How to strengthen immunity and not get sick during the cold season

There are many influenza viruses, the most common is the H3N2 influenza A virus. It develops rapidly, easily becomes epidemic and is especially dangerous for people with hypertension and heart failure. Children are at high risk of contracting influenza B, which is milder and is treated as an acute respiratory illness. But not only immunity depends on whether you catch an infection or not.

Living in a city with its dirty air, sedentary work, lack of physical activity and improper diet weaken the immune system, and we get sick more often. To avoid SARS, it is important to eat properly and variedly: do not go on hungry diets, choose foods rich in vitamin C (kiwi, cabbage, bell peppers, fresh herbs) and minerals (dairy products, legumes, cereals, liver, seaweed). There is also a lot of vitamin C in berry fruit drinks and teas with currant leaves, raspberries, nettles, rose hips. Protein is also indispensable: white meat, poultry and fish cannot be excluded from the diet.

To increase resistance to infections, doctors advise drinking vitamins C and B, as well as multivitamins. Do not immediately bring down the temperature at the onset of the disease. The fact is that this is the body’s immune response to the attack of viruses, and the increased degree of the body prevents them from multiplying. It is important to remember that children under 10 years of age with acute respiratory infections and flu should not be given antipyretic drugs containing acetylsalicylic acid. They can cause Reye’s syndrome, a life-threatening condition for a child. You cannot treat a child on your own, you must show him to a doctor. Especially if the temperature lasts more than three days.

Colds in winter are inevitable, and it is children who often bring them into the house, a city child picks up ARVI on average 5-6 times a year. And that’s okay – a growing body needs to become familiar with all common respiratory infections. As soon as a patient appears in the house, he stays at home for three days, observing bed rest. He needs to sleep a lot, drink plenty of warm tea and fruit drink, exclude communication with strangers. The sick person should have separate dishes, a towel and preferably a room.

Don’t prescribe medication for yourself

ARVI is exactly the case when self-medication can do harm. An uncomplicated respiratory infection will go away without medication; you should not leave a lot of money in the pharmacy for advertised drugs. The therapist can prescribe immunomodulators in the midst of an illness or epidemic for prevention purposes. These medications cannot be taken alone. It is important not to prescribe antibiotics to yourself, and even more so to your child. Both the flu and the common cold are viral diseases. Antibiotics only kill bacteria. The doctor prescribes these drugs when complications arise during the illness (bronchitis, otitis media, etc.).

Fresh air is a real natural medicine. Walk yourself every day and take your child for a walk. Teach him to breathe correctly in frost – with his nose, not with his mouth, inhaling not into the chest, but, as it were, into the stomach. Dress children for the weather, do not wrap them up, feet and hands should not be cold or sweaty. When someone in the family is sick, do not block the vents, on the contrary, ventilate 4-5 times a day. Cool or even cold air is not so terrible as a stale atmosphere filled with pathogenic viruses and bacteria.