Socially cold

According to Sheldon Cohen, a psychologist from the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, US, 'persistent inter-personal conflicts' put people at risk of catching colds. This is part of Cohen's study on the impact of psychological factors and lifestyles on health. Cohen and his team exposed individuals to the cold virus, and found that people who had a mean supervisor at work or those who had a bad marriage were the ones who fell ill. The team concluded that people with less social contacts at work, in the family or in clubs were four times more likely to fall ill than those who were more social.