This year you may be in for a cough or cold. And its considered “normal and healthy” to have 1-2 per year.
Children will have more and as do the elderly (nutrition status, exposure to other sick people and pre-existing diseases makes a big impact on this).
Typically you know you have a cold if you have a headache, runny nose, sneezing, blocked nose or sore throat. To distinguish it from influenza (the “flu”), which is usually caused by the same thing – a virus – but leads to more severe symptoms. These include body aches, joint aches, headaches, loss of appetite, fevers, nightmares (usually due to the high temperatures), low energy, and upper respiratory symptoms (runny nose etc) but you can also have bowel symptoms (tummy aches, diarrhea) as the lymph glands around the bowel can become inflamed.
Prevention is definitely one of those “health conditions” that is best prevented with a few strategies. The greatest impact on health has not been due to major medical break-throughs like penicillin and vaccines. In fact the biggest improvement in mortality and life has been due to things that I call “healthy hygiene habits”, such as hand washing. Healthy hygiene habits are things that you do, that don’t necessarily give you “big bang for buck” at the time. For example, you may not feel any improvement by doing them. But it is the absence of doing them that leave you wide open for disease and in this case, the cold or flu. Healthy Hygiene Habits for avoiding the cold and flu:
1. Wash your hands routinely after going to the toilet, after blowing your nose, after handling money
2. Use a sanitary wipe (organic and natural wipes are now available) to wipe virus and organisms from your hands before eating
3. Use wipes or preferable wash your hands after handling pets.
4. Have your own water bottle to drink from at sporting events, in schools, at work (i.e. don’t share drinking vessels – including straws, mugs, drink bottles)
5. Cover your mouth when you cough, or nose if you sneeze
6. Use disposable tissues not hankies
7. Dispose of tissues after a blow. Make sure you have lots of tissues on hand
8. Mouth hygiene is very important – brush and floss regularly. Organic, chemical free mouthwashes are very effective.
9. Take extra care when using public commodities e.g.: trains and buses, planes, public toilets and assume that others do not have the same healthy hygiene matters as you. Be prepared
