Do you boast, Madam, of an immunity against the cold — or are you an easy mark for this arrow that plays havoc with our respiratory system, embitters our life, and leaves us betwixt and between: neither sick abed nor sound and well!
Here, now, is some elementary information about the cold and how to guard against it.
If you catch cold often, the cause may be your taking large quantities of remedies all at once. These remedies, time after time, may lower the body's temperature so that you feel a passing improvement which you imagine to be a cure; but the cold soon returns to you the moment you are exposed to its germs again. So do not make a habit of taking these medicines continually, for that lowers the degree of resistance in your
defensive system and leaves you weak and at a loss.
Cold germs multiply during the first four hours after they enter the body. Therefore, as soon as you feel the first signs of a cold, you should gargle with an antiseptic solution, take aspirin and a hot cup before sleeping, wash your feet in hot water, and take to your bed early... The next day, walk in the open air, to wash out your lungs, keeping your feet and body warm — without piling on the bulky woolen clothes that hinder the free circulation of the blood and the breathing of the skin.
If you have had a weak chest since childhood, and your cold is quick to turn into bronchial catarrh, consult your doctor; he will certainly prescribe vitamins A and D in concentrated form. Vitamin A is the most important substance for resisting cold germs, and it is found in fish oil, ghee, egg yolk, laban, meats, and fresh vegetables... And if you are addicted to smoking, you must stop at once, or your cold will become chronic, continuing without a break.
Accustom yourself to deep-breathing exercises every morning before an open window, so that you may enjoy strong, healthy lungs. And avoid excessive precaution against everything that might cause a cold, for that makes you over-sensitive, liable to be affected by its germs the moment they enter your body. The positive method you would do well to follow is to strengthen your defensive system so that it fights these poisons and gets the better of them.
Be always active, so as to maintain a regular circulation, and rub your body down with a towel moistened in cold water after every hot bath. Avoid wearing heavy woolen underclothing, to give your skin room to breathe and to adjust itself to the temperature of the weather and its changes.
At night, open the windows of your room, so that the air is renewed and your body keeps a temperature close to that of the weather.
In the cold season, keep away as far as you can from crowded places charged with cold germs — cinemas, tramcars, and public places generally. And take to gargling whenever you are obliged to be exposed to these germs.
