If you’re like most people, you often wonder how doctors and nurses can be surrounded by sick people on a daily basis and still not contract whatever contagious diseases and illnesses are going around. If you’re like me, you may even envy them. After all, how many of you wish you were immune to this awful flu going around? If you’re raising your hand, join the club.
While lathering your hands in sanitizer and holding your breath whenever you hear somebody cough, sneeze or sniffle near you are nice attempts at keeping the flu at bay, they don’t actually work. Why? Because particles from a person’s cough can get onto your hands, your lips or even in your nose. And unless you sanitize the second after you touch an object, chances are you unwittingly spread those germs to another object that you’re likely to touch in the near future, or worse, to a food item.
So, if doctors and nurses don’t keep germs at bay by holding their breath and keeping hand sanitizer at the ready, what do they do? Their methods may surprise you.
Healthcare providers share their tried and true ways of keeping the flu at bay, and now we want to share them with you.
1. Take All Natural Supplements – They Work!
If you’ve been told as I have that all natural vitamin supplements don’t work, go back to the person who told you that and let them know that they’re wrong. According to Rebecca Lee, a registered nurse in New York City and creator of Remedies For Me, she keeps the flu out of her body and out of her home via a flu-preventing supplement that contains Vitamin D, chlorella, turmeric, elderberry, omega-3 and ginseng. Rebecca travels often, which puts her at greater risk for contracting the flu than most. Yet, thanks to this surprising concoction, she is able to stay healthy and happy.
“I find this combination works the best, and it works fast, especially if taken at the first signs of any symptoms,” she says.
So, what about her concoction works? Apparently, chlorella can increase the levels of IgA antibodies in one’s immune system, which can stop the flu virus from spreading and infecting the surrounding cells (much like Tamiflu!). As you may already know, Vitamin D can boost the immune system, which is helpful for people who don’t get 30 minutes of direct sunlight each day, which is most people in the snow-covered states and those who work a 9-5. You can also boost your Vitamin D intake with egg yolks, milk and shiitake mushrooms.
2. Get Your Sleep
It’s not just your parents and teachers that want you to get a full 8 hours each night–it’s your doctors too! Dr. Y. Pritham Raj, the medical director at the Emotional Wellness Center at Adventist Health Portland and an associate professor at Oregon Health and Science University, claims that his “primary protection [against the flu] and No. 1 recommendation is to get adequate sleep.” According to him, our immune systems don’t function at full capacity when we’re sleep deprived, making us more susceptible to infections. While you should always strive to get your full 8 hours, he urges you to set a dedicated sleep schedule during flu season and to not stray from your set schedule by more than an hour each night.
3. Take Your Vitamins
Dr. Arielle Levitan swears by vitamins, and as someone who has managed to stay healthy despite seeing dozens of flu patients on a daily basis, we have to assume that her secret works. “Of course I get the flu shot, wash hands diligently (and with no gels) and I take a personalized multivitamin with adequate amounts of Vitamin C, D and other nutrients that I believe help support my immune system,” she says. Levitan, believes in the effectiveness of vitamins so much, in fact, that she founded Vous Vitamin LLC.
4. Eat Chicken Noodle Soup
Pulmonologist and author of “Cough Cures,” Dr. Gustavo Ferrer, has an arsenal of flu-prevention techniques, which include taking Vitamin D3 supplements, which one study shows could help reduce risk of contracting an acute respiratory tract infection; probiotics to help keep the immune system healthy and responsive; Xlear Nasal Spray, which is known to kill microbes in the nasal passage; and garlic, because everyone knows that garlic is a strong antimicrobial.
However, his favorite flu-prevention trick is something a little simpler, and something you’re all sure to have in your cabinets: chicken noodle soup. Apparently, he’s not alone. One study found in the journal CHEST found that chicken noodle soup doesn’t just feel good on a sore throat, but it may also help prevent upper respiratory tract infections thanks to its mild anti-inflammatory properties.
5. Ditch the Kleenex and Sneeze Into Your Elbow
Apparently, this trick is old news, but I’ve never heard of it before, so I’m guessing some of you haven’t either…According to Dr. Terry Layman from OurHealth, when you sneeze into a Kleenex, some of the germs go into the tissue but several others go direclty onto your hands. This is because the sneeze is wide-spread, and because tissues aren’t as absorbent as we’re made to believe. Once the germs get onto your hands, you may unwittingly spread them to other areas, including the steering wheel, door handles and other individuals, thereby guaranteeing that the flu virus spreads. If you do sneeze into a Kleenex, wash your hands thoroughly, and disinfect everything you touched right away, as flu germs can live on solid surfaces for up to 24 hours.
6. Wash Your Hands!
This one should be a no-brainer, but one of the best ways to avoid catching the flu virus is to wash your hands. Dr. Stepheny Berry, an assistant professor in the department of surgery at the University of Kansas Health System, concurs and says, “The single best way to avoid contracting the flu is vigorous hand washing.” Merely dipping your hands under hot water for five seconds won’t do.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you should wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water for at least 15 seconds. Make sure to get ALL surfaces, and not just the tops and bottoms of your hands. The CDC says that the most commonly missed parts of a hand include the thumb, fingertips and between the fingers.
7. Dry Your Hands With a Towel
For the longest time, we were led to believe that drying our hands with paper towels was a huge culprit for spreading germs and that hand dryers were our saviors. According to a new study in the Journal of Applied Microbiology, however, the opposite seems to be true. The study, led by researchers at the University of Westminister in London, found that jet air hand dryers spread 1,300 times more germs than a paper towel.
To test their findings, the researchers spread the MS2 virus, which only affects bacteria and not people, all over their gloved hands then dried their virus-laden hands via three different methods: a jet air dryer, a standard warm air dryer and paper towels. The results were astounding.
After conducting several tests at different heights (to accommodate for the varying heights of individuals who use restroom jet air dryers), they discovered that a jet air dryer dispersed 1,300 times more viruses than paper towels, and up to 60 times more than your average warm air dryer. If that’s not enough to convince you that paper towels are where it’s at, researchers also discovered that the majority of germs landed at the height of a child’s face. Yikes!
The study also concluded that you don’t have to be even near the dryer to catch germs. Though most of the germs settled at about 0.25 meters away from the dryer, the jet dryer still managed to spread 500 more viruses up to 3 meters away than the standard hand dryer. Obviously, drying your hands with a paper towel spread zero germs.
So, if you want to stay healthy this flu season…
- Take your natural supplements
- Get your sleep
- Don’t discount vitamins
- Eat your chicken noodle soup
- Ditch the Kleenex and use your elbow
- Wash your hands
- And dry with a paper towel
Do you have any flu-prevention methods that work for you? Share them to spread the health!
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