[sheepscreek]

My dad made a similar observation, assuming the children were young. However, upon reviewing the article, I noticed it doesn’t explicitly mention the grade level. Considering younger children have weaker immune systems, this could potentially lead to fewer missed classes and improved grades. Personally, my first grader misses out on a considerable number of classes.

However, if these results were observed in grades 3 or higher, it could suggest a more substantial phenomenon. I randomly picked the third grade, but perhaps there’s a specific age after which the medical community considers a child’s immunity to be significantly enhanced.

[fifteenforty]

Ventilation and air purification have a strongly theoretical basis and there have been real-world studies showing a clear benefit.

https://cleanaircrew.org/

https://www.cleanairschools.com.au/

[xwolfi]

But then, what about being protected from sickness from a young age, to end up sick all the time as an adult ? You had a better education, we can agree, but your body got weaker as a result and now you can't be as productive as an adult.

I exaggerate a bit, but I found that during covid, where the mask was mandatory in my place, I was never sick. The only few years in my life where I was actually healthy continuously for YEARS, I and my friends could not believe the impact of the mask. But then we were stuck at home, living in constant misery and stress.

Once the masks disappeared, finally we could live again, and got extremely sick the first few years... Maybe a more normal balance would have been better ? Sick a bit continuously ? I think trying to avoid sickness is like trying to swim against the current, nature just works that way.

[fifteenforty]

I just keep wearing an N95. I've had maybe 3 infections in 5 years.

[tehjoker]

getting sick is bad for us. we should clean the air. i’ve been wearing n95 indoors for years, 1 cold (neg for c19) in 5 years

[permo-w]

do younger children have weaker immune systems?

[LorenPechtel]

It's not that they are weaker, but that many things actually confer long term immunity. The "common cold" is actually many viruses, once you've beaten one it's not likely to get you again but it's cousins will.

[Balgair]

Not as much as their immune systems haven't been around very long and seen as many diseases.

[permo-w]

I was under the impression that younger kids had stronger immune systems for that reason, which is why the common wisdom is to expose your kid to as much as possible when they're young, because it's easier for them to fight it off and later rely on resistance?

[Balgair]

I guess it's a quibble over the meaning of 'stronger', but that seems overly pedantic. Let's get data.

A good overview of the allergy situation is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis

Though that article goes into more about young human immune systems too. TLDR: Yeah ... it's complicated, but the evidence seems to, just maybe, lean towards more exposure being better. So, you're right, I think?

[permo-w]

the impression I got from the article is that it's a somewhat unsolved problem. the article mentions an "old friends" hypothesis that suggests that it's not exposure to dangerous pathogens that's important in childhood, but exposure to benevolent ones. but yeah, you're right, it's semantics really. kids have a different kind of strength. I would actually suggest it's quite analogous to brain development. kids are more adaptive and I'd argue creative, but adults are more experienced.