Tips to Avoid Flu, Colds and Sinus Infection This Winter

For me the Christmas holidays used to mean coming down with a sinus infection almost every year, regardless of how hard I tried to prevent that from happening. For about the past ten years, however, I have used the following tips and avoided sinus infections almost completely. The best time to start is before you feel that sore and scratchy throat. It takes a little discipline at first, but avoiding all that pain and misery is worth it.

Far and away the best thing to do to avoid sinus infections and colds is to irrigate your nose. When using a nasal irrigator a stream of pulsating jets of saline solution is applied to one side of the nose, and the solution passes through the nostrils and exits on the other side. All or most of the dried or moist mucus is cleaned out. This normally gets rid of a lot of bacteria, pollen and other irritants like airborne fungi which can cause problems in some people. You can use a neti pot or even just a saline spray helps a bit, but the nasal irrigator is designed for this job and gives the best results.

Along with nasal irrigation, a famous ENT doctor, Dr. Grossan, says that drinking lots of hot tea with lemon will help stimulate the cilia in the nasal system which helps overall drainage.

Humidity levels can make a big difference in whether or not people come down with colds, the flu and sinus infections. In winter furnaces will make the air in the home drier. Consequently, most furnaces now have humidifiers connected to the heating system to get around this problem. A comfortable amount of humidity is about 40-50%. We use a small single room unit in our bedroom at night as well to keep the air at that moisture level.

Many people neglect to keep themselves warm in winter. If you keep your thermostat low to save money, that is fine. You should put on an extra sweater or pullover in that case to stay warm.

Two more ideas are to be sure and wash hands as often as possible and to make the effort to get a flu shot. A flu shot will not guarantee to protect you totally from all flu viruses, but it could make the difference in staying healthy or getting sick.

Sometimes you might feel a tickle in the throat despite all the above efforts. For me this was always the beginning of the end when I was having a lot of sinus issues. Your doctor will probably be able to give you additional ideas and medications that can help in your case.

Go to Post Nasal Drip in order to read dozens of excellent articles about avoiding and treating sinus infections, like fighting off sinus infection.