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Winter Ailments : See Also
Cold Products Cold Information Flu Products Flu InformationArticles : How You Catch Colds & Flu : How To Treat Colds & Flu : How To Prevent Colds & Flu : Flu Vaccines : Swine Flu : Man Flu
Related Pages : Children's Coughs & Colds : Catarrh & Sinus Problems : Aromatic Decongestants : Steam Inhalers : Cough : Sore Throat : High Temperature & Fever ::
Six Ways To Prevent Colds & Flu
1. Flu Vaccines
Flu vaccines may be recommended by your doctor if they think you are particularly at risk to the effects of catching flu. However there are far more effective ways of minimising your risk of catching colds and flu.
Flu vaccination has become very controversial over the last few years as the evidence of their benefit has been shown to be far weaker than was claimed. Vaccine manufacturers have been accused by some health authorities of over promoting the use of vaccines, and there have even been suggestions about manufacturers exaggerating the threats of pandemic flu, which have not materialised. (See Flu Vaccines - The Pros & Cons)
2. Be Healthy
Being healthy is the best way to avoid catching colds and flu because a healthy body has a naturally high resistance to infection due to a fully effective immune system. If you are not fully healthy, then your immune system isn't working at full capacity. Here are some lifestyle factor that effect your health and your susceptibility to colds and flu:
- Nutrition . Eating a balanced diet of fruit and vegetables. Aim for at least five portions a day for maximum health
- Alcohol . Drink in moderation as too much alcohol is bad for your health
- Drink plenty of fluids. We all tend to drink too little. The water balance in your body is important, and it helps your health
- Exercise . You don’t need to become a super athlete, but you do need to do something regularly to give your body some work to do. Half an hours walking, four times a week is a good target to aim for as a minimum. More than this helps in other ways. Over exercising is not good for your body. Super-athletes get more colds than normal
- Sleep . Get enough sleep. Your body needs to be regularly recharged to be in good health
- No smoking . Even breathing in other peoples smoke makes your health worse. Smokers do not get more colds and flu, but when they do suffer the symptoms are worse, and lasts longer
- Control stress . Easy to say, harder to do. Being under stress can double your chance of catching a cold. The body is often most vulnerable when you calm down after a bout of stress.
3. Use Health Supplements
Supplements can improve your health, and make your body more able to fight off infections. This means that even though you are exposed to the same number of viruses, your body is better able to fight back, and you get less infections. Supplements that can be used are:
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Vitamin D for preventing colds & flu . Low levels of Vitamin D in the winter is now widely regarded as the most important factor in increasing our susceptibility to colds and flu. Taking supplements through the winter reduces colds and flu. |
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Vitamin C for preventing colds & flu Vitamin C is essential for the body's immune system, but taking the right dose is important. Vitamin C supplements are popular for prevention and even higher doses for treatment. | |
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Probiotics . The good bacteria in our gut form an essential part of our whole immune system. Taking probiotic supplements increases the levels of good bacteria in our gut and minimises the chance of catching colds and flu. |
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Echinacea is popularly taken to prevent colds, but it is not recommended to be taken for more than a couple of weeks at a time, typically as an extra boost during the worst of the colds and flu season. It can also be used as a treatment. |
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Garlic has a long history of being used to prevent colds and flu, and is available as a health supplement. It is claimed to have some direct anti-viral effect to kill cold and flu viruses in the early stages of infection. | |
Other supplements that have been used include Zinc, Black Elderberry, Beta Glucans and Antioxidants .
4. Wash Your Hands
When someone with a cold or flu sneezes, millions of virus particles are shot our into the air coated with mucus. When these land on a surface they can survive for between a few seconds and 48 hours, depending on the surface, humidity and temperature. Survival is better on smooth, non absorbent surfaces such as metal, plastic and wood, and less on skin, clothing and tissues. Flu viruses tend to survive for longer than cold viruses. Touching these surfaces transfers the viruses onto your hand.
On skin, cold and flu viruses generally survive for only a few minutes, but this is still long enough for you to touch your mouth or nose and cause an infection.
Washing your hands regularly minimises the chances of you catching a cold or flu. If you have a cold or flu, then washing your hands after sneezing can minimise the chance of spreading this to others. If it isn't convenient to wash your hands there are hand sanitisers that can be carried around in your pocket or bag, however these aren't quite as good as washing with soap and water.
5. Protect Your Nose
Protect your nose with Vicks First Defence Nasal Spray, which is used at the first sign of a cold to help your body naturally remove the cold virus before it develops into a full blown cold.
There are two ways of catching colds and flu. Both routes of infection come from someone with a cold or flu sneezing, and this shoots out droplets containing the cold or flu virus. This can infect you if you breathe in the droplets. However these droplets are also sneezed onto their hand even when they use a tissue to catch the sneeze, and then when they touch something the virus particles are transferred to that item, such as a door knob or a cup, and when you also touch this item you can pick up the live virus on your hand. If you then touch your nose, this can infect your nose lining with the virus and cause a full blown infection.
6. Minimise Contact With Other People
Becoming a hermit seems, at first, to be the only way to prevent yourself catching the cold or flu virus, because they are caught from other people. The more people you come into contact with, the more chance you have of catching something. If there is a lot of infection about, such as a flu epidemic, then it may be worth doing some things to minimise contact. Hire a video rather than go to the cinema. Travel by car rather than by bus, tube or train. You get the idea. There are of course limits.
And Finally - Don't Pass It On
| 'Catch It, Bin It, Kill It' is the 2009 slogan from the Department of Health, which encourages everyone, especially children, to sneeze into a tissue (catch it), then throw away that tissue straight away (bin it), then wash your hands to kill any virus that is still there (kill it). This is great advice for everyone to do whenever they have a cold or flu, every time they sneeze, to minimise the chances of passing the infection on to others. It is important to have a tissue handy to sneeze into, so that the sneeze isn't caught on the sleeve, and that the tissue shouldn't be put into the pocket or up the sleeve, but thrown into the bin straight away. |
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