10 Ways to Prevent a Cold

Today it is snowing for the first time this fall. It’s almost winter and with this kind of weather it seems easy to catch a cold.

While it is impossible to completely prevent the spread of colds, there are steps you can take to reduce your chances of becoming infected with a virus that causes colds.

Here are a few ways to fight off the common cold or the flu.

1. Get enough sleep. Make sure you get enough quality sleep (7-8 hours).
2. Exercise. This is probably not a good idea if you’re coming down with a cold or the flu, but being in good shape and health can certainly help to protect your immune system and help your body fight any nasty cold germs it may encounter.
3. Keep the stress level low. Studies have shown that people experiencing emotional stress have weakened immune systems and are more likely to catch a cold. If you feel stressed out at work or at home, take a deep breath and calm down. Yoga can also help. This, of course, ties in well with #2 – exercise.
4. Keep yourself well hydrated. Drink enough water. You can also drink green tea or herbal tea. This will also keep you hydrated. In addition to that, the antioxidants in green tea may help boost the immune system and the herbs in herbal tea can also help to fight off a cold or reduce its impact, severity and duration. See #5 for more suggestions on herbal teas.
5. Take supplements. A healthy dose of Zinc, Goldenseal, Chamomile, Echinacea, garlic and Vitamins B, C and E can reduce your chance of catching a cold or reduce its impact. You don’t necessarily have to take tablets, some of these are also available in the form of herbal teas.
6. Avoid people who have a cold or are in close proximity to those who have colds. Although common colds are seasonal, with more occurring during winter, experiments so far have failed to produce evidence that short-term exposure to cold weather or direct chilling increases susceptibility to infection, implying that the seasonal variation is instead due to a change in behaviors such as increased time spent indoors at close proximity to others.
7. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. This is not so difficult if you are on a (near-) vegan diet. Fruits and vegetables usually contain a lot of water (see #4), so they can also be used to flush your system. Oranges are a good source of Vitamin C.
8. Wash your hands often. Frequent hand washing can destroy viruses that you have acquired from touching surfaces used by other people. You can also carry around sanitizing hand wipes.
9. Avoid touching your face, especially the nose, mouth, and eye areas, if you are around someone with a cold or have been touching surfaces in a public area.
10. Throw tissues away after use. Used tissues can contaminate any surface where they are left. Wash your hands after throwing the tissues away.

Don’t take my word on this, just experiment with the ways mentioned above.

Stay healthy!

Gerber

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