20 Friday Dec 2019
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
Tags
Acupressure, cold, cold and flu, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, flu, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, virus, viruses
Tap your chest!
There’s an acupressure point in the middle of the breastbone – at about where your third rib would be. Gently tap that point for a minute every couple of hours. Eastern medicine experts say it’ll trigger the thymus gland to produce more T-cells, which are the cells that help our immune system find and attack viruses.
03 Tuesday Dec 2019
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
Tags
cold, cold and flu, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, family movie night, flu, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, movie night, sick
When everyone around you is coughing and sneezing, try this trick to avoid getting sick, too: Set aside one evening a week for family movie night – and stick with it!
Researchers at the State University of New York found that regular R&R cuts our risk of illness by more than a third. Because kicking back and relaxing allows our frazzled nervous system to cut production of stress hormones, which weaken our immunity. Plus, when we’re relaxed, our body boosts production of germ-fighting antibodies, which is the first line of defense against illness-causing invaders.
08 Friday Nov 2019
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
Tags
cold, cold weather, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, flu, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, mittens, scarf, viruses, warm
Viruses are much more likely to multiply in warm climates – like indoors. In fact, a study published by the Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine found that cold weather may actually stimulate your immune system. So, grab your scarf, coat, and mittens – and enjoy the chilly air.
10 Tuesday Sep 2019
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
Tags
Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, employee, flu, go to work sick, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, job, presenteeism, sick, work
There’s a name for when people go to work even when they’re sick… It’s called “presenteeism.” And employees do it because they don’t want to seem like slackers – or they have too much work on their plate to take a sick day… so they show up anyway. But know this: Sick workers are less productive, take longer to get better, and make a lot of their co-workers sick, too! So, if you have the flu – when should you go back to work?
Well, according to internist Dr. Keri Peterson, the unfortunate news is – when it comes to the flu, you’re contagious one day BEFORE you get symptoms. So you may infect people even if you stay home once the fever and chills strike. But stay home anyway – and Dr. Peterson says people are still contagious between 5 and 7 days AFTER the first flu symptoms start. That may seem like a really long time to stay home sick… But if you don’t take care of yourself, you could get complications from the flu, like pneumonia, and you’ll be out for even longer. So stay home until you’ve been fever-free for 24 hours – without the use of over-the-counter flu medications.
11 Monday Feb 2019
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
Tags
cold, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, flight, flu, flying, headache, headaches, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, plane, sick
You’ll reduce your odds of getting sick on a plane if you shower before your flight! That’s according to a study in Environmental Science and Technology. They found compounds in body oils interact with ozone in the cabin to form chemical byproducts. The result? The greasiest people were most likely to complain of throat and nasal irritation, headaches, and an overall in-flight sick feeling.
23 Friday Nov 2018
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
Tags
avoid a cold, avoid the flu, cold, cold and flu, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, flu, germs, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, soap, wash your hands
You know that one of the most important things you can do to avoid catching a cold or the flu is to wash your hands frequently. The problem is, most people concentrate on washing their palms – when it’s the fingertips that really matter. Dr. Neil Schachter is a respiratory specialist at Mount Sinai Medical Center. And he says our fingertips are more likely to come into contact with germy surfaces – and we’re most likely to stick a fingertip in our mouth, nose or eyes, the main entry points for germs. So when you wash your hands, make sure you focus on those fingertips!
14 Thursday Jun 2018
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
Tags
cold, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, cortisol, flu, foot massage, foot rub, immune system, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, Miami, scalp massage
A foot massage! University of Miami researchers say a 10-minute foot rub can boost levels of virus-attacking white blood cells by 25%. A daily foot rub also lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which weakens our immunity. If your partner isn’t into giving you a foot rub, a do-it-yourself 10-minute scalp massage can have the same effect.
30 Wednesday May 2018
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
Tags
cold, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, contamination, flu, germs, ill, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, kleenex, sick, sneeze, sneezing, tissues, virus
If you’re sick – and you’ve been using the same tissue to blow your nose all morning – is that a problem? Well, according to Dr. Wendy Bennett, an internist from Johns Hopkins, that ratty tissue won’t hurt you – but it could hurt those around you. Because each time you touch the tissue, you’re touching your germy mucus – and wherever your hands land afterward will be contaminated with your virus. So grab a new tissue. Or sneeze into your elbow, since that’s less likely to touch other surfaces or people.
22 Tuesday May 2018
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
Tags
Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, cough, coughing, flu, germs, infection, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, laugh, laughing, sing, singing, sneeze, sneezing, virus, whistle
We know that coughing and sneezing spreads germs. Now, researchers say, so do singing, whistling and laughing!
Virologists at Singapore’s National University Hospital say singing produces an even stronger, “more penetrating plume of infection” than coughing. How do they know? Because the researchers used a gigantic mirror and high-speed camera to watch the splatter of saliva… and they figured out exactly how far those flu droplets flew when someone was singing!
So what’s the point of this research? Researchers can apply it to how far apart hospital beds need to be to prevent airborne infection. But for us, we should steer clear of strangers who are whistling on their way to work – and maybe avoid close contact with singers on karaoke night! Keep a minimum distance of 20 feet… and know that viral droplets can stay suspended in the air for up to 10 minutes.
30 Friday Mar 2018
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
Tags
cold, cold and flu, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, flu, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, kumquat, kumquats, orange, oranges, UCLA
Kumquat isn’t just a fun word to say – these tiny orange fruits are great if you have a cold or flu. They contain bioflavonoids that enable your immune cells to fight back and react more quickly to viral invaders. According to research from UCLA, eating 3 kumquats a day can help you bounce back from a viral illness – like a cold or flu – 40% faster.
