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Prevention of colds: the simplest and most effective methods
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
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The World Health Organization states that more than 49,000 people die each year from colds or flu-like illnesses. In such a situation, cold prevention is very helpful. It will make your life healthier. Here are some tips that you can use to prevent colds and flu in the most natural way.
Read also: Prevention of colds in children
Helpful tips on how to prevent colds
Wash your hands thoroughly
Most cold viruses are spread by direct contact. Someone with a cold sneezes or coughs and then touches a phone, keyboard, cup, or furniture surface. Cold germs can live for several hours before a healthy person touches the contaminated surface. Simple hand washing is the single most important way to prevent the spread of viral and bacterial infections. However, research shows that many people who use public restrooms do not wash their hands afterward.
People also forget to wash their hands before preparing food. If you want to prevent a cold, just stop and wash your hands. If water is not available, alcohol-based wipes make excellent hand sanitizers.
Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze
Since germs and viruses remain on your hands when you cough and sneeze, this often leads to infection of others through hand contact. When you feel like you are about to sneeze or cough, use disposable tissues and then throw them away immediately.
If you do not have a tissue or handkerchief, cover your mouth with your hand and then be sure to wash your hands.
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Don't touch your face with dirty hands
The viruses that cause colds and flu enter the body through the eyes, nose, or mouth. Touching your face with dirty hands is the main way to prevent colds.
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Do breathing exercises regularly
Aerobic (breathing) exercise allows your heart to pump more blood, makes you breathe faster, helps transfer oxygen from your lungs to your blood, and makes you sweat as your body heats up. These exercises help boost your immune system to kick in and kill off the viruses and bacteria that cause colds.
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Eat foods containing vitamins
If you don't take vitamin pills, eat dark green, red, and yellow vegetables and fruits.
They contain many natural vitamins, which strengthen the immune system and help it fight colds.
Don't smoke
Medical statistics show that heavy smokers have a harder time coping with colds and get sick with them more often.
Even if a person does not smoke, but is near a smoker, he causes great harm to his immune system. Smoke dries out your nasal passages and paralyzes the cilia - the fine hairs that line the mucous membrane in the nose and lungs. Their wave-like movements push cold and flu viruses out of the nasal passages. Experts say that one cigarette can paralyze the cilia for quite a long time - from 30 to 40 minutes. Therefore, the likelihood and duration of a cold or flu increases.
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Stop drinking alcohol
Alcohol abuse suppresses the immune system. Heavy drinkers are more prone to infections and secondary complications after a cold.
Alcohol also dehydrates the body - it causes more fluid loss than a person needs.
Get more rest
If you can teach yourself to relax, you can increase the power and speed of your immune system's response. As soon as you learn to relax and rest more, get a good night's sleep, the amount of interleukins in your blood increases (these are the immune system's leaders in the fight against enemy agents). Train yourself to imagine pleasant or calming pictures in moments of worry or anxiety, as well as before going to bed. Do this 30 minutes a day for several months.
Keep in mind that relaxation can be learned – it is a skill that can greatly help you become healthier and more successful. But you need to relax sincerely – doctors do not detect changes in blood chemicals in people who try to relax but do not actually do it.
Alternative Medicines for Cold Prevention
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Echinacea
Echinacea is a dietary herbal supplement that some people use to treat and prevent colds. Scientists have conducted studies on how echinacea works in treating and preventing colds, but the results have been mixed. Some researchers have found that the herb may help treat colds if taken early in the illness, but other scientists believe that echinacea may help later in the illness.
Three large studies funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the National Institutes of Health found that echinacea did not reduce the severity of cold symptoms or the duration of the common cold.
Vitamin C
Many people believe that taking large amounts of vitamin C will prevent colds or can ease their symptoms. To test this theory, researchers have done several large, controlled studies in children and adults. So far, the data have not conclusively shown that large doses of vitamin C are good at preventing colds.
Vitamin C may reduce the severity and duration of symptoms, but there is no clear evidence of this effect. Also, taking vitamin C in large amounts over a long period of time can be dangerous. Too much vitamin C can cause severe diarrhea, which is especially dangerous for older adults and young children.
Honey
Some people use honey to treat coughs and soothe sore throats. In a study conducted at the Pennsylvania State University School of Medicine, researchers compared the effectiveness of buckwheat honey before bed with cough suppressants and over-the-counter cold medications.
The results of this study show that honey can be very useful for relieving coughs, but scientists need to do more research on other cold symptoms. However, scientists have found that honey is very useful for preventing colds - it can boost immunity. But know that you should never give honey to children under 1 year old due to the risk of infant botulism, as well as other serious diseases.
Zinc
Zinc lozenges and lozenges, available over the counter, are also good for preventing colds. However, evidence for their effectiveness has been mixed.
A recent review of a number of clinical studies suggests that zinc may slightly reduce the symptoms and duration of colds in healthy people, but using large amounts of zinc was associated with an increased risk of side effects, such as nausea.
Read also: 11 Foods High in Zinc
Zinc in vitamin complexes is also very good for preventing colds, scientists believe.
Prevention of colds is a very correct way, which will significantly save your money on treatment and, most importantly, your time and energy.