How to avoid getting sick in winter - simple rules and tips.

Today is the most effective means Flu prevention is vaccination. It can significantly reduce the incidence and minimize the likelihood of developing dangerous complications from the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.

Vaccination is indicated primarily:

  • children aged from six months to 15 years;
  • persons over 60 years of age;
  • to those who suffer chronic diseases heart, kidneys, respiratory organs, diabetes mellitus etc., as well as those who suffer from respiratory diseases frequently and for a long time;
  • persons who, by virtue of their profession, are constantly in contact with big amount people: health workers, teachers, transport and service workers and others;
  • military personnel living in general barracks.

In order for vaccination to be as effective as possible, you need to be vaccinated in September - the first half of October. In this case, by the beginning of the flu epidemic, you will have time to develop immunity.

Eat right!

You should have them in your diet every day. fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, grains, a variety of greens and other foods rich in vitamins and microelements. Do you mean content? useful substances in products during storage and cooking significantly decreases. Therefore the cup fresh berries and will bring a lot of fruit more benefit than the same amount of compote, jam or juice from the package. By the way, contrary to popular belief, main source vitamin C - not oranges and lemons. There is much more of it in the usual rose hips, black currants, red bell pepper, Brussels sprouts, parsley and kiwi.

Vitamins

In the cold season, it is advisable to supplement the diet food additives, primarily multivitamins and preparations based on fish oil, ginseng, eleutherococcus, Rhodiola rosea, bee products. They will help increase the body's resistance to infections and adverse weather conditions. From vitamin preparations the most useful will be those that contain vitamins C, A, E, B, magnesium, zinc. If you suffer from any chronic health conditions, consult your healthcare professional before taking any dietary supplements.

Phytotherapy

Herbal medicine can also be a good help for the prevention of colds. Train yourself to add rose hips, chamomile, mint, raspberry and black currant leaves and berries, and fresh ginger to your tea. Gargle with decoctions of chamomile, calendula, and sage at the first sign of a cold. Twice a week, take baths with the addition of decoctions of pine needles, chamomile, nettle, sage, and eucalyptus.

Air humidification

Regularly ventilate your apartment and work area and monitor the humidity in them. Dry, dusty, warm air is an ideal environment for pathogens respiratory diseases. In addition, dry air causes a decrease in the body's resistance to infections, fatigue, bad sleep. Try to intensively ventilate the room every 3 hours. Open the window wide and leave the room for 5 minutes, closing the door tightly. When you return, close the window completely. This will be enough to ventilate the room well without cooling it down.

Be sure to humidify the air in the rooms. The ideal option is to purchase a special humidifier and hygrometer. But if you don’t have such an opportunity, use the simplest and most accessible methods: hang them on radiators wet towels, place bowls of water on the windowsills, and wipe the floors with clean water every day.

Watch your breath

Do not allow the nasal mucosa to dry out. A moistened mucous membrane is the most effective barrier to the pathogens of colds. In frosty air, in rooms with dry air, it quickly loses all its protective properties. This is another reason why it is so important to monitor the air humidity in your apartment and at work. If, despite all the measures taken to humidify the air, you still feel dry in your nose, use sprays based on sterile isotonic solutions of sodium chloride or sea ​​salt. They usually do not have adverse reactions and very effective.

General hygiene rules

Be sure to wash your hands after traveling to public transport, visits to stores, clinics or other public places. Carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer or disinfectant wipes with you and sanitize your hands regularly throughout the day.

Hardening

Start to harden up. If you think that hardening is definitely dousing ice water, walking barefoot in the snow and other executions, then you are wrong. First of all, this is a gradual process of strengthening natural protective forces body, increasing overall tone and performance, and ultimately improving well-being. Start small: easy contrast shower, walks on fresh air, regular ventilation. Gradually make the water colder, walks longer, and the temperature in the room lower. You yourself will not notice how you will learn to enjoy cold water and fresh wind, and at the same time you will feel a surge of strength and become more resilient.

During a flu epidemic or widespread colds, try to avoid crowds of people, especially in closed and stuffy rooms. If possible, limit your stay in public transport, clinics and other institutions.

And remember: the sooner you start moving towards strengthening the body and its defenses, the higher your chances of avoiding illness at any time of the year.

Unusual cold remedies

If a cold strikes, what do we usually feed and drink to those who are sick? Chicken broth, tea with raspberries. IN last years Ginger is very popular. And what else tasty remedies can they come to help?

  • Spicy vegetable broth for recovery. Not meat, but vegetable broth is best suited to maintain the patient’s strength. Cook a healing soup from any vegetables (you can also add fish) with chili peppers, garlic and ginger. Both tasty and healthy. It is advisable to serve this spicy soup hot.
  • Pear from temperature. Pear has a slight antipyretic effect. It contains a lot of organic zinc, carbohydrates, vitamins C and P, carotene and microelements. Compote from dried pears recommended for bronchitis to reduce cough.
  • Curry sauce for prevention. Thanks to fenugreek, which is part of the curry sauce, the development of viruses is prevented in the body and the symptoms of colds are relieved. Therefore, season your dishes with this sauce as often as possible during the cold season.

We can make a forecast without much risk: there will be no zombie apocalypse, at least it won’t happen this winter. However, crowds of shuffling strangers can still infect you, turning you into the walking dead. How else? It's cold season now. Or rather, the season of colds, flu, sore throat, bronchitis and pneumonia. Your means of defense will not be a flamethrower and Aspen stake, but the strategies described in this material are MH. What if you end up getting sick? Come on, it's not the end of the world.

1. Don't touch yourself...

...unless sterile surgical gloves are part of your wardrobe. Fools who rub their eyes and pick their noses with exactly the same hands they used to stroke germs are 41% more likely to get an upper respiratory tract infection than those who keep mittens in their pockets.

2. Accept battle mines

On vitamin D alone, without any other special support, you can survive without a runny nose until spring. Your weekly requirement (according to Canadian researchers) is 10,000 IU of vitamin D3, which you can take in oil-based drops (but check with your physician first.

3. Tense yourself before the injection...

Hit the gym before you get your flu shot (and don't argue, you should definitely get vaccinated). After exercise, micro-tears and inflammation occur in the muscles - this is not news to you. And the news will be that these damages will intensify immune reaction your body for the virus from the vaccine (source: Brain, Dehavior and Immunity magazine, USA). How much should you sweat before a date with a syringe? 25 minutes of stress on the core and arm muscles is enough.

4. ...and after the thermometer

Are you already sneezing? But still able to stand and the temperature has not risen above 37? Warm up and do a moderate (very moderate!) bodyweight workout in the comfort of your home. A bunch of useful chemicals that your body releases during exercise will help narrow the blood vessels in and around the mucous membranes - your nose and throat will feel easier. And we’ll say it again: just don’t overexert yourself! A grueling workout will kill your immune system, which is already damaged by germs.

5. Take care of your nose

Eyelashes in the nose and sinuses trap pathogens. But their effect directly depends on the temperature of the air you inhale. When the cilia warm up, they move a little faster, and when they freeze, they move slower. Spending a lot of time in the cold can make it easier for disease to enter your body. Unless you're breathing through a scarf... (Consider this advice.)

6. Bacteria have settled in you

If MH keeps saying, “Yogurt, yogurt, yogurt...”, maybe one day you might become interested in this source of probiotics? Set yourself the goal of eating at least one serving of live yogurt with lactobacilli per day - and your chances of catching an infection will drop by exactly a quarter (data from the journal Clinical Nutrition, USA).

7. Take care of your nose - 2

Time to take a long break from smoking. According to Korean scientists (real ones, not those from the DPRK), smoking increases your chances of getting the flu five (!) times. It's all about the same nasal cilia, which suffer from streams of hot toxic smoke and, as a result, do not work as they should. And by the way, stay away from smokers - even a small portion of cigarette poisons that you swallow while stopping by to say hello in the smoking room will put your eyelashes into a long-lasting shock.

8. Chew

Freshen your breath and stop the infection. Recent research shows that xylitol, a sweetener found in many chewing gums, significantly prevents Streptococcus pneumoniae from taking root in your body. Beautiful name, Truth? Let us explain more clearly: these are meningitis, otitis, sinusitis, pneumonia and even endocarditis - depending on your luck.

9. Down with black tea!

One day we already have epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Another useful property the notorious gallate - it damages influenza viruses and prevents them from penetrating into your inner space. Scientists believe this cool catechin may even block the action of bacteria, causing pneumonia. If green tea is too much for you, take an EGCG supplement daily - ask your pharmacist, he will help you choose.

10. Chop the roots

Drink spicy hot tea with chopped ginger. Researchers in Taiwan have found that this root prevents respiratory syncytial virus from attaching to your cells and even reduces its ability to reproduce. What kind of beast is this - syncytial virus? This harmful booger infects the lower Airways and in severe cases leads to capillary bronchitis (bronchiolitis) or pneumonia. You choose - either delicious drink, or three weeks in the hospital. A?

11. Honk for infection

We warned you that our plan was a little paranoid. But effective! Let the people around you tolerate your grunting and buzzing, but this way you will scare the surrounding bacteria. “Vibrating sounds improve the penetration of germ-fighting nitric oxide into the nasopharyngeal tissue,” says Spencer Payne, associate professor of rhinology at the University Medical school Virginia. If you're starting to get a runny nose, try this Buddhist technique: take a deep breath, close one nostril, and - ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm- exhale with a buzz from the other. After humming, change nostrils and repeat. Do five sets on each side. By the way, some news for the spring: Allergy sufferers who used this technique along with steroid drops twice a day for three months experienced half as much swelling and congestion as those who used the drops alone.

12. Spend time on the mats

Need a new kick for your immune system? Remember the new phrase: beta-defensin-2 antimicrobial peptide. Twist and stretch your body in yoga poses. Japanese scientists have found out: such a mix of relaxation and physical activity leads to an increase in the concentration of beta-defensin-2 in your saliva - doubling in just an hour and a half of training! Well, our new friend from your saliva, in turn, disables microbes invading the body.

13. Why don't koalas cough?

Typically, menthol takes the lead among cough suppressants. But what about eucalyptus, whose leaves are so loved by funny Australian bears? A study published in the American journal Cough reports that cineole (essential eucalyptus oil) reduces inflammation in the bronchi and helps them expand, increasing ventilation. If a person suffering from acute bronchitis takes 200 mg of cineole before each meal, he will recover 22% faster. Talk to your otolaryngologist.

14. Cover your sausage

Sauerkraut = sweet relief. Italian researchers say Lactobacillus plantarum, a type of probiotic found in foods such as Russian sauerkraut, German Sauerkraut and Korean kimchi, is an effective weapon against streptococcal bacteria. A probiotic activates a group of proteins in the body that helps control inflammation and bacterial growth. So sausage and cabbage (but without beer!) is the best winter medicine.

15. Weed on the table!

Do you add rosemary to your dishes? This means that you, without knowing it, are consuming a powerful antiviral drug - carnosic acid. According to Korean researchers, this substance helps protect your body from respiratory syncytial virus (see point #10) and all the horrors associated with it. Sprinkle seasoning on fried chicken and stay away.

Clean hands are healthy nose and no cough. Remember a few rules:

Rule 1: often

I came to work, asked my colleagues to wash my hands. When you come home from work, wash your hands. When you sit down to eat, wash your hands. If you're going to pick your nose, wash your hands. You can continue the list yourself.

Rule 2: carefully

I wash my hands like a surgeon - for a long time (at least 20 seconds), carefully soaping and scrubbing.

Rule 3: and don’t forget to dry it

If you have not washed off 100% of the microorganisms adhering to them from your hands (and this is almost impossible), in a wet and warm environment they will quickly restore their numbers. So dry your hands after washing - just not under the electric dryer that hangs in your office toilet. Such dryers take air from the surrounding space; there are more than enough microbes in the wind emanating from them. Wipe your brushes with paper napkins or a handkerchief that you carry with you.

The content of the article:

So that many of us do not think about winter, but this great time of the year. Look at the children who are not stopped by the frost. Remember yourself as a child, when you spent a lot of time skating or skiing. However, people today are so busy with their careers and other problems that there is absolutely not enough time for health. However, various colds and infectious diseases are just waiting for a moment of relaxation from us.

In this regard, the question of how to avoid getting sick in winter is very relevant. Unfortunately, it is difficult to give an exact answer to this, and any of us can catch the same flu. We can all become carriers of diseases, and many have come to terms with the fact that at least once in the winter they will have to go on sick leave.

However, you should not put up with the possibility of contracting the disease, because it can be prevented. Tools can help with this traditional medicine and you need to use decoctions of chamomile, lemon balm and mint. These herbs perfectly improve the performance of the immune system and significantly reduce the risk of developing infectious and colds.

The development of medicine has led to the fact that people have weaned the body from fighting diseases on its own. We are already accustomed to a large number of different antiviral medications and the body has no incentive to fight infectious agents on its own.


If you spend a little time on prevention, then the viruses will recede. Moreover, under the prevention of colds and infectious diseases should be understood only as a set of measures aimed at creating favorable conditions For normal functioning immune system. In this situation, the body will be able to cope with a large number of diseases on its own, and we will no longer need to use various medications.

How to prevent colds in winter?

If we talk about what to do to avoid getting sick in winter, then we should start with prevention. One of the main means of disease prevention is a proper nutrition program. Probably some of you think that viruses don’t care what kind of food we eat, and you will be wrong. Harmful microorganisms have an extremely negative attitude towards food products containing protein compounds.

If you are already sick, then you should definitely consume more protein compounds, and it is even better to do this at a time when you are healthy. Always keep your body warm, especially your feet. The fact is that most It is scientifically proven that the body loses heat through the legs. Before going out, you should correctly assess the situation and choose clothes according to it.

It is very important to wash your hands after returning home from the street. This way you can get rid of a large number of pathogens. Also, germs often enter the body through the nose and eyes; when you return home, be sure to wash them too. To rinse your nose, you should use sea salt spray or prepare a similar solution yourself. To do this you will need to mix iodine, salt in boiled water. It is enough to rinse your eyes with plain warm water.

The toxins that accumulate in the body also have a negative impact on the functioning of the immune system. To combat them, eat more grains and fruits. These foods contain fructose, which helps the body fight pathogens.

It is very useful to take daily walks outside and also ventilate the room. In the morning and evening, ventilate the apartment for 10 or 15 minutes, and the duration of walks should be at least half an hour. It will be just great if you start to harden up. This is a fairly broad topic and cannot be discussed in a few words.

Doctors suggest that drinking water leads to blood thinning, which has a positive effect on the body's ability to destroy viruses and bacteria. Avoid stress, although this is not very easy today. Excellent prophylactic for colds is regular visits to the sauna or bathhouse. A conversation about what to do to avoid getting sick in winter would not be complete without mentioning the need to get enough sleep.

Since the apartment is heated during the cold season, the air in it becomes dry. This leads to dryness of the nasal mucosa, and we recommend that you use humidifiers or simply place a container of water. A good remedy Vaccination is also used to prevent diseases in winter.


Now we will give you useful tips that will help you avoid diseases during the winter. Try to touch yourself less in crowded places. Those people who frequently rub, say, their eyes, are putting themselves at serious risk. Scientists have proven that the risk of catching the disease through the respiratory tract is 40 percent lower compared to the eyes or nose.

You should definitely take extra vitamin D. Even without taking other vitamins, you'll have a good chance of getting through the winter without getting sick. Daily requirement organism in this substance is 10 thousand units. Before vaccination, you should train in the gym. It has been proven that all microdamage received from physical activity helps strengthen the immune system. You just need to train your core or arm muscles for 25 minutes.

If the first symptoms of a cold have already appeared, but you are still on your feet, then it is worth doing moderate bodyweight training at home. Exercise stress will provoke the release of a large amount of useful substances, but let us remind you once again that the training should be moderate. If the load is excessive, the situation will worsen.

The eyelashes in the sinuses were created by nature for a reason. They are designed to trap dust and germs. However, their performance depends on the temperature of the ambient air you inhale. If the eyelashes are warm, they do their job more effectively. If it's frosty outside, it's better to breathe through a scarf.

According to research by American scientists, live yogurt containing lactobacilli can reduce the risk of developing colds. If you smoke, now is the time to think about quitting. bad habit. Korean scientists have proven that nicotine increases the risk of developing colds by five times.

And again, it's all about the cilia of the sinuses, which we have already mentioned. Their performance is sharply reduced under the influence tobacco smoke. If you don't smoke, stay as far away from people who are addicted to nicotine as possible. Some scientific experiments have shown that xylitol (a sweetener used in the production of chewing gum) slows down the development processes in the body of diplococcus.

Today many people know about the benefits of green tea and we want to talk about this drink again. Green tea contains a large number of useful substances and one of them is called epigallocatechitin gallate. Among all his positive properties us in in this case Interestingly, this catechin is capable of damaging influenza viruses and thereby preventing them from developing in the body.

A very effective way to combat colds is tea with ginger root. Scientists from Taiwan have proven that this plant does not allow syncytial respiratory virus connect with the cellular structures of the body. By the way, this virus causes the development of pneumonia and capillary bronchitis. It enters the body through the upper respiratory tract.

In the USA, scientists have found that vibrating sound can accelerate the penetration of nitric oxide into the nasopharynx. This substance can effectively fight pathogens. Note that, without having such scientific evidence, Buddhist monks have used a special breathing technique to combat the runny nose for centuries.

You need to inhale as deeply as possible and then close one nostril. Exhale a second time, creating a buzzing sound. Five such procedures must be performed on each nostril. It should also be noted that this technique also helps in the fight against allergies.

Today we can talk about why yoga is so powerful healing power. Of course, scientists have not yet revealed all the secrets, but when talking about what to do to avoid getting sick in winter, we can give the results scientific research. The body synthesizes a special substance - beta-defensin-2. This is a peptide that has antimicrobial properties. When you perform various yoga asanas, the concentration of the substance increases sharply.

It is enough to carry out an hour and a half training and the level of the peptide doubles.

We know that menthol is an excellent remedy fight against cough. Eucalyptus leaves contain cineole, which dilates the bronchi, which leads to improved ventilation. At acute bronchitis You should take 0.2 grams of cineole daily to improve your health.

IN sauerkraut contains substances that can effectively destroy bacteria that cause streptococcus. Use this product in winter and you will protect yourself from this disease.

Seven useful tips To avoid getting sick in winter, watch this video:

Before answering the question of how to avoid getting sick in winter, you must first understand the answer to another question.Of course, one of important conditions is to strengthen the immune system. But how can you reduce the risk of colds?

Do we get colds because of cold weather? Scientists' research answers yes and no. Below are some of them.

“It is important to understand that colds are caused by viruses, there are about 200 viruses that contribute to the common cold,” says Professor Raina McIntyre, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Head of the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of New South Wales.

Many viruses are well killed by frost. Why then are outbreaks of flu and colds more likely during the cold months of winter? Because, as a rule, it is in winter that people huddle in small, stuffy, unventilated rooms, and they don’t want to open a window or window to ventilate the room, since it’s freezing outside!
“It is in enclosed spaces where people are present that outbreaks of colds and flu occur. These can often be nursing homes, hospitals, schools and other institutions. Cold outbreaks also occur on airplanes and other enclosed spaces. vehicles, not on the street." - the researchers report.

This is why it is important to ventilate rooms more often, especially in frosty weather. But often, we simply don’t do this, because it’s cold and frosty outside, we’re afraid for our children, for our houseplants etc. Because of this, in winter, we get sick more often than in summer.
On the other hand, Yale University scientists recently provided evidence that wrapping your nose in a scarf in cold weather is useful, since it greatly reduces the risk of catching a cold. “Every fifth person is already a carrier of rhinovirus (which contributes to colds and runny nose. The immune system blocks its spread during throughout the body, however, when the nose cools to five degrees Celsius, the immune system often ceases to resist the virus,” scientists report.
“We have determined that when the temperature of individual parts of the body becomes lower than the overall body temperature, the innate ability of immunity to rhinovirus weakens. Body temperature has a greater effect on immune system“than the virus itself,” said Professor Akiko Iwasaki.

Scientists came to these conclusions thanks to experiments on mice, when they compared the immune response of mouse cells to rhinovirus, both at a body temperature of 37 degrees Celsius and at 33 degrees.

So, do both! Don’t be afraid to ventilate the room more often, take care of your nose, ears and dress warmly! By the way, to make you feel warm and cozy in winter, in one online store, find . Option for winter, check it out!

What advice would you give to avoid getting sick in winter?Health to you and your families!

There are many fairy tales that make cold winter evenings cozy. Our favorite ones are about health, immunity and medicines. Let’s figure out where the truth is and where it’s fiction.

OLGA MOKSHINA

Brrr. It's cold in winter. Is it better to wear one thick reindeer sweater or several thin ones?

Depends on the weather and duration of the walk. It's equally important to stay warm and sweaty. A sweaty person freezes faster.

This usually happens to extreme people, those who work on the street for a long time, and the mentally ill. City dwellers who live in the European part of Russia and are not keen on extreme sports, there is a risk of frostbite in two cases: due to a car breakdown on the highway and the use of alcohol or drugs - a person in an altered state of consciousness does not feel the cold.

I often hear that people are allergic to cold. So what, now you don’t leave the house all winter?

Here we need to clarify the concept of allergy. There is cold urticaria - this is really one of the types of allergies. According to the mechanism of development and symptoms, it is similar to the usual allergic urticaria, in which the skin turns red and itches. But the disease is provoked by cold affecting the skin. This kind of urticaria is usually not treated - it goes away on its own. But, if the rash does not disappear for a long time, they prescribe antihistamines. They help relieve symptoms.

If you develop an itchy rash that doesn't go away for more than two days, see your doctor. He will determine the exact cause of the hives. And it’s not at all a fact that she will be cold. Hives can occur due to food, contact with household chemicals, infections, medications, stress, insect bites, drinking alcohol or coffee and many other reasons.

What to do if you suspect cold urticaria?

“Cold urticaria is a very rare and little-studied type of allergy. To confirm the diagnosis, the doctor conducts skin tests with a special device or a simple ice cube. The manifestations of a true allergy to cold depend on many factors, so such patients are carefully examined.

If you have cold urticaria, avoid hypothermia: dress warmly, avoid cold drinks and food, and reduce the time you walk in cold weather. The doctor may recommend that you wear thermal underwear, mittens instead of gloves, and make some other individual lifestyle adjustments.”

But nasal congestion and sneezing when freezing is not an allergy to the cold. Most likely, such symptoms are caused by vasomotor rhinitis, in which the nasal mucosa is sensitive to sudden changes temperature environment or unusual odors.

While walking, the child tries to eat snow. I forbid him. Am I doing the right thing?

Right. Today, crystal clear snow can only be found in the Arctic and Antarctic. The same polar explorers even joke that fresh Arctic snow goes well with single malt whiskey.

Snow collected from any other location should not be eaten as it may contain chemicals. In Russia, nitrates, bicarbonates, ammonium, sulfur, nitrogen, lead, and chlorine compounds are found in snow. These chemical substances dangerous to the body.

Of course, it is impossible to eat enough snow at once to become poisoned. Therefore, there is no need to run to the hospital if a child puts a snowball in his mouth. But such behavior should definitely not be encouraged.

My child also loves to climb into a snowdrift and sit there. Is it dangerous?

Do not forbid your child to play in a snowdrift if he is dressed warmly and there are no dangerous objects under the snow. But periodically check that he is not sweating or cold. For winter walks, it is better to wear several layers of warm clothing, mittens, a hat, two pairs of socks and shoes one size larger.

As a child, my mother forbade me to sit in the cold. Is this really dangerous?

Science does not believe that sitting in the cold causes any diseases. For example, the horror story “don’t sit in the cold, otherwise you’ll get hemorrhoids” has not found scientific confirmation. However, freezing and hypothermia are dangerous. It doesn’t matter whether you are sitting, lying, standing or walking.

Is it dangerous for women to sit in the cold?

“Will a woman develop inflammation of the appendages after sitting on a stone? Maybe yes. But with an even greater probability - no. By at least, today there is no reason to consider sitting in the cold as a risk factor for the development of inflammatory diseases pelvic organs, cervicitis, infertility, hemorrhoids.

Not a single recommendation in the world indicates a stone bench or a short jacket as the cause of the listed diseases, and preventive measures do not include floor-length down jackets and sitting on a radiator (which does not make floor-length down jackets any less comfortable for the Russian winter).

Surely there are women who, for example, developed cystitis after sitting in the cold. And the point is not only and not so much in the place of contact of the body with a cold surface, but in hypothermia in principle (you must admit, finding a cold stone in the heat is not so easy).

Hypothermia can be a risk factor for both cystitis and rhinitis, for example (and even pneumonia in severe cases). And in this situation it doesn’t matter at all whether the woman sat for a long time on a cold stone, bathed in cold water or simply dressed inappropriately for the weather and went for a long walk.”

We've sorted out the walks. How to avoid getting sick in winter? My grandmother advises me to eat garlic every morning. And spread it around the house. Will help?

Exactly unknown. One small study found that in a group of 146 people who took garlic tablets for three months, there were 24 colds. And in the same group that took dummy pills, there were 65 cases. At the same time, sick people from both groups were sick for approximately the same number of days - which means that eating garlic does not help you recover faster. Scientists believe that there is not yet enough evidence for the effectiveness of garlic in preventing and treating colds and flu. More research needs to be done.

Plus to everything - garlic bad smell. It is unlikely that your friends, relatives, colleagues, or business partners will be delighted.