Here’s good news: scientific studies in recent years have pinpointed numerous ways to reduce rhinoviruses and influenza. Get educated by reading the info below, so you can blame yourself from now on:

De-Germ Your Grubby Paws



Soaping and scrubbing our filthy fingers and hands is arguably the very best way to avoid winter ailments. Here's proof: In Denmark, 652 children at two separate schools were required to wash-up three times per day during 2007-2008; the result was 30% fewer missed school days for the kids with clean appendages. Another study of 6,000 students in Delaware, Ohio, Tennessee, and California, showed 19.8% reduction in absenteeism for pupils using alcohol gel hand sanitizer. Does this 10.2% smaller percentage imply that USA kids compared to Danish are just inherently… sicker? No. The most impressive statistics floated out of Illinois's ”Operation Stop Cough" where five wash-ups per diem at a Navy recruitment center reduced disease by 45%.

Hand hygiene is essential because an estimated 80% of all colds and flu are contracted via fingers. For best results, lather your phalanges vigorously for 20-30 seconds. The best soap? A Melbourne, Australia hospital study claims alcohol based hand rub is 100 times more effective than plain soap. Anti-bacterial products are no more effective than regular soap, plus they carry the risk of spawning resistant bacteria.

Mine out under-the-nails detritus meticulously with a finger file; these crevices provide safe haven for nefarious microorganisms and larger parasites, like pinworms. Dry your hands off with clean towels, if you don't - you're just circulating contamination. Finally, disinfect yourself after touching any objects with a high potential of contagion: doorknobs, elevator buttons, stair rails, gym and sports equipment, toilet and urinal handles, money, mail, office supplies and equipment, computer keyboards, cafeteria furniture, and especially infectious salespeople and friends.



Salt Water is a Solution

It’s an unpleasant sensation to poke tiny squeeze bottles into our nose and squirt-squirt-squirt salt solutions deep inside our skull. But let's do it anyway, because we cherish our health. A 2008 Czech research project tried "nasal washing" 401 snotty 6-10 year olds for 12 weeks, and… the result? Statistics that are nothing to sneeze at. Sore throats, coughs, and stuffy, runny noses were massively reduced: 44% fewer sick days, 18% fewer school absences. The nasal-washed Czech kids also recovered quicker from rhinitis battles, and were superior at resisting later attacks. A 2004 Swedish report coughed up the same conclusions.

Another method of irrigating the eight sinus canals is with a "Neti pot" - a medicinal vessel invented millenniums ago in ayurvedic India. Nasal washing, in general, is a successful otorhinolaryngological strategy because it flushes out moist and dry congested mucus, plus it provides anti-bacterial protection against infections. If you're making the saline solution yourself, be sure to use un-iodized salt; it's less irritating to the sensitive membranes.

Gargling with salt water to prevent infections of the throat is also "cost effective and supported with clinical evidence," claims Dr. Mark Moyad, author of No BS Health Advice: A Step-by-Step Guide to What Works and What's Worthless. A 2005 study of "gargle medicine" at Kyoto University School of Public Health (Japan) also produced - ahem! – a decrease of almost 40% in upper respiratory tract infections.

Eat Smart, Stay Healthy

All food is fuel, but your physiology will flounder if you stuff your tank with low-grade octane. Give yourself premium nourishment and you'll zoom happily all day with a powerful immune system that defeats bacteria and viruses as easily as a windshield wastes bugs. Here's tips on what and what not to feed your engine:

Probiotics - A 2009 study in Madison, Wisconsin, discovered that children developed excellent cold and flu resistance if they ingested Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium animals subsp lactis supplements. Fever was reduced by 72.7%, coughing by 62.1%, nasal sneezing and congestion by 48%. Children on probiotics also missed approximately 30% fewer days of child care, and their use of antibiotics was slashed by a whopping 84.2%. Probiotics are live, beneficial micro-organisms that battle pathogens and toxin-producing bacteria in our intestines. Many yoghurts have probiotics.

Fruits and Vegetables - A Berlin 2011 study reports that a dietary supplement from fruits and vegetables provided a "20% reduction of moderate or severe common cold symptom days."

Vitamin D - Colds and flu strike harder in winter because limited sunlight deprives us of Vitamin D. Numerous studies reveal that low Vitamin D levels in the bloodstream significantly increase the risk of respiratory infection. Vitamin D can be found in fortified milk and orange juice, fatty fish, and other food products. Supplements are also available. An American Journal of Clinical Nutrition article asserts that Vitamin D is far superior to vaccines at preventing the flu because it activates the killer T cells that protect us.



Water - Glug, glug. Keep your body hydrated with 8-10 glasses of H2O daily. Water strengthens the immune system by transporting oxygen to cells, moving nutrients to our tissues and organs, and flushing out toxic impurities.

Avoid Sugar - Slurping in the simple carbohydrates in glucose, fructose, sucrose, orange juice and honey will suppress your immune system for up to five hours, notes a Loma Linda University study. The anatomical consequence is that our reduced army of white blood cell protectors will be inadequate in size, thus unable to prevent bacterial and viral invaders from thriving and pillaging our bio-systems. Advice? Keep away from sugary foods during the winter, and only consume beverages that are low in sugar.

Don't Infect Your Face

Everybody inadvertently paws their face all day long, poking, scratching, and rubbing their eyes, mouth, nose and ears. When we do this, we transport all the germs our fingers have accumulated, into vulnerable orifices that are easily infected. It is horrendously difficult to halt our rather rodent-like "grooming" behavior, but it's hygienically worth the effort.

Wash your hands frequently, and carry a bag of clean tissues, that you singularly use, and dutifully discard, whenever you blow your noses or probe your head cavities. Keep tissue boxes in multiple rooms of the house.

Our moist, dewy eyes are the most susceptible at absorbing viral particles, so… shut your eyes and move quickly away if someone sneezes or coughs near you, to avoid contact with the wafting clouds of drifting pathogens. Wear sunglasses during sick season if you desire, because lenses serve as a shield from the airborne enemies.

Run in the Sun

Scamper or walk outside, especially when bright sunshine peeps through the winter season's snow, rain, and fog. Solar radiation in sunshine delivers flu-and-cold-combating Vitamin A to our bodies; a a 2006 study by Atascadero State Hospital reported that Vitamin D "reduces the incidence of viral respiratory infections" because it offers "profound effects on human immunity."

Vigorous exercise also fights viral and bacterial infections because exercise boosts the immune system, elevating the production of killer T cells by as much as 300%. The deep inhalations required in aerobic exertion can also clear nasal passages that are in danger of getting congested. To sum it up, if your legs are running freely, maybe your nose won't.

Warm and Rested

Ah… Winter can be cozy if we hibernate properly with sufficient sleep and healthy heat, to keep our immune systems strong. Here's a tootsie tip: keep your feet warm and dry with good wooly socks. A 2005 study by the Common Cold Centre in Cardiff (United Kingdom) reported that subjects who had their feet chilled in ice water developed colds 2.6 times more frequently. Why? Viruses thrived in the frigid-foot folks because the temperature plunge constricted the blood vessels in their noses, preventing delivery of infection-fighting white blood cells.

Drinking beverages like tea and hot apple cider by a roaring fireplace, wrapped in a quilt over thick cotton pajamas, after a steaming hot bath or shower, is also a sure recipe for both comfort and cold-and-flu resistance. Also, try a sauna! A 1990 University of Vienna study with 25 sweaty volunteers discovered that there were "significantly fewer episodes of common cold in the sauna group." Hot tubs provide similar benefits.