How to Prevent Winter Sickness – 25 Tips!
How to Prevent Winter Sickness
It seems winter is the season for illness – NHS statistics back up the fact that more sickness absence days are taken during the winter months (November-February) than any other time of year. Don’t be a statistic – prevent winter sickness with these 25 tips!
So why winter? We are surrounded by germs all year round, so why are we more affected during the colder months? How can we prevent winter sickness?
To answer this question, we need to have a basic understanding of immunity. We all have an immune system that guards us from infection on a daily basis. As hard as we might try to safeguard ourselves from bacteria and viruses, the world is a germ zone, and we are under constant attack.
Providing we are healthy, our immune system does a great job at keeping most diseases and viruses at bay, protecting us from their effects. The problem arises when we become ‘run down’ and don’t look after ourselves properly.
During periods of stress (see my article on stress for more details) our immune system is weakened, which makes us far more susceptible to viruses and bacterial infection. It is at this point where we become ill and suffer the effects of the virus that has attacked us.
How do we prevent winter sickness?
The answer is not just about lotions and potions we can take to ward things off. It is more of a question of making better decisions around our health and making sure we take the time to look after ourselves properly.
As we all know, the winter time can be harsh. A combination of cold weather, artificial heating, short days, long nights, long exposure to artificial lights, general lethargy and to top it all, the stresses and strains of Christmas, the parties, new year parties and paying for everything.
These have the effect of wearing us down, which weakens our immune system and allows the viruses to grab hold of us. Bacteria aren’t any stronger in the winter – our immunity is weaker.
So, in an attempt to keep the world healthier over the winter time, here is the Hoyles Fitness guide to winter-proofing your body. A list of 25 tips you can use to prevent winter sickness…
1. Eat Plenty of Vegetables. Vitally important during the winter months. Giving yourself the best possible chance of keeping your immune system all full strength requires plenty of vitamins and minerals. Eating seasonal winter vegetables such as broccoli, turnips, cabbage etc will give you massive vitamin boosts when you need them most!
2. Get Plenty of Sleep. As we all know, sleep is the time your body uses to rest, repair and recover. The winter is harsh, and the damage to our bodies is more significant and requires more repair. Aim for 7-8 hours per night.
3. Don’t Over Train. Over training places high levels of internal stress on the body. The muscles, nervous system and internal organs all suffer as a result of over training. Many people use the winter to add size or to work on their fitness ahead of the summer, but train sensibly and listen to your body.
4. Drink Plenty of Water. I have said before, in many ways water is your body’s best friend. The nature of many winter-heated buildings mean they are artificially dry, so ensure you keep drinking plenty of water to stave off dehydration.
5. Get Outside. Contrary to popular belief, being outside in the cold doesn’t actually cause a cold – the fresh air can do you the power of good. If you work in an environment where you are surrounded by a lot of people or spend lots of time sat in an air-conditioned office, getting outside is a great way to stretch your legs and stop breathing in recycled air.
6. Enjoy a Nap. Having a power nap is a quick an easy way of recharging your batteries. Even if you can only manage 20 minutes, giving your brain a chance to switch off for a few moments can leave you refreshed and less stressed.
7. Have a Hot Bath. When we are cold, our blood vessels towards our extremities (hands and feet in particular) constrict, diverting more blood to the important internal organs. This is the reason we often suffer from cold hands and feet in the colder months. A hot bath will improve circulation and warm a cold body!
8. Avoid Air-Conditioned Rooms. Air conditioning has been linked to spreading diseases, as it merely moves air around, it doesn’t take in fresh air. There are some circumstances where this may be impossible, but where you can, try to get out or away from stale air. If you eat lunch at your desk, get out to a cafe or bistro. If you usually schedule meetings in your office, change them to an external venue.
9. Reduce Alcohol Intake. In many ways, winter is party season. Halloween, Bonfire night, numerous Christmas parties, New Years Eve, Burns Night, Valentine’s day to name a few. The mixture of too much food and too much booze can wreak havoc with your general health. I am not suggesting you avoid alcohol altogether, but go easy and your body will thank you!
10. Eat a Varied Diet. To many this is obvious, but recently I have spoken to a number of new clients who literally eat the same thing day in, day out in an attempt to lose weight. Make sure you are eating a large variety of fruit and vegetables, proteins and good fats to provide a good balance of health.
11. Avoid TV. The temptation during the winter is to sit at home watching TV. This lethargy doesn’t do anything beneficial for your health, so get outside. It may be dark, but you can still get out of the house. Just wrap up – it’s winter, not the apocalypse!
12. Don’t Overheat Your House. For many, the default reaction to a drop in external temperature is to whack the heating up to full blast. Why? Heat your house to comfortable, not oven temperatures. Winter temperatures aren’t so shocking if you don’t live in a house that is 40 degrees Celsius inside!
13. Stretch Regularly. In the winter, blood is diverted from the extremities and our muscles and joints can tighten as a result. Make sure you stretch regularly to keep yourself supple during the winter.
14. Avoid a ‘Hot Toddy’. No, it doesn’t have health benefits. Whisky isn’t medicine. I’ve never seen a healthy alcoholic in my life – neither have you.
15. Stock up on ‘Super foods’. Super foods are those with a very high vitamin and mineral density. Instead of eating lots of salads as part of your winter vitamin boost, look towards root vegetables that are in season and packed full of goodness during the winter.
16. Keep Your House Clean. Most of us spend more time at home than anywhere else, so give your body less to deal with by ensuring you keep your place clean. If you are surrounded by germs at home you are doing yourself no favours in the germ war!
17. Lift Weights. Winter is a testing time for us – many animals hibernate so they don’t have to deal with it! In order to make your body as robust as possible, make sure you incorporate plenty of strength training into your routine.
18. Have a Sauna. A good sauna session helps clear your pores, allows you to sweat out heavy metals from the environment and improves circulation – all good points at any time of year, but especially good in the cold. Just remember to stay hydrated during your session.
19. Don’t Party too Hard. As difficult as it may seem at times, you don’t need to accept every party invite. If you have a weekend of non-stop over-drinking and over-eating you will suffer for it for a few days afterwards. Having a good time is encouraged, but be mindful of your health.
20. Be Organised. Stress is known to lower immunity, so go to the effort to plan your time, your budgets and create a relatively stress-free life. Your body will thank you!
22. Turn down the lights. Research shows that there our brains perceive a difference between ‘white’ light (artificial bulb light) and yellow light (sun, candle, open fire etc). The extra and artificially bright white light has negative effects on brain waves, disturbing sleep cycles and brain chemistry. Try turning down the lights at home to reduce this.
23. Take Fish Oil. I swear by a good fish oil supplement. The one I use is from Simply Supplements and has worked for me. I have managed to prevent winter sickness for a couple of years on these whilst plenty around me have suffered!
24. Increase your Vitamin D Levels. Over the last few years vitamin D research has increased and it is now considered a key vitamin for human health. In the darker, colder climates where sun exposure in winter is limited, taking a large dose of Vitamin D every other day can have positive effects. Robb Wolf has even suggested short bursts of sun bed use to increase vitamin D levels. I haven’t gone this far yet, but certainly would if I felt unwell.
25. Use a Good Multivitamin Daily. I advise this not for the vitamin benefits (they are easy to obtain thank to root vegetables being in season over the winter), but for the mineral benefits. Keeping your mineral levels up will help immunity and act as a good insurance for minerals missing from your diet.
Follow the majority of these steps and you will prevent winter sickness. It’s not ‘normal’ to get a winter cold – it’s a sign you need to change something to improve your health and immunity.
Further reading on similar topics can be found here…
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