As the winter takes hold, Albany has put together this simple guide to what works and what doesn’t in the fight to keep coughs and colds at bay

What works:
Being positive
The mind does have an effect on the immune system and stress appears to increase instances of colds.  It’s tricky staying upbeat when you’ve got a snotty nose and a headache, but a positive frame of mind may prevent the cold from gaining hold in the first place.

Prebiotics
Your gut is more useful than you give it credit for and keeping yours in shape by feeding the ‘good’ bacteria in it with prebiotics could reduce the risk of infection. However, make sure you take the ones that actually get into the gut and aren’t destroyed by the stomach as soon as you’ve taken them.

Cleaning your hands
We can help ourselves by cleaning our hands more.  Many viruses are passed by hand-to-hand contact.  People sneeze into their hands, then touch friends or family or touch work or home surfaces.  Cold and flu viruses can survive for some time out side of the body, so if someone comes into contact with the germs they can be easily passed on.  Simple thorough hand washing and drying is the easiest way of combating this threat.

Fluids and hot drinks
Keeping your fluids up is important, because it helps mucus production which is a vital tool in helping you body help fight infection.  Mucus lubricates the throat, which helps ease coughs and sore throats and also traps the cold virus. Hot drinks are also comforting and also loosen congestion.

Debunking the myths! What doesn’t really work:

Anti-bacterial hand washes
It’s often confusing, but colds are viral, not bacterial.  So while hand wipes and water-free washes are good for helping prevent the spread of bacterial infections and superbugs like MRSA, they do not actually make a difference when it comes to colds or flu.

Immune boosters
Probiotics aside, immune boosters might not be the blessing you think they are when you’re already bunged up.  The symptoms of a cold – the mucus, inflammation and pain are actually the body’s own immune system trying to fight the virus.  So by the time you are suffering from the effects of a cold, your body is already starting to fight it and by this stage, those immune boosters don’t have an impact.

Staying warm
Cold doesn’t give you a cold, cold viruses do!  So no amount of wrapping up warm is going to make a difference.  Getting more colds in winter is often attributed to the closer contact with people we have in the cold winter months as we retreat inside.