Colds may be spreading where you are, matched by plenty of tips about ways to stay well.
Are they true, though? We asked scientists whether we should be boiling beer, gargling salt water and knocking back vitamin C.
Partly, yes.
However, feeling cold doesn’t automatically make you ill as viruses are required for that too.
"But it is true that your body’s defences are weakened to some extent if you get chilled or feel cold,” says Eva Hummers, director of the Institute of General Practice at Göttingen University Hospital and President of the German Society for General Practice and Family Medicine (DEGAM).
People also say, don't go out into the cold with wet hair and that makes sense too.
"It’s true that you lose a lot of heat quickly through your head," says Hummers.
However, here too, no viruses, no cold.
"Conversely, dressing extra warmly won’t prevent you from catching a cold either," she says.
No.
"We have known for a long time from research that vitamin C supplements cannot prevent colds,” says Sonja Siegert, deputy editor-in-chief of the Health Information Department at the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) in Germany.
However, taking vitamin C regularly can shorten the duration of cold symptoms by around 10%, so from 10 to nine days for example.
"If you only start taking vitamin C once the cold has set in, studies have shown that it has no effect,” says Siegert.
As a general rule, it is easy to meet the recommended vitamin C intake through diet, according to the German Nutrition Society (DGE).
Good sources of vitamin C include citrus fruits, peppers, cabbage and potatoes.
There is no reason to take vitamin C supplements as a matter of routine, say DGE specialists.
That is partly true. If you don’t get enough sleep, you become more sensitive and susceptible to infections.
"When you’re ill, it definitely makes sense to listen to your body and get some rest,” Hummers says.
Conversely, however, this does not mean that you absolutely have to stay in bed with a cold if you don’t feel like it.
Taking a brief relaxed walk is fine, though she says to avoid strenuous exercise at all costs.
True.
The coldness of the ice has a mild pain-relieving effect and helps many patients with a sore throat and anyone with a fever, according to Hummers.
Try frozen apple sauce or fruit yoghurt as alternatives. However, if you eat so much ice cream that you start to feel cold, you’ve gone too far.
No.
Dr Eva Hummers says she is not aware that warm beer helps with a cold.
Alcoholic drinks are generally not recommended when you have a cold. Alcohol dehydrates the body and, by increasing blood flow to the blood vessels, causes us to cool down more quickly, which is counterproductive.
Hummer’s advice is if you want to drink something warm, "you’re better off having a cup of tea.”
This is partly true.
With nasal sprays, check carefully exactly what you’re spraying, as the ingredients vary widely.
"Nasal sprays, which often help well with colds, cause the mucous membranes to constrict, clearing a blocked nose and allowing you to breathe more easily again,” says Hummers.
This is achieved by active ingredients such as xylometazoline and oxymetazoline.
However, over a prolonged period, these active ingredients can damage your mucous membrane.
"It actually swells up even more, and you end up needing the spray all the time. It’s a kind of addiction.”
So don't use decongestant nasal sprays for longer than a week. That is usually the advice in the package leaflet, too.
"One trick to wean yourself off them is to always spray into one nostril each time,” says Hummers.
You can generally use nasal sprays containing saline solution, nasal rinses and similar products without any concerns.
However, they have a slightly different effect – they loosen your mucus and moisturize your nasal mucous membrane, but they do not reduce swelling.
No, that isn't true.
"If you’re already shivering because of the cold, however, a woollen blanket can help the body raise its temperature. The resulting rise in temperature is, after all, a defence mechanism,” says Hummers.
Avoid going to a sauna when you have a cold, as it can be too taxing on the body.
However, Hummers says people who are healthy and use the sauna regularly accustom their bodies to rapid temperature changes, which may make them less prone to illness overall.
That is true.
Colds usually clear up on their own within one to two weeks and unfortunately, there isn't a way to speed up the process.
"You can only alleviate the symptoms, for example with painkillers or nasal sprays,” says Siegert.
"A cough caused by a cold can last up to eight weeks without this being a cause for concern in otherwise healthy people,” says Hummers.
If you're suffering from a cold that won't shift, she recommends drinking plenty of fluids, not smoking and ensuring the air is as clean as possible.
Clean indoor air reduces the spread of cold viruses and lessens symptom severity by lowering airborne irritants that trigger inflammation, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. – dpa
