Beating A Winter Cold

  You know the symptoms well enough by now: a sore throat, a stuffy nose, and a generally groggy feeling throughout your body. You, like millions of others every winter, seem to have caught a cold virus. While there are no cures (yet) for the common cold, there are many things you can to do relieve the symptoms and give your body a fighting chance.

Get Some Rest

  Most medical professionals agree that the best thing you can do when you get a cold is to take it easy and get some rest so that your immune system can have the strength it needs to do what it does best. You don’t necessarily need to confine yourself to a bed all day, but it wouldn’t hurt if you take a few days off from the gym and other physically-demanding tasks while you’re sick. Be sure to drink plenty of liquids, preferably water or – for meals – chicken soup or herbal tea, which both help relieve congestion. You can also try gargling with warm water to soothe the back of your throat and cope with the effects of the post-nasal drip that commonly accompanies colds. If your symptoms seem different from – or more severe than – a normal cold, or if you have any concerns whatsoever, be sure to consult with a doctor immediately.

Cold Medications

  If your cold is bothersome, you may want to pay a visit to the doc to see what kinds of drugs are available to alleviate your symptoms. Your doctor may recommend any of a multitude of over-the-counter or prescription medications which are available at most pharmacies and supermarkets: Dextromethorphan (Benylin, Robitussin), a cough suppressant; Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed), a nasal decongestant; and Acetaminophen (Tylenol), an analgesic. If your cold has led to a bacterial infection in the sinuses or any other area, your doctor may prescribe you with antibiotics. Antibiotics have absolutely no effect on viruses, but they do help fight invasive bacteria.

Echinacea: Scam or Treatment?

  Echinacea, derived from the purple coneflower, has long been a fixture of herbal medicine. It is generally available over-the-counter and comes in pill or lozenge form. Its proponents claim that Echinacea extracts boost the human immune system and help fight colds, but what does science have to say about that? A 2005 experiment conducted by Ronald Turner of the University of Virginia found no significant differences between sick people who had been given Echinacea and sick people who had been given a placebo. However, Turner’s study only followed its subjects for five days after they were exposed to a virus, while Echinacea is often credited with reducing the length of colds, which likely couldn’t be measured in less than five days. Meanwhile, a 2007 analysis in the prestigious medical journal Lancet Infectious Diseases that examined 14 previously-published studies on Echinacea found that taking the herbal treatment reduced the chances of catching a cold by 58% and reduced the length of a cold by an average of 1.4 days. However, this analysis, in turn, has been criticized for lumping together many different studies and methodologies. So while the jury is still out on the effectiveness of Echinacea in treating colds, it may well be worth a try.

Prevention

  As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and there’s no easier way to deal with a cold than to avoid getting one in the first place! One of the biggest factors in preventing illness is maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and that means eating well, exercising often and getting plenty of sleep each night. Bad habits like smoking, drinking and illicit drug use can weaken immune systems and engender other negative health consequences as well, so party wisely. If you are around someone who has a cold, wash your hands frequently to get rid of any germs you may be picking up from them, and avoid touching your mouth, eyes and nose with your hands to reduce the risk of transmission. If you're smart about it, you can stay healthy in a workplace where everyone around you seems to have a cold.

About the author:

  Curtis is a writer specializing in politics, popular media and the entertainment industry. Based out of Vancouver, Canada, he graduated from Kwantlen University College with an Arts degree in 2006 and is now a contributing editor at TrendPimp magazine. His online portfolio can be found at CurtisSpring.com.