The best stay-well strategies for cold and flu season

You eat right, get enough sleep and wash your hands several times a day—but you still get a cold. Even worse, you follow all of this standard advice—and get a flu vaccination—but still develop the flu.

Each year, the average American adult contracts two to four colds, while up to one of every five Americans contracts the flu, a debilitating illness that can lead to life-threatening pneumonia.

Why do so many people get sick when the preventive strategies are relatively simple?

Everyone knows the hand-washing drill. For example, if you shake hands with someone who is congested and has just blown his/her nose, you know to wash your own hands afterward.

But the key to staying healthy during cold and flu season is to recognize the less obvious routes of transmission. For example…

  • Handshakes with people who don’t look sick. People often get colds through direct contact with an infected person, as well as by touching something that an infected person has touched within hours—or even days. That makes hand-shaking optimal for the transmission of cold viruses.

    Stay-well strategy: If you must shake hands with someone who shows cold or flu symptoms, such as a runny nose, sneezing or coughing, don’t touch your face—especially your eyes, nose or mouth, the main “portals of entry”—until you’ve washed your hands.

    Also important: Don’t assume that a person without symptoms is safe. Even though colds are most contagious once symptoms start, someone who harbors the virus can be contagious 24 hours beforehand. People with the flu are contagious one to three days before they develop symptoms. To be safe, assume that all people with whom you shake hands are infected, and wash your own hands afterward.

  • Contaminated air. The flu can be spread through touch, but it is primarily transmitted via airborne droplets projected by coughs and/or sneezes. If you’re around someone with obvious flu or cold symptoms, moving farther away will minimize your exposure to the “aerosol dispersal” of infectious organisms.

    Stay-well strategy: Avoid touching (or kissing) any part of the face of anyone who is sick—it is a repository of infectious particles.

  • Countertops and money. It’s well-known that doorknobs often are contaminated with viruses and/or bacteria. If a person who has a cold covers his mouth while coughing and then opens a door, he will deposit viral particles on the doorknob.

    However, few people recognize that other public surfaces, such as elevator buttons, countertops and handrails—as well as paper money—are commonly contaminated. (Coins contain trace metal elements that help inhibit viruses and bacteria.)

    Stay-well strategy: Wash your hands after touching any public surface and after all cash transactions. When hand-washing isn’t practical, carry alcohol-based wipes (such as Wash ’n’ Dri or Wet Ones) or liquid hand sanitizer (such as Purell or Germ-X). The wipes and liquid sanitizers should contain at least 62% alcohol.

    Also important: If someone in your household is sick, disinfect doorknobs, light switches, remote controls and any other commonly used items in your home daily with alcohol wipes or an antiseptic spray, such as Lysol.

OTHER STAY-WELL STRATEGIES

Even if you’re vigilant about avoiding the transmission routes described above, other actions can give you added protection…

  • Humidify. Up to 50% of Americans catch respiratory infections (colds and flu) during the winter months, compared with only about 10% in midsummer. One reason may be indoor heating. It dries the mucous membranes and may increase the risk for infection. (The body’s immune cells need moisture to function at their best.) The optimal indoor humidity is 30% to 60%. Helpful: Open a window or door for at least a few minutes during the day, or use a humidifier.
  • Get enough vitamin D. Some evidence suggests that people who get enough vitamin D suffer fewer bouts of colds and flu. Vitamin D (which is synthesized in the body following sun exposure) stimulates the body’s production of cathelicidin, a substance that appears to inhibit the production of viruses.

    Helpful: Take a daily supplement that provides 1,000 international units (IU) to 2,000 IU of vitamin D. You also can get vitamin D from fortified milk and juices.

  • Combine echinacea with vitamin C. Both the herb echinacea and vitamin C have traditionally been used for cold prevention and treatment because they increase immune activity.

    In a recent report in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, researchers who combined the results of 14 studies found that taking echinacea alone reduced the incidence of colds by 65%. When echinacea was combined with vitamin C, colds were reduced by 86%.

    To try the combination approach, take 300 mg of standardized echinacea three times daily, along with 500 mg to 1,000 mg of vitamin C daily. If you take 1,000 mg of vitamin C daily, take half in the morning and the other half in the late afternoon. Some forms, such as ester-C, are less apt to cause diarrhea, which can occur in some people at these dosages.

HAND-WASHING 101

Use plenty of soap and lukewarm water (primarily for comfort), and wash for 20 to 30 seconds. Be sure to wash your wrists, fingertips and between your fingers. Remember: Antibacterial soaps kill most bacteria but offer only limited protection against viruses that cause colds and the flu. Alcohol-based cleansers do get rid of most of these viruses.

Important: To reduce your risk for contaminating your clean hands in a public restroom, use a motion-activated paper towel dispenser if one is available (if not, it’s okay to use other types of paper towel dispensers). After drying your hands, use the towel to open the door and exit. Carry a paper towel or tissue in your pocket or handbag to open restroom doors at times when only a blower-type hand dryer is available.