Preventive Measures For Cold/Flu

1. Wash hands often:

Wash your hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds. Or rub an alcohol-based hand sanitizer onto your hands. The single most important step to preventing the spread of disease and staying healthy is washing hands properly.

Avoid people with a cold or the flu, especially when they have a fever. Stay away from sick people who have a fever; this is when they are most contagious.

2. Kick away the butt:

If you smoke, cut down on the number of cigarettes you smoke, or stop smoking. Quitting smoking has been proven to improve your overall health and immunity within just a few weeks and the benefits only get better over time.

3. Cut alcohol consumption:

The body’s primary filter, liver, gets completely destroyed by heavy alcohol consumption, which means that germs of all kinds won't leave your body as fast. The result is, heavier drinkers are more prone to initial infections as well as secondary complications. Alcohol also dehydrates the body, as it actually takes more fluids from your system than it puts in.

4. Exercise daily:

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. Drink plenty of fluids:

Drink plenty of fluids, as water flushes your system, washing out the poisons as it rehydrates you. A typical, healthy adult needs eight 8-ounce glasses of fluids each day. One can tell if he is getting enough fluids or not by simply watching his or her urine color. If the color of your urine runs close to clear, you're getting enough. If it's deep yellow, you need more fluids.

6. Eat a healthy, balanced diet:

Eating a well-balanced diet, getting regular exercise and taking a daily multivitamin boosts your immune systemdefine so you will be less likely to get sick. Cut in saturated fat and make sure you eat plenty dark green, red, and yellow vegetables and fruits.

7. Drink lots of water:

Drink plenty of water as it will keep you well hydrated. One need to have a proper hydration, which is essential to a strong immune system and will help you feel better as well.

8. Use a tissue while coughing, sneezing:

As germs and viruses cling to your bare hands, muffling coughs and sneezes with your hands results in passing along your germs to others. So, when you feel a sneeze or cough coming, use a tissue, then throw it away immediately. If you don't have a tissue, turn your head away from people near you and cough into the air.

9. Pop in daily vitamins.