How to avoid or prevent cold

Tips to prevent common cold


How to prevent cold?

Common cold affects us when our defenses are not able to overcome cold virus. There is no specific medical treatment for this disease and medications is used to relieve the symptoms of it. Therefore, increasing defenses and preventing possible viral infection are the two best methods to treat cold. The main tips to prevent or treat cold are:

- Maintain good hand hygiene: Hand contact with mouth, nose or eyes is one of the most likely forms of contagion. This can also take place in a direct way through the food we eat. A proper washing with soap and water before handling food and before eating is a good way to prevent microorganisms from entering our body.

This advice is especially necessary whenever someone returns home, especially when living in large cities where situations for contagion are more likely to appear. (Touching stair railings, doorknobs, handles on subways or buses, telephones, etc.).

- Avoid confined spaces where there are many people: In these places the risk of infection is much larger. For example, walking on foot to work whenever possible, instead of taking the bus or subway, avoid the department stores, the crowds, etc. This is a good way to protect against the cold.

In young children attending day care centers is a cause that produces most of the infections. The fewer children a nursery has the less likely to get sick.

- Ventilate the rooms: Although we have central heating, a fifteen minute ventilation of the rooms in our house is a must for aerating and avoid concentrating microorganisms.

- Don't abuse of antibiotics: The overuse of antibiotics makes the organisms become more resistant to medication and makes bacteria more difficult to remove. We should never self-medicate. Besides, the use of antibiotics is not indicated for the treatment except for patients at risk in those cases where complications occur, such as bronchitis, pneumonia or sinusitis.

- Caring for Food: Adequate diet, rich in natural plant foods, is essential to maintain our body immune system healthy which is necessary to defeat microorganisms. One food that has proved very useful for preventing colds is yogurt, which seem to neutralize bacteria. (More information about " Diet for cold" in the listing above"

- Dress appropriately: A proper clothing for a specific place is the best way to avoid chill which gives the body the appropriate conditions to get cold. It is very convenient to keep oneself warm when being in the street. Don't forget to protect especially the throat and head with scarves and caps if the environment conditions require it.

Moreover, being overdressed when we are indoors will make us sweat, so we will more bound to catch a cold when we go out into the street. Under no circumstances we should have our feet cold because, if so, our whole body will cool. We must use proper shoes and socks to preserve body heat.

- Maintain the appropriate environmental moisture: A dry environment is the best way to provide the respiratory mucous the appropriate place for development of microorganisms. Using a humidifier or vaporizer during the winter, especially in places with heating, is a good way to increase humidity and keep the nasal passages free from drying.

Another good way to keep moisture better is to eat plenty of fluids, by means of of water juice, fruit juice or liquid form of vegetables, especially those that are rich in vitamin C or antioxidants.

- Quit smoking: Tobacco facilitates the appearance of common cold by lowering the body's defenses. Numerous studies have shown that smokers are twice as likely to get a cold than those who do not smoke. Similarly those who are not smokers should avoid places where smoking is permitted, because passive smokers are also more likely to become infected.

- Allow the body to rest: The body needs all his strength to fight this disease, therefore a cold requires bed rest. When someone has gone through the disease for a couple of days, and his/her body seems to feel better, some walking by can be made, which will help to decongest the nose.

- Reduce stress: tension, nervousness, anxiety, lack of peace of mind are factors that can slow healing because they impair the body's defenses. A more positive attitude will increase the defenses and promote a more speedy recovery.

- Young children should be breastfed: This strengthens the immune system and prevents colds and other respiratory diseases

punto rojo More information about common cold and its natural treatment in the listing above.

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