10 Tips for Kicking Winter Colds
Dealing with a cold can pretty awful during the winter. Worse, that a cold can also lead to the flu so here are the top 10 tips to kicking your winter cold to the curb…
1. Wash Your Hands - a Lot
The most common way to catch a winter cold is sharing germs with other people. That happens when you touch things like phones, door knobs, and so on, that someone else can also touch when they’re sick. You know how people do – they sneeze into their hands or wipe their noses, and then go on about their day. So, keep the hand sanitizer nearby! And also keep your fingers out of your ears, eyes, mouth, and nose.
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Viruses can enter through any of these openings - not just the nose and mouth.
2. Try Hot Tea with Lemon and Honey
If you feel like you’re getting a cold or already have one, hot tea is a great remedy. However, it’s even better if you add lemon juice and honey to it. It soothes sore throats, opens up clogged sinuses, and just generally makes you feel warm and cozy.
3. Consider a Flu Shot
Flu shots are kind of controversial, so this only applies to those of you who aren’t against them. If you don’t like the idea of them, that’s totally fine. And you shouldn’t necessarily do it at the first sign of a winter cold. Rather, it’s only when a cold lingers and lingers that it has a higher risk of turning into the flu.
4. Stay Active and Exercise
When you’re sick, it’s tempting to just chill out, lie around, and do nothing. Unless you’re really, really sick, though, you need to keep moving.
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Just take a walk or something like that will help keep you active.
5. Stop Smoking
Smoking seriously worsens winter cold symptoms. It messes with your lungs, your chest, and your throat. If you are a smoker and not quite ready to quit, at least try to stay away from it while you’re sick. Moderate it, at the very least, because you’ll get better faster.
6. Eat Right
Eating the right foods is really important when you’re sick. Fresh fruits, vegetables, and things like chicken soup are good for you all the time, especially when you’re sick. However, you also need to make sure you eat three squares a day, and definitely don’t skip breakfast!
Avoid eating sugar as it will mean a shorter period of illness and less phlegm. Refined sugar is worse than unrefined sugars, but you should limit your intake all types, including fruit and carrot juice.
7. Gargle with Salt Water
Salt water, strangely, really helps with sore throats. If you can’t stand the thought, just gargling with warm water or with warm water and honey will help too and add a little lemon juice too.
8. Don’t underestimate the power of sleep
During the colder months, you may find it increasingly difficult to get out of your warm cosy bed, ready to face to cold outdoors. On average, we sleep just 6 1/2 hours according the UK Sleep Council. This simply isn’t long enough in order to maintain a strong immune system.
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Keep you body healthy by grabbing at least 7 to 8 hours of shut eye each night.
9. Milk and Cookies!
OK maybe not so much the cookie part, but all dairy products like milk, cheese, yoghurt are great sources of vitamins A and B12, this is an important weapon in your immune system battery. As the calcium found in dairy also helps to keep bones strong.
10. Multi-vitamins can help
During the winter months, get hold of an easy to swallow multi-vitamin tablet that you can introduce into your morning routine. It’ll help to keep your vitamin reserves topped up whilst your venture around the great outdoors.
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