Winter and spring are the seasons of high incidence of respiratory diseases. Every year from late fall to spring, along with a cold air process and cold or hot temperatures, those who are old, weak and sickly or children are easily infected with diseases such as cold and flu, acute attacks of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, etc. Why is this so? The answer is not complicated: when cold air suddenly strikes or the temperature changes drastically, people’s nasal mucosa is stimulated and their ability to resist external germs decreases, and at the same time, cold air also promotes the activity of germs. In addition, for people with weak constitution, basic diseases, or poor living habits, or children, etc., their ability to adapt to the outside world is weak, which is also an important factor leading to the occurrence of diseases. People who usually pay attention to exercise and are in good physical condition are generally not prone to colds, while those who like to eat salty food and are often in a nervous state are most prone to colds. In fact, all the factors that can cause the decrease of human immune function, such as cold (especially cold feet), fatigue, alcoholism, lack of sleep, etc., are the triggering factors of respiratory diseases.
The common cold is called “cold wind” in Chinese medicine, which is a common respiratory disease caused by a variety of viruses, 30%-50% of which are caused by a certain serotype of rhinovirus. It is a common respiratory disease caused by a variety of viruses, 30%-50% of which are caused by certain serotypes of rhinovirus. The common cold has a year-round onset, but is more frequent in early winter, and cases are generally sporadic and do not cause epidemics, often combined with bacterial infections. Early symptoms include dry itching or burning sensation in the throat, sneezing, nasal congestion, and runny nose. Generally recovered after 5-7 days.
Influenza is an acute respiratory infection caused by the influenza virus, because the virus exists in the patient’s respiratory tract and is transmitted to others through droplets when the patient coughs or sneezes, so it is highly contagious; in addition, because the virus is easily mutated, even people who have suffered from influenza can still be infected when the next influenza epidemic occurs, so influenza can easily cause an epidemic. Influenza is usually more common in winter and spring, and 20-40% of people may be infected in each epidemic. The onset of influenza is rapid, and patients may have chills and fever, and their body temperature may peak within a few hours to 24 hours, often rising to 39-40℃ or even higher, accompanied by severe systemic symptoms, such as headache, body aches, fatigue, and loss of appetite; compared to the systemic, the local symptoms of the respiratory tract are mild, including dry throat and sore throat, dry cough, and some may have diarrhea; however, some patients may rapidly develop severe respiratory symptoms, such as difficulty in breathing, and a few may have diarrhea. However, some patients may rapidly develop severe respiratory symptoms, difficulty in breathing, and a few may develop respiratory failure. The current worldwide epidemic of “influenza A” is an infection caused by the N1H1 virus. Although many people are infected with influenza A, not many people have serious complications.
The term “upper respiratory tract infection” is also a common medical term for an infection of the upper respiratory tract, from the nasal cavity to the larynx, mostly caused by viruses but often secondary to bacterial infections. The disease can develop in all seasons and at any age, and can be transmitted by droplets or droplets containing viruses, or by contaminated utensils. The infection is often caused by the growth and multiplication of viruses or/and bacteria already present in the body or invaded from outside when the body’s resistance is reduced, such as by cold, exertion, rain, etc. The disease has a good prognosis and is self-limiting, usually cured in 5-7 days.
Although the incidence of common cold, or flu, or upper flu is higher in winter, people can still take certain measures to protect themselves from it, and even if they get sick, they can still make a good recovery if they seek medical attention in time.
So, what can be done to effectively prevent and control this cold and flu season? It can be done from the following aspects.
1, strengthen exercise
As far as possible, actively participate in physical exercise to enhance physical fitness, improve cold tolerance and disease resistance. Cold exercise in many ways, winter walking, jogging, doing radio exercises, playing tai chi, scrubbing cold baths and so on. Cold exercise should be different from person to person, step by step, according to the ability, persistent. It is best to start in the autumn, the elderly can choose the exercise is not too large project, to avoid the strenuous exercise and suddenly increase the burden on the heart and lungs. Here, the most recommended is the “indoor cold bath”: at first, the water temperature is 15℃, and gradually it can be reduced to 8℃; first, cold water washing, local body rubbing, and finally, cold water bathing for the whole body. If you can adhere to a winter cold bath, will be able to improve the person’s ability to resist cold, to avoid or reduce the chances of cold or other respiratory diseases in the cold.
2.Make good living habits
Eat more foods that nourish Yin and moisten the lungs, such as pear, lily, fungus, radish, sesame, etc., which are beneficial for preventing colds. Food is too rich, such as chicken, duck, fish, seafood and other high-fat, high-protein, high-sugar diet will also reduce the body’s immunity. To prevent cold and flu diet should be a combination of meat and vegetables. Quit smoking or do not smoke, smoking on the one hand cigarette burning toxic substances produced by the human body a wide range of adverse effects, in addition to serious damage to the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract, resulting in a decrease in local resistance and easy to disease.
3, maintain a good state of mind
As the saying goes, “A sad, white head.” Sentimental people’s immune function is easily reduced, the ability to kill pathogens is weakened, the respiratory defenses are reduced, so that the cold virus can take advantage of. In addition, avoid mental and emotional tension, because mental tension can lead to a significant reduction in nasal mucosa interferon, nucleases and other antiviral substances, resulting in local immunity to reduce and prone to disease.
4, pay attention to the living room hygiene
The living room should be kept clean, with fresh air and sufficient sunlight, and be disinfected by fumigation with vinegar regularly. Pay attention to keep warm to prevent the cold from attacking and inducing colds. It is better to wear a mask in the morning and evening to reduce the direct stimulation of cold air. In addition, the warmth of the feet is also important for the prevention of colds. The feet are farthest from the heart and supply relatively less blood, so they are more sensitive to cold. When the temperature drops below 7°C, the feet will get cold, which reflexively causes the nasal mucosa to vasoconstrict. Some people call the foot is the human “second heart”, so the prevention of colds to do a good job of keeping the feet warm.
5, indoor air humidification
The method to increase the humidity of indoor air can be used to sprinkle water on the ground indoors or boil a pot of water on the stove (note that the lid should not be covered tightly) to make the water evaporate; or dry some damp clothes and towels indoors to improve the humidity of the air, thus helping to avoid the occurrence of respiratory diseases or reduce their symptoms.
6. Wash your hands regularly
The cold virus can survive on a handkerchief for one hour and on the hands for 70 hours. The virus sticks to the hands when a cold patient blows his nose or digs his nostrils, and is spread through handshakes, towels, tables and chairs. Therefore, you should wash your hands frequently and not touch your nose or eyes with your hands. Go less often to places where people gather.
7.Apply preventive medicine
For people with underlying diseases, you can apply some corresponding immunity-enhancing drugs when winter comes, such as influenza vaccination, or bronchitis-pneumonia vaccine, etc., which have the effect of enhancing their own immunity for such people, thus reducing the chance of respiratory diseases. The influenza A vaccination recommended by our health administration is a very effective measure to prevent influenza A.
8, timely medical consultation
Once sick, the patient needs to seek medical attention in time. Since colds are generally caused by viral infections, there is no need to take anti-inflammatory drugs at the beginning of the cold, but if the patient’s white blood cells increase, or even some symptoms of lower respiratory tract infection, such as coughing, coughing and yellow sputum, then antibiotics can be used for treatment. In addition, smoked vinegar in the living room with cold patients has a certain effect on the prevention and treatment of cold.
There are two misconceptions to avoid in the treatment
1, treatment must be infusion
Many patients as long as a cold and fever, to the hospital must ask for infusion. General common cold as long as not dehydrated, in principle, is able to take oral as much as possible, otherwise it is easy to produce complications such as vasculitis, a large amount of fluid will also have a negative impact on the patient’s heart function, especially children and elderly people with underlying heart disease, such people are prone to heart failure.
2.Cure must be antibacterial
Both the common cold and the flu are mostly caused by viruses, and antibiotics are powerless against viruses, so it is not necessary to ask doctors to prescribe antibiotics once you have a cold. Even in the late stage of cold and flu, when bacterial infection is complicated, it is necessary to apply antibiotics under the guidance of doctors.
Finally, people need to know that “there is no specific medicine for the cold”. Adequate rest is also an important measure to cure a cold and not just rely on medication.