Wash Your Hands: Believe it or not, a cold virus must literally be handed to you by a cold sufferer to cause a cold and is not particularly infectious when it comes to you via a sneeze or cough. If you get the virus on your hands, and then touch your face even remotely near your nose, the cold virus may have a new home. So, dispose of soiled tissues, wash your hands, and don't touch your face excessively.

Humidify Your House: During winter, many heating systems keep home environments too dry. This dries out the moist lining of the nasal membranes and respiratory passages. Keeping the thermostat set at 68° F is also important. When your home is cooler, air can hold and retain more moisture.

Proper Clothing: Being overdressed can hurt you as much as being underdressed. Since the average person emits the equivalent of the heat from a 200 watt light bulb, extra layers of clothing are not necessary and can be harmful. When you layer yourself in too many sweaters, vests, and turtleneck jerseys, you can perspire twice as much. Consequently, your body pours out twice as many of its natural body fluids and your clothing becomes damp with perspiration.

The result? You are not insulated, as wet clothing is useless against colds and flu, so you are at increased risk of illness.

Supplements Can Make a Difference:

Vitamin A: Mucous membranes need vitamin A to help strengthen this line of defense when a harmful substance enters the nasal passage. Mucous glands contain lysozyme, an enzyme which builds immunity against viruses, and which requires vitamin A in order to function efficiently.

Vitamin C: Dr. Terence W. Anderson of the University of Toronto reported a study involving 600 healthy volunteers. At the first sign of illness, one group took vitamin C. The remaining participants received a placebo, containing no vitamin C.

The vitamin C group reported fewer colds. More importantly, the colds they did get were less severe, resulting in 30% fewer sick days and less absence from work than the control group.

Nobel Prize winner Dr. Linus Pauling's contention is that vitamin C is an easy and safe way to prevent or alleviate colds. Should you contract a cold, he recommends that you increase your intake from 1000 to 10,000 milligrams, (1 to 10 grams) depending on your vitamin C tolerance and the severity of the illness. The bowel tolerance level is the amount that you can take without the laxative effect becoming a nuisance. Dr. Bernie Rappaport says, in the Practical Encyclopedia of Natural Healing, that his favorite cold fighting recipe is to "mix one-eighth of a tea spoon of cayenne pepper, the juice of one lemon, one minced clove of garlic and one gram of vitamin C. Sip slowly."

This mixture may work simply because the cayenne pepper and garlic both have germicidal properties. Lemons are rich in vitamin C, and also in bioflavinoids, which boost the action of vitamin C.

Zinc Lozenges: With Donald R. Davis, Ph.D., of the University of Texas performing various tests, it was shown that zinc could "ease cold distress." Dr. Davis reported in 'Antimicrobiology Agent and Chemotherapy' "we suspect that the dissolved zinc coats the throat and stops the cold virus reproduction." The Davis regimen calls for one lozenge every two waking hours.

The number of colds in one year has been estimated at almost one billion. The National Center for Health Statistics says that at any one time, an average of 31 out of 100 people has had a cold in the previous two weeks. Colds account for one out of every five acute illnesses, and each year colds cause 262 million days of restricted activities, and millions of days lost from school and work. So don't let a cold catch you ... out-run it with these preventive methods, and stay healthy!