The whole family is suffering from colds at the moment. I rarely got colds
before our son was born and now in his ten months of life, I’ve lost count of
the number of colds we’ve all had and how many sick days my husband’s taken!
Being ill with a baby is in itself something challenging too. You can’t just
have a duvet day and wallow in your own self-pity when there’s a little one to
look after. They are miserable with their sniffles and you are miserable with
yours and it all makes for some long days. Parents of older children tell us how
it only gets worse, as once they attend school they pick up bugs all the
time.
In a desperate attempt to reduce the number of colds we get (as we move into
prime cold-catching season), I researched cold prevention and the best ways to
deal with a cold when you do have one. I learnt that I don’t spend long enough
washing my hands – you’re meant to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ twice as a measure of
how long to wash and rub your hands.
Amidst all the usual advice I found a couple of more unusual tips…..did you
know taking regular saunas could help ward off colds? A 1989 study revealed that
those who took a sauna twice a week got half as many colds as those who didn’t.
Well, anything’s worth a try!
Here are five tips for dealing with a cold:
- Drink lots of fluids to avoid dehydration, ideally 6-8 glasses of water a
day.
- Get as much rest as you can during the day and plenty of sleep at night.
- Eat hot (spicy) foods: ginger, chilli, garlic, wasabi and horseradish are
all good for your immune system
- Eat fruit rich in vitamin C.
- Always sneeze and cough into tissues, not into your hands
Do you have any other tips to share?
