How To Help Prevent Catching The Common Cold

With all the talk about the flu going around, the common cold isn't getting much attention lately. But you can be sure that if statistics about common colds could be tracked, The Centres for Disease Control would probably be talking about an epidemic.

While I was out shopping this month I came across at least a dozen shop assistants who clearly had common colds. When you think of all the people they each came into contact with every day, it's easy to imagine how a bug gets passed around with the greatest of ease.

How about you? Have you dodged the bullet so far? If so, it's not too late to start doing yourself a favour today that might help keep you cold-free through these winter months. And I've also got a tip from US physician Dr Jonathan V. Wright, about a supplement that may help you shake off a cold more easily if you should get one.

Walk it off

The average adult may be hit with two to five common colds each year. That estimate is part of a study from the University of South Carolina in Columbia (USCC), in the US, that set out to understand the relationship between different levels of physical activity and the risk of upper-respiratory tract infection, also known as the 'common cold.'

The USCC researchers studied 547 healthy adults between the ages of 20 and 70 (the average age was 48). The group was evenly divided between men and women. Subjects were evaluated five times over the period of a year, reporting on any common cold symptoms during that period and giving researchers details of their physical activities.

After assessing the data, the USCC team found that subjects who had a moderate to high level of physical activity experienced 25 per cent fewer common colds than those whose daily activities were relatively low. And for some reason, during autumn months that number jumped to 32 per cent fewer upper respiratory infections. In general, these benefits were slightly more pronounced among the men.

This study also revealed another important detail about exercise. Researchers found that the benefits of reduced risk of common colds can be attained with moderate physical activity each day, such as a 30-minute walk or even mowing the lawn.

In addition, high levels of physical activity may have negative effects on the immune system and could increase the risk of catching a common cold. Running a marathon, for instance, can deplete the immune system defences, leaving a runner vulnerable to common colds and other illnesses in the week following a marathon race.

In the zinc

But even if we take precautions to keep ourselves fit and healthy, sometimes viruses will still find a way to lay us low. And while there's no cure for the common cold, there is a mineral that could help reduce the length of a cold.

I received an email from a health editor called Amanda, who wrote in about a recent study in which 25 subjects began using zinc-acetate lozenges within 24 hours of the onset of common cold symptoms, while 23 other subjects used identically flavoured placebo lozenges. Both groups used their treatments every two to three hours (while awake) for four to five days.

In the zinc group, common cold symptoms subsided within five days, on average. In the placebo group, common cold symptoms took an average of eight days to subside. But Amanda offers a tip from Dr. Jonathan V. Wright that could make the zinc even more effective.

Amanda writes: 'The instructions on the lozenges say to let them dissolve slowly under your tongue. But since concentrations of zinc kill micro-organisms by direct contact, it's even more effective to swish and gargle some of the dissolved zinc, contacting as many mouth and throat surfaces as possible with the solution. Dr. Wright's patients who have made this simple adjustment reported that their zinc lozenges worked even better than before!'

One to avoid

One final notes about common colds: There are over-the-counter cold medications that may do more harm than good for some people.

In a previous e-alert, I told you about a study that revealed that several over-the-counter common cold medications, designed to treat common colds, allergies and insomnia, contain an active ingredient called diphenhydramine hydrochloride - a drug that can be dangerous for people 70 years and over. For example, Benadryl is a commercial medicine that contains this ingredient.

In the Yale-New Haven Hospital study, researchers demonstrated a significantly greater risk for decline in individual cognitive assessments, such as inattention, disorganised speech, altered sleep-wake cycle, and behavioural disturbances. The maximum cumulative daily dose for subjects in the study was 100mg, a level that's quite easy to achieve in just a few doses of many over-the-counter products.

Walk the walk

However you may choose to treat your common cold symptoms - with zinc, echinacea, extra vitamin C, chicken soup, etc. - one thing you can do right now to avoid the sniffles and everything that goes with them, is to schedule a 30-minute walk for yourself each day. It may not keep you from ever having a cold again, but you'll be doing your immune system a world of good.