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Winter is near for some of us. Any suggestions on improving health or mitigating flu and colds
For the most part it will come down to the increased contact in smaller environments due to the cold. But with children I'm wanting to believe there is more I can do to avoid a repeat of last year's constant sickness at home.
Would love to hear people's thoughts and ideas.
Get your flu and COVID vaccines, wash your hands. Accept that humans pass diseases back and forth. Especially kids at school.
Damnit...
I don't exactly like getting needles but trying to make an appointment i can make is my issue.
Earlier this week there was a discussion about working on call and if that's worth it or what it would take for you to consider. My entire job is on call so this is one of those things that usually suffers.
You can walk in to most pharmacies during the day at any time and get them both in just a few minutes.
I will try to do that this year.
During covid my employer was all like YES PLEASE TAKE TIME OFF IF YOU NEED TO GET YOUR SHOTS. Now its kind of back to, "you figure it out or book off sick then we'll give you a hard time for booking off sick.
For those who don’t feel great about injections, here’s a reminder that needle-free flu vaccines are available. There’s a nasal spray as well as a needle-free jet injector. These don’t seem to be advertised widely, but if discomfort around needles is what stands between you and the flu shot, it’s well worth asking about.
Wear a mask when you are indoors and not at home.
It not only protects others from getting Covid 19 from you (many people are unknowingly carriers) and you from them, but the number of flu cases dropped during the pandemic when people started wearing masks.
BTW, the pandemic never went away and the death counts are climbing again
https://mastodon.social/@lorgonumputz@beige.party
Maybe not health related, but I find I really enjoy wearing a mask outdoors in the cold because it keeps my face nice and toasty. I tend to mask any time I'm not at home, even outdoors, with rare exceptions. Even when I'm outside, it's usually because I'm going between indoor places. The last thing I want to do is contaminate myself by fiddling my mask on and off every 5-10 minutes to try to maximize my unmasked time. It's not that important that my walk to the grocery store be unmasked.
Helps keep my hands off my face too, a bad habit for avoiding sickness...
Now if only I could get my glasses to stop fogging up.
Masking and social distancing was so effective we killed off a strain of the flu. It's been deemed more dangerous to keep the strain in the flu vaccine (due to risks of accidentally releasing it because research) than it is to pull it out. Which is super cool. HERE's the article if you want to read more.
Make sure you are sleeping well. Sleep is essential for a good immune response.
Keep your mucus membranes moist. Heat gets cranked up in the winter and it dries everything out. Use a humidifier or a nasal saline spray. Your sinuses are a giant attack surface for colds to enter your bod. Keep them nice and mucusy.
Wearing a mask has the added benefit of being a physical barrier as well as keeping your mucus membranes moist.
*edit - Dont pick your nose.
Make sure you are getting enough vitamin D. For those that don't know, your body produces Vitamin D through sun exposure, so you naturally produce less in the winter. More recent research on teh vitamin (actually a hormone) has revealed previously unknown association with immune system response. Not only will it help you to not get sick by better innate immune system activation, it will modulate your body's responses so that when you do get sick it won't be nearly as debilitating.
I use to suffer from 3-4 pretty heavy colds a year and get the flu every two years. My sun exposure was admitedly really low for most of my twenties and I tan super easily which further reduces my Vitamin D production, pluss some people just don't make or absorb it that well (maybe my case, who knows). Ever since I started making sure I got enough vitamin D I spend most years not getting any heavy colds at all, although I still sometimes feel a little sick and really tired for a few days.
Depending on whose research you rely on, nearly half to almost 90% of Americans are deficient in Vitamin D
How do you increase your Vitamin D in winter? Pills? Fortified food? Something else?
They fortify milk with it but people just don’t drink nearly the amount of milk as they used to. Pills are your best bet and you can get them easily at any grocery in the U.S. or pharmacy outside of it. Take the pill with food as this helps the absorption
There's a ton of vit D supplements like a high concentrate-slow release pill you take once a week, daily ones that work best after dinner and there are some foods rich in it that can push up the numbers (tatty fishe, cheese, chicken livers). I noticed lot of kids treats also have it added like yogurt, lunch bars and cereals.
There are also more gimmicky ways to help like low-power UV shower lamps, enema treatments and IV bars but I'm not the biggest fan of that.
My personal solution was to just get out more. Granted winter isn't as bad my side of the world and I can spare an hour in the morning for a short walk but every little bit helps.
There's no reason to use slow release formulations for Vitamin D unless you have specific medical conditions. Vitamin D is fat-soluble, so you have a reservoir that does the time-releasing for you.
While these days I've stopped limiting myself from going out when I'm feeling healthy, as I find I benefit a lot from the activity, I would add on top of this (with maybe a slight re-interpretation): Be a vocal advocate about staying home/rest when feeling unwell, especially if you're in a position of power.
I don't mean act preachy or judgy, and realize no one can really control what other people will choose to do, but speaking up can help create cultures in which others feel less guilty about taking sick days, working remotely, rescheduling, etc.
I realize I'm very lucky/privileged in my work situation, but my managers and working team are generally very vocal and honest about self-care, and I find (most) people don't go into the office when sick. It's really helped build a fairly positive working environment where people can do their work while taking care of themselves (and others around them).
I take 10,000 IU of vitamin D every day.
My vitamin D levels were severely low several years ago, and when September would roll around every year I would get "the sniffles" and other cold symptoms perpetually for months. I would get actually sick more frequently, and it would last longer. Since that test result I started taking vitamin D supplements.
Now I rarely if ever get sick, even when my two elementary age kids are perpetually sick. I had my vitamin D levels checked recently and they're back to normal.
My daily vitamin regimen is simply one men's One a Day, 10,000 IU vitamin D, and 400mg magnesium glycinate.
Now that being said, I also have well-managed type 2 diabetes. I don't take any diabetes medication, I manage it with exercise and intermittent fasting. Both of which are good for the immune system, but also practices that I started around the same time as the vitamin D supplements because I was diagnosed at that time. So I'm sure that getting my blood sugar under control likely played a part in strengthening my immune system as well.
However, 5,000-10,000 IU vitamin D is well tolerated in most people, and because it's relatively inexpensive it might be worth trying for anyone who wants to help their immune system work better. Can always ask your doctor to check your vitamin D levels too.
There's also this recent German study that suggests that vitamin D supplementation helps reduce cancer mortality https://www.dkfz.de/en/presse/pressemitteilungen/2023/dkfz-pm-23-27-Reduced-cancer-mortality-with-daily-vitamin-D-intake.php
Vitamin D supplements are a great choice, but 10,000 IU a day is overkill for most people. My psychiatrist recommends that much weekly, and I'm taking 3000 IU per day to good effect.
I don't say this to gave you change your behavior (that's between you and your doctor anyhow) but there's an alternative medicine crowd that advocates for unsafe super-doses of Vitamin D (like, an order of magnitude more than you take). So it's worth noting that the average person can see a difference from a smaller dose taken regularly as well.
The thing is that Vitamin D is really a steroid hormone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D
and is quite different from other vitamins which are usually cofactors for some protein. I’d expect that you really could get too much of a good thing from Vitamin D.
oh yeah there is an amount where it's legit toxic. I remember back before I quit Twitter seeing some medical communicator I followed warning about the ultra-high doses of vitamin D some people were advocating for, otherwise I never would've really thought about it. I think people get used to vitamins like Vitamin C where you just pee out any excess so they assume other vitamins can't be taken in excess either.
It's possible to develop hypercalcemia on supplemention of as little as 2000 IU/day, particularly if you're getting enough Vitamin D from sunlight and dietary sources.
I take a 2000 IU/day Vitamin D supplement under medical advice. I'm using arthritis meds that don't mix well with sun exposure, and live in a spot that's got 6 months/year of clouds. That dosage puts me into the normal Vitamin D level range. I get retested every 6 months.
It sounds like you're replenishing a long-term Vitamin D deficit. It's a fat-soluble vitamin, so you can absorb quite a bit of excess before overdosing is a problem, and you're getting blood tests. But don't be surprised if your doctor advises you to back off at some point.
10,000 IU is definitely a dose that's known to cause problems over time in people who are otherwise getting adequate amounts of sun and dietary Vitamin D. There's also a lot of genetic variation in natural Vitamin D metabolism, so what's good for one person isn't necessarily good for all. It's essential to get testing done before embarking on this regimen, and periodically thereafter.
I swear by vitamin D. It helps with a lot more than immune response. I tell leterally everyone I know to take more vitamin D. It helps me most with depression. Sleep well, eat right, exercise and I'm still depressed. Take vitamin D and its gone. Perhaps thats just me but I reccomend evryone give it a shot. Just be smart because its fat soluble and you can overdose. (As opposed to water soluble vitamins like Vitamin C, which you just pee out.)
Along with the other good advice, start seriously paying attention to your hands when not at home. Assume anything you touch while in places people are/go (stores, transit, work etc) has been licked all over by a highly contagious 4 year old and DON'T TOUCH YOUR FACE. Learn to scratch your nose or rub your eye with your arm or wrist or even the back of your hand as long as you haven't touched anything with it. Next time you're somewhere with running water, wash your hands with soap. Repeat until home. Masks help because you can't easily touch your mouth or nose but they're still easy to get around. There was a Mythbusters episode on this and it really highlights how little people generally think about how often they touch their nose, mouth and eyes. I haven't been the first one to get sick in our house in probably a decade since I got into the habit. Wash your hands, don't touch your face
Seconding most of what's already been mentioned, but also:
Get moderately intense exercise regularly. It improves immune system functions, boosts your body temperature long enough to inhibit bacteria (similar to a fever), and has other health benefits.
Take saunas (if you've got access at a gym) or long hot baths/cold showers. Aside from the apparent cardiovascular benefits of traditional sauna practices, the temporary heat/cold stress seems to reduce infectious disease risks.
Things that have a good evidence base:
Vaccinations, social distancing, washing hands, good airflow
Things that don't have a good evidence base that you should do anyway because they probably work, especially if done as part of a package of measures
Wearing good quality masks when in enclosed spaces
Things that you should do because they're beneficial in other ways but probably don't prevent flu or other respiratory illness
Eat healthy food; make sure you're getting enough vitamin D; get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week, and try to use a mix of strength building and cardio.
Along with the other great advice to prevent getting sick. To get better quicker when you're noticing or suspecting you might be on the verge of getting a cold/flu:
Short webmd introduction.
Nothing is better than quickly getting symptom relief without using medication and also cutting down on recovery time.
In addition the the general winter illnesses, I get a bit SAD in winter. Like others, I take vitamin D, get my annual shots, etc., but here are a few other things I've found to help me feel overall better mentally and physically over winter. (I realize they may not all exactly respond to OP's situation, but figure they contribute more broadly to the topic)
Getting daylight: I really struggle to spend time outdoors in winter, but forcing myself to spend time when it is sunny is a huge help. I don't really follow the 'Huberman-bro science' part of the internet, but I have started taking daily walks around sunrise (and sunset) based on one of his tips, and and it's been extremely satisfying.
Regular exercise: I've mix-and-matched different approaches in different years depending on my interest (bonus points if combined with getting daylight): hiking trails on weekends, jogging, setting up a stationary bike, gym membership, etc...
Cutting out sugar/junk food: I've managed to almost completely cut added sugar twice in my life, and these periods were hands-down the best I've ever physically felt over winter. Even in most years, focusing on eating healthy, less-processed whole-grains, veggies, and proteins helps.
Drink lots of water: Pretty basic advice, but some winter environments can be quite dry, and at least personally, I've found cold weather can make me think less about drinking water (maybe because less sweating?). Similarly, I try to keep ambient humidity higher (running humidifiers, air-drying clothing indoors, placing water bowl on hot-water radiators...).
(made a couple light edits for clarity)