8 Natural Tips to Help Prevent a Cold

Brian King11/ 9/143 comments

There are no known cures for colds and flu, so cold and flu prevention should be your goal. A proactive approach to warding off colds and flu is apt to make your whole life healthier. The most effective way for preventing the flu is to get the flu shot. It works better than anything else. But there are other strategies you can employ as well. Here are 8 tips you can use to help prevent colds and the flu naturally:

#1 Wash Your Hands

Most cold and flu viruses are spread by direct contact. Someone who has the flu sneezes onto his or her hand and then touches the telephone, the keyboard, a kitchen glass. The germs can live for hours only to be picked up by the next person who touches the same object. So wash your hands often. If you can't get to a sink, rub an alcohol-based hand sanitizer onto your hands.

#2 Don't Cover Your Sneezes and Coughs With Your Hands

Because germs and viruses cling to your bare hands, muffling coughs and sneezes with your hands often results in passing along your germs to others. When you feel a sneeze or cough coming, use a tissue, then throw it away immediately. If you don't have a tissue, cough or sneeze into the inside of your elbow.

#3 Don't Touch Your Face

Cold and flu viruses enter your body through the eyes, nose, or mouth. Touching their faces is the major way children catch colds and a key way they pass colds on to their parents.

#4 Do Aerobic Exercise Regularly

Aerobic exercise speeds up the heart to pump larger quantities of blood; makes you breathe faster to help transfer oxygen from your lungs to your blood; and makes you sweat once your body heats up. These exercises help increase the body's natural virus-killing cells.

#5 Eat Foods Containing Phytochemicals

"Phyto" means plants, and the natural chemicals in plants give the vitamins in food a supercharged boost. So put away the vitamin pill, and eat dark green, red, and yellow vegetables and fruits.

#6 Don't Smoke

Statistics show that heavy smokers get more severe colds and more frequent ones.

Even being around smoke profoundly zaps the immune system. Smoke dries out your nasal passages and paralyzes cilia. These are the delicate hairs that line the mucous membranes in your nose and lungs, and with their wavy movements, sweep cold and flu viruses out of the nasal passages. Experts contend that one cigarette can paralyze cilia for as long as 30 to 40 minutes.

#7 Cut Alcohol Consumption

Heavy alcohol use suppresses the immune system in a variety of ways. Heavier drinkers are more prone to initial infections as well as secondary complications. Alcohol also dehydrates the body -- it actually causes more fluid loss from your system than it puts in.

#8 Relax 

If you can teach yourself to relax, you may be able to rev up your immune system. There's evidence that when you put your relaxation skills into action, your interleukins -- leaders in the immune system response against cold and flu viruses -- increase in the bloodstream. Train yourself to picture an image you find pleasant or calming. Do this 30 minutes a day for several months. Keep in mind, relaxation is a learnable skill, but it is not doing nothing. People who try to relax, but are in fact bored, show no changes in blood chemicals.

WebMD Medical Reference

Reviewed by David T. Derrer, MD on August 16, 2014

Comments (3)

Lola Ken on 8/ 4/22

🌿🌿 This is how i get cure from cancer i was diagnosed of cancer and i have tried all I can to get cured but all to no avail, until i saw in a health forum about a herbal medicine doctor who have medications to cure all kind of diseases including cancer, at first I doubted if it was real but decided to give it a try, when I contacted Dr. Azuka and he prepared a herbal medicine and sent it to me via. DHL delivery company service, when I received this herbal medicine, he directed me on how to take the medicine which i did to God be the glory, l was totally cure of the deadly disease called cancer, all thanks to 👇👇

WhatsApp +2349166175418

Email dr.azukasolutionhome@gmail.com

Dexter Tamara on 5/30/22

My mom was suffering from Type 2 diabetes and Lupus for over 17yrs. She tried many drugs but at last became dependent on saferoom and metformin due to the weakness and constant pains, She found that life was just sinking & there was no way of hope. Then she consulted Chief Dr Lucky for herbal treatments, Which she had been hearing so much about, After some couple of days taking this herbal medicine, Things started to change, The symptoms started to decrease and after 19 days of taking it, She became healthy and fully free from all the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes and Lupus. My mom’s life is totally different now. That’s why I decided to let everybody know about the wonderful healing of Chief Dr Lucky herbal treatments, If you are having any health challenges kindly visit email chiefdrlucky@gmail.com or WhatsApp +2348132777335
Facebook page http://facebook.com/chiefdrlucky
Website https://chiefdrlucky.com/.

Evelly on 6/29/15

hi dear ice… how are you and josh na? hope you both get better soon. uso ata ang flu at colds these days. am glad that you enyojed the gummy bears. you are most welcome!ang sweet ni josh mo ha? it must feel really special to have two boys in your life. hehe. sana meron din ako little boy no? btw, we’re back here in japan na. we only stayed in pinas for two weeks kaya no chance na maglakwatsa sa gensan and cdo. it would have been nice to meet you and other blogger friends in person. cge lang, hopefully, sa next vacation, may time na kami. ingat dear! God bless and take care.

Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published