With all of the miraculous advances in the field of modern medicine, the common cold remains without a cure. Your best defense against the common cold is to minimize your risk of catching a cold-causing virus with good prevention techniques. If you do happen to catch a cold, your prevention role is not over, because you can help prevent others from catching your cold.
Wash Your Hands--Protect Yourself
Many colds are preventable with one simple technique--washing your hands. This simple and easy practice is your most effective weapon against the common cold. Cold viruses spread two ways. When someone with a cold coughs or sneezes, tiny virus-laden droplets are released into the air. If you happen to be close by, you might inhale these infectious droplets, and within 1 to 3 days, you will come down with a cold. A more common way to catch a cold is to touch something that has infectious cold viruses on it; if you then touch your nose or eyes, you have infected yourself with the cold virus.
Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly to keep from catching a cold. Use soap and water. Be sure to wash both the fronts and the backs of your hands and in between your fingers. Scrub for at least 15 to 20 seconds--that is roughly the time it takes to sing two choruses of either the "Happy Birthday" song or the alphabet song. If you are in a public restroom, turn off the faucet with a paper towel; you do not want to recontaminate your hands with the same viruses you just washed off. Keep the paper towel and use it to grasp the restroom door handle as you leave. Discard it in the nearest trashcan.
Wash Your Hands--Protect Others
If you have a cold, it's time to make sure the cold you have stops with you and is not passed on to others. The best way to do this is to--you guessed it--wash your hands. After you blow your nose, wash your hands. If you sneeze or cough into your hands, wash them. Before you touch other people's dishes, glassware or utensils, wash your hands. Any surface you can keep free of your cold germs will help prevent those around you from catching your cold.
Use Hand Sanitizer or Wipes
Alternatives to hand washing are alcohol-based hand sanitizing gels and lotions or hand wipes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention specifies hand-washing alternatives should be alcohol based to ensure any cold viruses on your hands are killed.
Keep Your Hands Away from Your Face
Another simple but effective way to prevent colds is to make a conscious effort to keep your hands away from your face, especially your nose and eyes. Even if your hands become contaminated with cold viruses, if the viruses do not contact your nose or eyes, you will not catch a cold.
Cover Your Coughs and Sneezes
If you have a cold, cover your coughs and sneezes. If you cover your mouth with your hands, be sure to wash your hands right away. If you use a tissue, throw it away. If you use a handkerchief to cover your mouth, keep it in your pocket or another place where others will not touch it. Be sure not to put it on a counter or some other surface that others may touch, because they may possibly pick up cold viruses.
References
- Mayo Clinic: Comon Cold Prevention
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Stopping Germs at Home, Work and School
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases: Common Cold Prevention
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases: Common Cold Overview
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Clean Hands Save Lives
