why the claim is not true, then what is the purpose of the question? – Sklivvz May 19 '18 at 09:29
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    @Sklivvz: It was my understanding that common claims don’t need sources. Anyway, by linking sources that claim that the claim is not true, isn’t this example enough that it’s a common claim? If it weren’t a widespread belief, there would be no need for different people/sources to write about this "German quirk" in the first place. -- The sources I linked don’t provide any evidence (and the German Wikipedia article now even says that there are scientists that see a connection); only the German Spiegel article *mentions* studies, but it doesn’t cite them. – unor May 19 '18 at 15:52
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    When looking for this, I also found that the belief seems to be common in [Italy](http://tuscantraveler.com/2013/florence/italian-life-rules-dreaded-draft-colpo-aria-blast-of-air/) and [Romania](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/4197177/Where-draughts-are-truly-dangerous.html) as well. – Jan Tojnar Aug 19 '18 at 13:34
  • We have exactly the same belief in Ukraine, it's considered common knowledge. I am still not sure whether or not there's any basis behind it. – Dmytro Shevchenko Jul 29 '19 at 08:31

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