Cold and flu season is almost upon us, and you may be dreading not only getting sick but also — in this bad economy — having to pay for doctor bills and medicine. While you may not believe that the best things in life are free, you will be relieved to find out that six of the best ways to prevent colds and flu, according to experts, are actually free or cost very little.
You can immediately begin incorporating them into your daily health practices to raise your odds of beating cold and flu bugs this fall and winter. While some of the recommendations may sound like they originated with "Dr. Mom," they are (with one exception from the Far East) endorsed by experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and prestigious universities.
1. Get sleep
People who sleep less than seven hours a night are three times more likely to catch a cold than those who sleep eight hours or more, according to a study by Carnegie Mellon University. The scientists took 153 healthy men and women who reported their sleep duration over a period of 14 days, and gave them nasal drops containing a rhinovirus. Then they quarantined and monitored the subjects for five days to see whether they developed a cold.
"Poorer sleep efficiency and shorter sleep duration in the weeks preceding exposure to a rhinovirus were associated with lower resistance to illness," the researchers concluded.
In other words, get some sleep and stay well – it’s free and effective.
2. Be happy
Happiness leads to healthiness, at least where the common cold is concerned, according to another Carnegie Mellon study. This time the scientists looked at 354 volunteers aged 18 to 54 years, and assessed them for "their tendency to experience positive emotions such as happy, pleased, and relaxed; and for negative emotions such as anxious, hostile, and depressed."
After being given a dose of nasal drops containing rhinoviruses, the participants were monitored in quarantine for the development of a cold. "The tendency to experience positive emotions," the researchers said, "was associated with greater resistance to objectively verifiable colds." They also found that a positive emotional style was linked with reporting fewer unfounded cold symptoms, and negative emotional style was linked with reporting more.
In plain language, happy people are less prone to colds. Do whatever it takes to develop what the researchers call a "positive emotional style," beginning with giving the world a free, healthy smile.
3. Stay warm
Mom was right about this one. A British study lays claim to the first positive proof that there is a demonstrable link between getting chilled and catching a cold. At the Common Cold Center in Cardiff, 180 participants took part in a study in which half of them placed their bare feet in ice water for 20 minutes while the other half placed theirs in an empty bowl. In the five days following the ice water exposure, 29 percent came down with a cold, while only 9 percent in the empty-bowl control group developed a cold.
The study vindicated moms all over the world who tell their kids to put on their galoshes and bundle up. "When colds are circulating in the community, many people are mildly infected but show no symptoms," professor Ronald Eccles, director of the center, said in a statement. "If they become chilled, this causes a pronounced constriction of the blood vessels in the nose and shuts off the warm blood that supplies the white cells that fight infection.
"The reduced defenses in the nose allow the virus to get stronger, and common cold symptoms develop," Eccles explained. "Although the chilled subject believes they have 'caught a cold' what has, in fact, happened is that the dormant infection has taken hold."
4. Gargle with water
While gargling to prevent colds and flu usually evokes snickers in the Western world's medical establishment, it is an accepted practice in Eastern medicine. A group of Japanese scientists calling themselves "The Great Cold Investigators" is responsible for much of the information about gargling with tap water: Their theory is that it can disrupt the spread of viruses that can cause an upper respiratory tract infection by removing enzymes which help viruses propagate.
In their original study in 2002, the Japanese researchers said that participants who gargled with water had fewer colds than those who did not gargle, and fewer even than those who gargled with an antiseptic. While opinions — expert and otherwise — as to the pros and cons of gargling with tap water abound, some hypothesize that chlorine in tap water is the key to getting rid of enzymes in the throat that help viruses replicate.
The consensus of Western medicine is that gargling with tap water probably won't do you any good, but at least it will do you no harm. In that light, whenever you brush your teeth, give gargling a go.
5. Wash Your Hands
If this sounds like more advice from Dr. Mom, it's not — it's from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Washing your hands costs almost nothing, and it's free when you're away from home. The CDC says to wash with soap and warm water for 15 to 20 seconds, which they say is "about the same time it takes to sing the 'Happy Birthday' song twice." If soap and water are not available, the CDC recommends alcohol-based hand wipes or gel sanitizers.
Germs can live for more than two hours on surfaces like elevator buttons (which Dr. Nicholas Moon of Microban Europe told the Daily Mail are "40 times dirtier than public toilet seats"); and, since working adults touch as many as 30 different objects every hour according to WebMD, this means frequent hand-washing to stay cold-free.
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