1. Sweat it out
Exercise elevates your levels of immune cells and improves their circulation throughout your system, supercharging their ability to detect and fight infection, a study in the American Journal of Medicine indicates. And breaking a sweat regularly can also help prevent illness virus: Exercising five or more days a week can lessen your sick days by 43 percent. Forty-five minutes of physical activity, five times weekly, delivers the protective benefits, so lace up those sneaks and hit the gym, go for a brisk walk or pop in a fitness DVD and get moving to keep your body’s bug shield strong.
2. Dream on
Sleeping less than seven hours a night triples your risk of catching a cold compared with somebody who gets eight hours or more, due to decreased immune activity, research from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh reveals. Adequate slumber also seems to help your immune system remember how to fight off illnesses it has dealt with in the past, according to the journal Sleep. (I try to remember this when, at 11 P.M., I have to decide whether to turn in or keep on working, reading or watching TV.) Hit the off button and go to sleep! Your body will thank you by staying healthy and feeling better overall—and you’ll get more done the next day, too!
3. Rub it in
There are plenty of good reasons to schedule a spa day (or even an hour!) for yourself, but this one’s especially compelling: A 45-minute Swedish massage can activate important bug-busting immune cells, the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine reports. When you’re buying that spa gift certificate for your girlfriend or mom this holiday, get one for yourself, too. Consider this an investment in your health!
4. Get by with a little help from your friends
You’re likely already spending a lot of time with loved ones this month, and that’s great news for your health: Though the exact immune-boosting process at work here is unclear, our social ties lessen our susceptibility to colds, say researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. And the more relationships you tap into (friends, family, coworkers), the less vulnerable to bugs you are. So RSVP yes to holiday parties and happy hours—it will do your body good!
5. Make time for romance
Getting frisky once or twice a week produces 30 percent higher levels of immunoglobulin A, a key antibody that’s your system’s first line of defense against colds and flu, than if you get busy less often, findings from Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, show. Pencil in your date nights now!
6. Hit the sink
Scrub your hands with soap and water as often as you can. “Cold bugs don’t become strongly rooted on your skin, which means soap and water will literally wash them away,” says William Schaffner, M.D., chairman of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt School of Medicine in Nashville. Seriously, you can’t soap up too often, so get in the habit now—otherwise it’s inevitable that you’ll touch your nose or eyes with germ-laden hands.
7. Warm up
It’s an old wives’ tale that you can catch a cold from cold weather, but feeling chilly may actually dampen your immunity, according to Ronald Eccles, Ph.D., director of the Common Cold Centre at Cardiff University in Wales. In his study, volunteers who were forced to hold their bare feet in icy water were more likely to develop a sore throat and runny nose than those who kept their feet warm. So Grandma’s advice was good after all: Bundle up!
8. Reach for the right bugs
Yogurt is one of my favorite snacks, and turns out it might be one reason I get so few colds (knock on wood!): Healthy people asked to down a drink with “good” bugs (probiotics) called Lactobacillus reuteri—also found in some yogurts—daily for 12 weeks called in sick for respiratory or stomach problems 60 percent fewer times than those who didn’t, reports the journal Environmental Health. Maybe the old adage should be updated: A yogurt a day keeps the doctor away.
9. Get pricked
If you haven’t gotten a flu vaccine yet, it’s not too late: Flu season officially began in November, but it usually peaks in January or February, and seasonal flu activity can occur as late as May, according to the CDC. The shot can take about two weeks to become effective, so get it now to reap the protective benefits sooner.
10. Kick butts
If you smoke, don’t wait until January 1 to nix the habit as your New Year’s resolution: Smokers are more likely to develop respiratory infections. To find help quitting today, visit Self.com.
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