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Today's Health - Wellness / Exercise / Reflections:Expert Tips to Avoid Colds and FluDon't worry yourself sick avoiding colds and flu this season. Use these simple strategies to stay healthy through the winter…
Americans get 1 billion colds each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Adults average 2-4 colds a year, and women – especially 20- to 30-year-olds – catch more colds than men, possibly because of increased contact with children.
Ironically, being older is a bonus when it comes to this virus. Those over 60 get one fewer cold per year. That's because they've built an immunity and usually aren't around kids as often.
Seniors, however, are more susceptible to influenza, a complex disease that can be deadly for them, particularly those with chronic disease, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, emphysema and congestive heart failure.
Whatever your age, it's true that you're likely to get sick more often in fall and winter.
According to experts, a perfect storm of seasonal events makes us more susceptible to respiratory illnesses at that time, rather than other seasons.
First, it's cold outside. That reduces immune-system strength. Second, we're indoors with others, increasing exposure to germs. And then there's travel.
"People traveling during Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays can spread new viruses to previously unexposed areas," explains Mark B. Mengel, M.D., M.P.H., executive director of the Area Health Education Center Program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Ark.
Prevention is always the best medicine. According to the top doctors we interviewed, your grandma's home-spun advice – wash carefully, get lots of rest, and eat vegetables – is still the most effective.
Here are their top strategies for staying flu-free this season: Stay-Well Strategy #1: Wash your hands – a lot!
Seem too simple to be effective? This was the No. 1 tip from doctors we spoke to.
"Hand-washing is the most important way to ward off illness," says Gregory Sonnen, M.D., a board-certified pediatrician in Rockwall, Texas.
"Running lots of water over your hands thoroughly dilutes viruses and sends them down the drain," Mengel says.
Lather with warm water and soap before touching your face, eating, blowing your nose, coughing or visiting a sick friend.
Stay-Well Strategy #2: Get a flu shot.
A flu shot does not prevent the common colds and viruses we call "the flu." This annual vaccination protects against influenza, specific viruses that can cause high fever, fatigue, respiratory illness, even death. In fact, 36,000 Americans die from complications caused by influenza each year.
That's why the CDC recommends that everyone six months and older get a vaccine annually. This year's seasonal flu vaccine protects against four flu viruses, including H1N1 "swine flu."
"Anyone who lives with, works with or spends time around the high-risk groups should get vaccinated," urges Janet O'Mahony, M.D., a board-certified internal medicine specialist at the Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Md.
"Studies show a clear benefit in preventing flu and its complications in patients who get vaccinated," she says.
Stay-Well Strategy #3: Take precautions everywhere.
At work: Sneezing, hacking employees don't help themselves or their employers by going to work. Not only will this prolong recovery time, but it also spreads illness to co-workers.
"If sick employees have to come to work, ask them to wash their hands frequently and clean surfaces they touch," Mengel advises. "If work isn't essential, ask them to stay home."If you're sick, stay home and rest until at least 24 hours after you no longer have a fever (100°F or higher). Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze and toss it into a trashcan right away.
When traveling: It looks funny, but wearing face masks (especially in communal settings) – also prevents flu transmission, according to a 2010 University of Michigan School of Public Health study.
When possible, travel to holiday get-togethers via train, bus or automobile, not plane. A report by Children's Hospital Boston found that a sharp dip in air travel after 9/11 slowed flu's spread during 2001-`02 season.
Outdoors: Grandma was right about bundling up.
People already exposed to a virus are more likely to get sick in cold weather, Mengel says. "Keeping warm – by wearing a hat and proper clothing – can help prevent this."
But don't worry about going from the frigid outdoors into overheated indoors. As long as you're appropriately attired for the cold, drastic temperature changes won't increase your vulnerability to viruses, Mengel adds.
At home: Disinfect. Rhinoviruses can live up to three hours on your skin and on common household objects such as phones, stair railings, doorknobs and computer keyboards.
The flu virus survives on surfaces for up to eight hours, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. So wash all surfaces with a general household cleaner to remove germs.
Here's an effective do-it-yourself disinfectant: Add 1 tablespoon of bleach to 1 quart of water. Apply the solution to surfaces with a cloth; let it stand for 3-5 minutes; then rinse the surface with clean water.
With a sick family member around, "Clean surfaces two to three times a day," Sonnen advises.Utensils, dishes, towels and linens used by sick people don't need to be cleaned separately, but don't share them unless they've been washed thoroughly.
Also, wash your hands with soap and water after handling soiled dishes and laundry.
A few more precautions:Stay-Well Strategy #4: Boost your immunity.
- Beware of double-dippers at holiday buffets. "The person who nabs a second and third dollop of ranch dressing on the same carrot stick may be passing a virus to those who eat afterward," Mengel warns.
- Don't lick fingers to turn pages. You never know who read the book before you.
- Don't touch your nose and eyes. Germs enter through those orifices.
Adopt the following health-boosting habits, and you'll increase the odds for fending off and weathering illnesses.
Eat lots of fruits and veggies. Plant foods – vegetables, fruits, beans and nuts – have antioxidants that help neutralize free radicals (toxic byproducts of cell metabolism caused by air pollution, junk foods and too much booze).
"Antioxidant foods keep your cells healthy, making you better able to fight off colds and flu," says Dawn Jackson Blatner, R.D., spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association and author of The Flexitarian Diet(McGraw Hill).
Vitamins A, C and E and selenium are big antioxidant disease-fighters – and they're found only in plant foods.
Another hat tip to Granny: Chicken soup has been a remedy for upper respiratory infections for centuries. Even scientists now recognize it as highly effective.Chicken soup was shown to relieve respiratory symptoms such as nasal congestion and sniffles, according to a Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, study. Researchers don't know which ingredients to credit, but they say that antioxidants – from veggies like turnips, parsnips, potato, onion, carrots and celery – could play a role.
Exercise daily (or as much as possible): Regular physical activity – even a casual stroll with Fido – can enhance immune function. If extreme cold or snow prohibits outside activity, take your workout indoors: Pop in a Pilates or yoga DVD. "The person who nabs a second and third dollop of ranch dressing on the same carrot stick may be passing a virus to those who eat afterward," Mengel warns.
Sleep 8-10 hours a night: A 2009 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that people who sleep less than seven hours a night are three times more likely to develop a respiratory infection than those who sleep eight hours or more.
"You can't fight colds and other bugs if you become fatigued," Mengel says. "You need to get enough sleep to recharge your battery."
Reduce stress: Stress levels and immune system are intricately connected. When you're overextended and exhausted, your body can't mount a rapid response to germs, leaving you vulnerable to infection.
So go for your favorite stress-reducer. Some women like massages and baths, while others choose a thrilling novel or feel-good romantic comedy.
Whatever your pleasure, make time to de-stress daily.
Swap sunshine for O.J.: Even though vitamin C has been used to prevent colds for decades, there's no conclusive evidence that it works, according to the National Institutes of Health.What does? Vitamin D. Taking supplements or getting some sun in winter may help reduce incidence of colds and flu, according to studies published in Archives of Internal Medicine (2009 ) and in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2010).
"Vitamin D plays a pivotal role in immune defenses," says Evangeline Lausier, M.D., assistant clinical professor in medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C. "Low blood levels of vitamin D in the wintertime might be responsible for the increase in colds and flu."
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29Gay Pride; June 13, 2010; Springfield, Missouri
Gay Pride; Pheoniz, AZ; April 17, 2010
Posted by Greg Hambrick on Mon, Dec 6, 2010 / Charleston City PaperRecent GOP victories and new survey findings on gays in the military have each altered the timetable for repealing the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. The ban on gays serving openly will either end in the next two weeks or it will sit in legislative limbo for at least the next two years.An extensive survey by military leaders at the Pentagon found that roughly 70 percent of troops were either supportive or ambivalent about a repeal. That leaves those like Sen. John McCain -- grasping on to strictly hetero memories of foxholes and communal showers -- in the minority.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen followed the report's release with a call for a repeal, accompanied with a "reasonable" timeline to implement the change.
And even McCain seemed to acquiesce to the inevitable. After months of fighting the change, McCain suggested during hearings last week that the policy would eventually face repeal, just not now. What McCain is fishing for is time, and it's understandable why.
Come 2011, the balance of power in the Congress will have shifted Right, and it's reasonable to assume the votes aren't there for repeal. What's even more reasonable to assume is that the issue wouldn't even make it to another vote in the newly GOP-led House.
The first hurdle it would have to go through is Congressman Joe "You Lie" Wilson's Military Personnel Subcommittee.
Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, told C-SPAN he was happy to hold hearings on the issue next spring, but he clearly telegraphed the results.
"As we have hearings next spring, this will become clear: that the system is working as it is," Wilson said. "It does not need to be changed."
Wilson's assertion that the system is working seems to run counter to the facts. According to the recently completed report, "92 percent of troops serving with someone they believed to be gay thought their unit's ability to work together was either very good, good, or neither good nor poor."
Yet, more than 13,000 military service members -- troops who have improved the productivity of their unit or, at best, carried their share of the water -- have been forced out of military service when it was revealed that they're gay. And we're not talking about getting caught mid-coitus. We're talking about personal e-mails between friends or lovers or affectionate Facebook page pictures or status updates from San Francisco.
An untold number more were chased out over fears that their sexual orientation would be revealed, and even more have simply avoided military service all together because of the anti-gay policy.
Somehow, Wilson still suggests that Don't Ask, Don't Tell works because it "respects the privacy" of servicemen and women. The problem is that the policy, as enforced, isn't narrow enough to strictly address private sexual acts, things I'd be happy to neither ask nor tell Joe Wilson.
The policy instead is used to discriminate against gays and lesbians regardless of what they do in the bedroom. This isn't about cuddling in the foxhole; this is about the anxiety over saying, "I love you," in an e-mail or phone call home, fearing this tiny bit of affection might cut short decades of service to this country.
What's most ironic about this intense debate in Washington is that it will likely be the last hard fight in the repeal process. Once this hurdle is cleared, servicemen and women will do what they're supposed to: accept the judgement of their superiors and protect our country.
We heard something similar earlier this year in an interview with S.C. Adjutant General-elect Bob Livingston, whose primary responsibility will be leading the state's national guard.
"We will probably have some individual challenges," Livingston told us about the repeal's effect. "But, overall, military people are well-disciplined. We're serving because we want to serve our country ... Because of our common mission and our bond with one another -- you get into combat and you don't care."
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