Stay One Step Ahead of Winter Colds and Flu
Winter woes aren’t just about keeping warm when temperatures plummet, it also entails dodging germs when the chorus of sneezes and coughs echo through the office.
If you don’t want to spend your winter sniffling and hacking your way through the chilliest season of the year, your best approach is avoiding catching that cold or flu in the first place.
This is your defensive game plan against winter bugs, because prevention is always better (and cheaper) than cure!
Inoculate to mitigate
Getting a flu shot at your local Dis-Chem is one of the most effective ways to prevent getting sick and can also reduce the severity of your illness if you get infected.
The flu vaccine specifically targets and builds immunity against the most prevalent seasonal flu strains based on national health authority predictions for their region and World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations based on global surveillance programmes.
Flu shots used in South Africa are inactivated influenza vaccines, which means they do not contain a live virus and cannot cause the flu.
After you get the jab, your immune system recognises and fights off the virus when exposed to it, preventing illness or reducing its severity.
The flu vaccine will change every year as the virus constantly evolves and immunity to the vaccine wanes over time, which means it is beneficial to go for the jab every year. The flu vaccine's effectiveness varies each year depending on how well the predicted strains match the circulating ones, but studies 2 confirm that getting vaccinated can reduce symptoms.
Data from the Centres of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US shows that the vaccine reduces the risk of having to go to the doctor with flu by 40-60%3 during seasons when flu vaccine viruses are similar to circulating flu viruses.
Eat for immunity
A healthful diet that is full of colourful natural fruits and vegetables delivers the vitamins and minerals your body needs to produce disease-fighting immune cells and boost your immune response.
Conversely, a poor diet will increase your susceptibility to illness as a nutrient deficiency may hamper the immune system from functioning optimally.
That's why a balanced, healthful diet becomes so important during the winter cold and flu season.
Include more foods rich in vitamin C, such as butternut squash, tomatoes, broccoli, papaya, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts and bell peppers, and foods that have natural antiviral and anti-fungal properties, like garlic and onions.
How you eat is also something to consider alongside what you eat, because scientists have found that fasting for as little as three days (72 hours) was sufficient to regenerate immune cells4 . The research suggests that starving the body kick-started stem cells into producing new white blood cells – our body's main infection fighters.
Closing the nutritional gaps for a stronger immune system
But you can't eat fresh and organic every day – it's just not practical. That means we often include poorer quality processed foods in our diets that offer fewer nutrients per serving.
To counter this loss, you can supplement your diet with suitable products to further boost your flu prevention efforts.
Additional vitamin C, zinc and glutamine are ideal supplements to build a resilient immune system. Spirulina supplements also helps to reduce oxidative stress and boost immunity.
Various herbs such as echinacea purpurea and elderberry are also included in immune-booster products like Biogen Immuno Boost.
Echinacea is widely celebrated for its immune-boosting properties. Often used as a natural remedy to combat colds and respiratory infections, this herbal powerhouse helps stimulate white blood cell production, enhancing your body’s ability to fight off infections. Rich in antioxidants, Echinacea also supports overall wellness and may reduce inflammation. Whether taken as a tea, tincture, or supplement, it’s a simple and effective way to strengthen your body’s natural defenses.
The combination of ingredients found in these formulations supports and stimulates the immune system, thereby reducing the risk of infection, and may assists in reducing the severity and duration of symptoms of colds and flu, upper respiratory tract infections and associated conditions.
Supporting a healthy gut and digestive system is also a key element in a strong immune system.
As such, prebiotic and probiotic supplements and digestive enzymes are suitable and effective additions to your winter supplement plan, if you don't already include them.
Give yourself a hand
As most germs come from direct contact with contaminated objects and surfaces, including hands, door handles, treadmills, weights and computer keyboards, hand hygiene is another vital preventative element.
If we touch our mouth or nose after making contact with these contaminated surfaces, the germs that cause an infection enter our bodies, with the highest risks in communal spaces like an office or gym.
As such, a strong preventative approach should include regular hand washing. Conventional soap is often enough, as soap molecules disrupt the outer structure of a virus and make it fall apart, rendering it harmless and easily washable from your hands.
Handy hand wipes or some disinfectant gel is also a convenient option to keep with you as this also kills bacteria.
It is also beneficial to wipe down handles and surfaces before touching them – think weights, trolleys or shopping baskets – when you're out and about.
Prevent contracting a cold or flu through social distancing during infectious periods such as winter:
· Wash your hands: Use soap and water or hand sanitiser after touching communal surfaces.
· Avoid face contact: Don't touch your face until you've had a chance to wash or disinfect your hands with sanitiser.
· Sanitise surfaces: Wipe down or sanitise communal surfaces before touching them.
· Minimise contact: Most infections are transferred between people when they touch or when an infected person coughs or sneezes near them, so keep your distance.
Exercise for immunity
Physical activity is another way to support our immune systems, with moderate-intensity exercise seems the sweet spot when it comes to improving immune function, offering potential to reduce the risk and severity of respiratory viral infections5 .
The right exercise type and intensity can cause changes in immune cells, like antibodies and white blood cells.
For example, research6 shows that even short bouts of moderate-intensity exercise can increase the levels of natural killer (NK) cells, which are crucial for destroying infected cells.
Exercise also activates the innate immune system – the body's natural, non-specific defence system – to express cytokine production7 , which modulates inflammation and the immune response.
The key to unlocking the immune-boosting benefits of exercise is performing at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activities per week8.
Activities like brisk walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, and dancing improve circulation and have been consistently linked to better immune function.
References:
- Key Facts About Seasonal Flu Vaccine | Influenza (Flu), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines/keyfacts.html
- Mark G. Thompson, Nevil Pierse, Q. Sue Huang, Namrata Prasad, Jazmin Duque, E. Claire Newbern, Michael G. Baker, Nikki Turner, Colin McArthur, Influenza vaccine effectiveness in preventing influenza-associated intensive care admissions and attenuating severe disease among adults in New Zealand 2012–2015, Vaccine, Volume 36, Issue 39, 2018, Pages 5916-5925, ISSN 0264-410X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.07.028.
- Vaccine Effectiveness: How Well Do Flu Vaccines Work? https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/vaccineeffect.htm#:~:text=Flu%20vaccination%20can%20keep%20you%20from%20getting%20sick%20with%20flu.&text=During%20seasons%20when%20flu%20vaccine,by%2040%25%20to%2060%25.
- Chia-Wei Cheng, Gregor B. Adams, Laura Perin, Min Wei, Xiaoying Zhou, Ben S. Lam, Stefano Da Sacco, Mario Mirisola, David I. Quinn, Tanya B. Dorff, John J. Kopchick, Valter D. Longo. Prolonged Fasting Reduces IGF-1/PKA to Promote Hematopoietic-Stem-Cell-Based Regeneration and Reverse Immunosuppression. Cell Stem Cell, 2014; 14 (6): 810 DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2014.04.014
- Martin SA, Pence BD, Woods JA. Exercise and respiratory tract viral infections. Exerc Sport Sci Rev. 2009 Oct;37(4):157-64. doi: 10.1097/JES.0b013e3181b7b57b. PMID: 19955864; PMCID: PMC2803113.
- Ali, Kais; Hunt, Rebekah; Banh, Rachel; McBride, Lynnsie; Bolden, McArthur III; Laurea, Karl; and LaVoy, Emily C. (2024) "The Effects of 15 Minutes vs. 30 Minutes of Moderate Intensity Exercise on Lymphocytes, Monocytes and Granulocytes," International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings: Vol. 2: Iss. 16, Article 184. https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol2/iss16/184.
- Docherty, S., Harley, R., McAuley, J.J. et al. The effect of exercise on cytokines: implications for musculoskeletal health: a narrative review. BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil 14, 5 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13102-022-00397-2.
- Scheffer DDL, Latini A. Exercise-induced immune system response: Anti-inflammatory status on peripheral and central organs. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis. 2020 Oct 1;1866(10):165823. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2020.165823. Epub 2020 Apr 29. PMID: 32360589; PMCID: PMC7188661.
