How to avoid a cold this holiday season

by Martha Edwards (Subscribe to Martha Edwards's posts)
Dec 19th 2007 11:33AM

Categories: Healthy Habits, Diet & Weight Loss

Winter is known as cold season - and it's not just because the temperatures are dropping. Your chances of catching a cold this season are high -- but according to Everyday Health, you can reduce your chances of picking up one if you follow these steps:

Avoid touching your face with your hands. Cold viruses can easily enter your body through the eyes and nose.
Speaking of hands, wash them. Frequently.
Avoid people who are sick, is possible.
Keep your surroundings clean. Cold viruses can live for up to three hours on the phone reciever or stair railing, so make sure you are wiping those down with disinfectant if a sick person has used them.
Take your echinacea at the first sign of sickness.
Get your vitamin C too -- try drinking orange juice every day, for instance.

And if you're the one with the cold? Be polite -- cover your mouth when you sneeze and wash your hands often to prevent spreading the virus.

Source

Comments (13)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

jon 12-20-2007 @ 1:03PM

Its all about Green Tea , or better yet Matcha or Yerba mate

i4detail 12-20-2007 @ 12:27PM

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/covercough.htm
http://www.coughsafe.com/media.html

Sneezing into your sleeve goes a long way to preventing the spread of disease. Still wash the hands often, but when you do sneeze, pick a different target area....

Jay Ortiz 12-20-2007 @ 12:45PM

Also several doctors have told me that a contributing factor is that during winter people spend more time indoors essentially breathing other people's air (germs) etc. So in spite of the cold weather, go outside and breathe fresh air several times a day. It will do you good!

Jay

Spirit Doctor 12-20-2007 @ 12:49PM

I like the fact that there's no suggestion to take a flu shot or any other immunization.

aaron 12-20-2007 @ 1:43PM

a flu-shot to prevent a cold?

Kate 12-20-2007 @ 1:03PM

Drinking orange juice is not a good idea for anything. Aside from being horrible for you in terms of sugar content, it's difficult for your body to absorb minerals from liquid unless it's consumed in conjunction with a protein or fat source.

You'd be far, far better off eating an actual orange - not only do you get the vitamin C, you get the fiber content which gives your body more time to digest and get the full benefit.

Martha Edwards 12-20-2007 @ 1:47PM

touché! You're right about that one, though I suppose drinking OJ is better than nothing ...

alex 12-24-2007 @ 2:55PM

fiber still isn't fat or protein, so your point is not really validated.

try going through a day without eating fat or protein. pretty hard if you ask me.... in which case, vitamin C is absorbed and the OJ has done its job.

In addition, OJ is a lot of fluid in comparison to filling your stomach with more fiber, which will lead to you going to the bathroom more -- which in turn dehydrates you more. Dehydration is one of the largest contributing factors to the prolongation of the common cold.

shpoffo 12-20-2007 @ 1:43PM

Keep it simple: Do regular relaxing / rejuvenating exercise. Don't strive, that only wears you out more. Your immune system will be healthy by this.

Wear a scarf or appropriate coat, too. Wind causes 'colds' - not coldness. You can get a 'cold' in the summer, too..... think it's because of coldness??