With cold and flu season now in full swing, many people are batting down the hatches and implementing all the old wives tales they can remember to prevent themselves from getting sick. But just how much do we know about how to prevent ourselves from getting a cold or the flu? Surprisingly, not much!
For example, did you know that even though chicken soup is delicious, it does nothing to cure a cold or the flu? Also, herbal remedies like echinacea don’t have the affect you’ve been told it has when fighting illness.
Are you prepared for the 2013 cold and flu season? Do you know how to prevent yourself from getting sick? Take our quiz and find out just how much you really know — or don’t know about colds and flu!
TRUE OR FALSE?
1.) Cold temperatures outside will cause you to catch a cold or the flu.
2.) You can protect yourself from colds and flu with hand sanitizer.
3.) You can sweat out a cold.
4.) You can blast away germs with an ultraviolet light.
5.) You should change your toothbrush after a cold or flu so you don’t get sick again.
1.) FALSE! According to Everyday Health, there really is no truth to the correlation between cold temperatures and germs. Despite your mother’s warnings not to go outside with wet hair or without a jacket, your body’s immune system can actually handle winter’s icy chill rather well. Although cold and flu season does peak during the winter months, the increase in illness probably has less to do with the temperature and more to do with people spending more time indoors, making it easier for germs to jump from one person to another. Yes, bundling up in a heavy coat and scarf while outside can keep you comfortable in the winter, but it won’t insulate you from the flu.
2.) FALSE! Although germophobes are more at ease from believing that popular alcohol-based hand sanitizers like Purell will protect them from illness, the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics says there is little indication that such sanitizers actually decrease the rate of illness. The problem is that hand sanitizers clean your hands, but the flu is an airborne virus. The flu spreads when a sick person’s cough or sneeze causes little particles of pathogens to take to the air, so you can’t scrub those away with a few squirts of Purell. Also, antibacterial soaps have long promised to purge our home of illness. But again, since colds and flu are caused by viruses, not bacteria, these soaps might work against bacterial infections like staph and E.coli, but have no real effect on viral infections. Still, washing your hands frequently with soap and hot water and being careful not to touch your nose or face after touching outside surfaces, is a good prevention tool.
3.) FALSE! For centuries, mothers and grandmothers have told us to crank up the thermostat, slip into a hot bath, then wrap ourselves in bundles of blankets to sweat out a cold, but unfortunately, that information is simply not true. According to Body and Soul, “sometimes our body naturally develops a high temperature in order to get rid of an illness, but forcing it to heat up won’t help.”
4.) FALSE! UV-C sanitizing wands have become a popular disinfectant in recent years. These devices are said to blast germs with a certain type of ultraviolet light that kills them on contact. Although UV light systems have worked well on an industrial scale (such as killing germs in hospitals), the small handheld units being sold for household use have little effect. According to the L.A. Times, UV-C rays definitely kill germs, but it’s still not clear that sanitizing wands make homes significantly cleaner or healthier, says Elizabeth Scott, the co-director and founder of the Simmons Center for Hygiene and Health in Home and Community Settings. Shining the light on every square inch and around every odd angle of a surface is really difficult, particularly since the commercially-available wands aren’t that large. These devices also do little to stop airborne pathogens, which are the main cause of cold and flu.
5.) FALSE! There’s no need to change your toothbrush after you get sick, says Slate.com. Just like a snowflake, every strain of cold or flu is different. But once your body has defeated a particular strain, you’re immune. So unless you’re using someone else’s toothbrush, you can’t give yourself the same cold you’ve already had.
