Common Cold

Now that the cold season is approaching and stress levels are going up due to the Christmas rush, Christmas traffic and workload that needs to be done before the break, many of us will surely catch a cold.

Colds are caused by many different viruses, and even if you develop immunity to one type of cold virus, more are lurking everywhere, waiting to attack.  That’s part of the reason people get colds so often (an average of three to four a year, every year).

Colds travel from one person to another via coughs and sneezes, but studies have shown that colds are transmitted by the spread of mucus on the hands of someone who has a cold.  You touch towels or money, someone else picks them up and thus catches your germs. So to avoid spreading your cold to others: 

• Wash your hands often.
• Use a handkerchief or disposable tissues when you sneeze, cough, or blow your nose.
• Avoid touching other people and their belongings as much as possible.

Much the same strategy helps to prevent catching a cold.

Unfortunately, no pills or vaccination exists to fight the common cold. But here are helpful hints for fighting a cold: 

• Rest in bed if you’re running a fever.
• Drink lots of hot or cold beverages.
• Soothe a sore throat by gargling with warm salt water, drinking tea with honey and lemon, or sucking on over-the-counter throat lozenges.
• Breathe air from a steam vaporizer or a cool mist humidifier, to help quiet a cough.   
   

Used with permission from A Year of Health Hints by Don R Powell, PHD and the American Institute for Preventive Medicine, copyright 2010. www.healthylife.com