How to treat and prevent a common cold

Condition analysis:
According to your description, I'd like to give you some suggestions listed as follows. Winter is the season for colds and flu. December is when infections tend to become prevalent. Here, I look at some ways you can minimise your risk of catching colds and flu.

Instructions:
Keep warm
Granny was right - keeping warm can help you avoid coughs, colds and flu. After our exceptionally mild autumn, people won't be used to dressing warmly for wintry weather. So if there's a sudden icy snap, we will be more likely to feel the cold and start to shiver.

Wash your hands
Although most infections are mainly carried in the air and transmitted by the "aerosol" effect when someone sneezes, germs can be transmitted by physical contact and enter the body when infected hands touch vulnerable parts like our eyes, mouths and noses.

Watch the weather
Low cloud, dull and misty conditions tend to bring an increase in germs. Viruses survive longer when the weather is moist. They can hang in the air attached to water droplets more easily, and when it's cloudy and dull there are fewer breezes to blow the germs away. This is the time when you're more likely to catch something - although you may not notice you've done so until ten to 12 days later, the incubation period for many colds and coughs.

Herbal help
If your immune system needs pepping up to withstand the winter onslaught of germs, Echinacea should be an integral part of your daily routine. The Echinacea plant was originally used by native Americans to heal wounds and infections. Nowadays, it is popularly used to boost the immune system in fighting colds and flu, and also as an agent to help heal viral and bacterial infections. Although Echinacea is used to boost the immune system, it does tend to lose effectiveness with lengthy usage. Ideally, you should take it for no more than six to eight weeks at a time.

Zinc and garlic
The mineral zinc is essential to help fight colds and provide a boost to a flagging immune system. Good food sources include meat, oysters, eggs, seafood, tofu, black- eyed peas and wheat germ. Zinc and Vitamin C make a great cold-busting duo. Garlic helps ease chest complaints, and small amounts taken daily may also reduce the frequency of colds and flu.

Drink plenty
Water helps the kidneys function properly and flushes out the toxins that accumulate in our bodies. If you have a cold, being dehydrated makes your mucus drier and thicker and less able to cope against invading bacteria and viruses. If you've already caught a cold, drinking plenty of fluids will help flush out the infection.

Keep on moving
Apart from keeping our circulation going, regular moderate exercise increases the number of natural killer (NK) cells in our bodies. These lymphocytes in the bloodstream and the mucosal layer of the nose and airways travel around our bodies scavenging foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses. When you exercise, NK levels go up and stay elevated for about 36 hours afterwards. However, if you exercise too much, this will actually lower levels of NK cells.