Stay sneeze-proof this season with these tips.
A temperature drop doubles your chances of catching a cold. During our lifetime, each of us will suffer from around 200 colds. Yet, doctors say, a quarter of their consultations for colds and flu are unnecessary. Here’s what you need to do to avoid the sniffles now that Mumbai is turning a degree or two colder. Stay sneeze-proof with these tips.
Feel the sunshine
“I take a vitamin D supplement,” says Professor Ron Eccles, director of the Common Cold Centre at the UK’s Cardiff University. “This vitamin is formed in sunshine and is important for our immune response to infection, but many of us are in short supply of it in winter.” Boost your vitamin D intake by going outside daily — and eat oily fish and eggs.
Move your body
People who exercise for at least five days a week and feel fit cut their chances of having a cold by around 45 per cent, according to a study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Half an hour of daily, moderate aerobic exercise doubles the body’s response to the flu vaccine, a separate US study found. But don’t overdo it. Too much exercise increases your risk of illness and infection.
Get a handle on stress
Stress hormones trigger anti-immune reactions. “You can’t always control what’s happening in your life, but it’s important to manage your response to it,” says Cary Cooper, professor of psychology at Lancaster University. Try meditation. The US researchers found volunteers who had eight weeks of meditation training produced more flu-fighting antibodies than those who didn’t meditate.
Be on bug alert
“Use antibacterial sprays and wipes on ‘hot spots’ such as door handles, and toilet flush handles because cold and flu viruses can survive for up to 48 hours,” says UK-based environmental health practitioner Dr Lisa Ackerley. Avoid using communal pens in banks and post offices. Storing family toothbrushes in the same container spreads germs in bristles.
Have more sex
Regular lovemaking protects against colds and flu. People who have sex once or twice a week produce 30 per cent more immunoglobulin A cells — viral antibodies — than those who don’t.
If you do succumb, breathe in steam
Place a bowl filled with steaming water on a firm surface, put your head over the bowl and place a clean towel over your head to keep in the steam. Keep your eyes closed and don’t let your face get too close to the water. Adding drops of menthol or eucalyptus oil to the water can help to relieve congestion.
Have a hot drink
While any hot drink will help to soothe inflammation in the throat, honey and lemon is a popular combination because the taste of citrus can boost your wellbeing, while the honey coats the throat and relieves irritation as the natural sugars pep you up. Strong-tasting lozenges will also help by promoting salivation to soothe sore throats.
Tuck into a hot curry
Spices in curries make your eyes and nose run, creating extra mucus to trap the virus and clearing the airways.
Image courtesy: ©Thinkstock photos/ Getty images
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