Besides feeling like crap, there's the other big reason colds totally suck: You don't have much sex when you're under the weather. Your girlfriend won't get busy with a sicko, because she's afraid she'll catch your bug.
It's a valid excuse—but is she right? Well, yes and no. A cold virus can't pass through your semen, so you won't give it to her by, uh, giving it to her. But chances are you'll still pass plenty of germs through stroking and kissing, says Ann C. Palmenberg, Ph.D., a professor of biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
And sorry, dousing yourself in hand sanitizer won't help either. In a study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers found that applying an alcohol-based sanitizer every 3 waking hours over the course of 9 weeks still didn't protect people from the rhinovirus, the culprit behind many common colds.
That's partly because you may be able to sicken someone simply by coughing or sneezing in their airspace. (You could wear a surgical mask to bed—if she's into that sort of thing.)
If it's any consolation, a rhinovirus-ridden person is rarely contagious after a week. The problem is you'll still be sniffling, which won't exactly be a turn-on anyway.
