Important Tips to Prevent Cold and Flu Infection
Since there are no known cures for colds or the
flu, prevention should be your goal. A proactive approach to warding
off colds and flu is apt to make your whole life healthier. The
most effective way to prevent flu, frankly, is to get a flu shot.
It may not be natural, but it works better than anything else. But
there are other strategies you can employ as well.
#1 Wash Your Hands
Most cold and flu viruses are spread by direct contact.
Someone who has the flu sneezes onto their hand, and then touches
the telephone, the keyboard, a kitchen glass. The germs can live
for hours — in some cases weeks — only to be picked up by the
next person who touches the same object. So wash your hands often.
If no sink is available, rub your hands together very hard for a
minute or so. That also helps break up most of the cold germs.
#2 Don’t Cover Your Sneezes and Coughs With Your Hands
Because germs and viruses cling to your bare hands, muffling coughs and
sneezes with your hands results in passing along your germs to others.
When you feel a sneeze or cough coming, use a tissue, then throw
it away immediately. If you don’t have a tissue, turn your head
away from people near you and cough into the air.
#3
Don’t Touch Your Face
Cold and flu viruses enter your body through the eyes, nose, or mouth.
Touching their faces is the major way people catch colds.
#4
Drink Plenty of Fluids
Water flushes your system, washing out the poisons as it rehydrates you.
A typical, healthy adult needs eight 8-ounce glasses of fluids each
day. How can you tell if you’re getting enough liquid? If the color
of your urine runs close to clear, you’re getting enough. If it’s
deep yellow, you need more fluids.
#5
Take a Sauna
Researchers aren’t clear about the exact role saunas play in prevention, but
one 1989 German study found that people who steamed twice a week
got half as many colds as those who didn’t. One theory: When you
take a sauna you inhale air hotter than 80 degrees, a temperature
too hot for cold and flu viruses to survive.
#6
Get Fresh Air
A regular dose of fresh air is important, especially in cold weather when
central heating dries you out and makes your body more vulnerable
to cold and flu viruses. Also, during cold weather more people stay
indoors, which means more germs are circulating in crowded, dry
rooms.
#7
Do Aerobic Exercise Regularly
Aerobic exercise speeds up the heart to pump larger quantities of blood,
makes you breathe faster to help transfer oxygen from your lungs
to your blood, and makes you sweat once your body heats up. These
exercises help increase the body’s natural virus-killing cells.
#8
Eat Foods Containing Phytochemicals
“Phyto” means plants, and the natural chemicals in plants give the vitamins
in food a supercharged boost. So put away the vitamin pill, and
eat dark green, red, and yellow vegetables and fruits.
#9
Eat Yogurt
Some studies have shown that eating a daily cup of low-fat yogurt can
reduce your susceptibility to colds by 25 percent. Researchers think
the beneficial bacteria in yogurt may stimulate production of immune
system substances that fight disease.
#10
Don’t Smoke
Statistics show that heavy smokers get more severe colds and more frequent
ones.
Even being around smoke profoundly zaps the immune system. Smoke dries
out your nasal passages and paralyzes cilia, the delicate hairs
that line the mucous membranes in your nose and lungs that sweep
cold and flu viruses out of the nasal passages. Experts contend
that one cigarette can paralyze cilia for as long as 30 to 40 minutes.
#11
Cut Alcohol Consumption
Heavy alcohol use destroys the liver, the body’s primary filtering system,
which means that germs of all kinds won’t leave your body as fast.
The result is, heavier drinkers are more prone to initial infections
as well as secondary complications. Alcohol also dehydrates the
body — it actually takes more fluids from your system than it puts
in.
#12
Relax
If you can teach yourself to relax, you can activate your immune system
on demand. There’s evidence that when you put your relaxation skills
into action, your interleukins — leaders in the immune system response
against cold and flu viruses — increase in the bloodstream. Train
yourself to picture an image you find pleasant or calming. Do this
30 minutes a day for several months. Keep in mind, relaxation is
a learnable skill, but it is not doing nothing. People who try to
relax, but are in fact bored, show no changes in blood chemicals.
