It would appear that my girlfriend (teacher) has just gifted me my second cold (a week after getting rid of the last one) with a cheery “oh I always have colds in winter…”

Is there anything I can do to increase my immune system to block these?

I’m about to start a training plan for my first ironman next year so I cannot afford to miss many training sessions due to being ill all the time.

Not much help, but having your house rewired is definitely NOT the way.

Avoid children and anyone who works with them.

Wash your hands and try to avoid touching your nose or eyes, there’s not muchmore you can do to reduce the number of colds you get. You’ll need to make sure your GF does the same, of course. And avoid overtraining,

Avoid children and anyone who works with them.

This.

I work at home and don’t physically meet people beyond my immediate family socially that often.

My wife works in a school and my kids obviously attend one and I seem to manage to catch any bug that’s going round from them 🙁

mogrim – Member

Wash your hands and try to avoid touching your nose or eyes, there’s not muchmore you can do to reduce the number of colds you get.

Yeah that basically. I’m pretty fastidious about washing hands before eating and not scratching nose/eyes that often and it does make a difference.

Some call it OCD, others marginal gains! I think I read that team sky were given lessons in ow to wash their hands properly.

If I feel a cold coming and I’m racing shortly I take echinacia and use vicks first defense for a few days.

I think it’s just yer luck with immune system you’ve been dealt. Despite having a primary school age daughter, I haven’t had a cold in 3 years, and it was about the same period before that one.

Vicks also does a hand cleaner gel called First Defence – non alcoholic so it doesn’t dry out your skin – that’s claimed to leave a microbe/virus killing residue on your hands that’s active for up to five hours after application, mate of mine who works in the NHS swears by it. Not expensive on eBay in boxes of eight.

Other than that and keeping hands away from mouth, eyes, food etc, avoid other people for an hour or so after hard training sessions as there’s evidence that purports to show that your immune system is temporarily weakened then. Wash hands when you come in from shopping etc.

Tbh, if you’re cohabiting with someone who works with kids, you’re pretty much doomed unless you slather them all over in the First Defence gel as soon as they walk through the front door, in which case colds are likely to be the least of your worries.

Zinc supplements are supposed to prop up the immune system, ditto glucosamine.

If you train hard you might want to try to avoid exposure for a few hours afterwards, as it is often said that you pick things up easier then. I have not exactly studied the research to see if this is fact or fiction though. I just use it as an excuse to put off going to the supermarket.

Edit: I type so slowly someone has always made my point before me.

Must get some of that first defence stuff. Kids currently both have rivers of snot coming out their noses that needs constant wiping. Never use to get colds before we have kids. So yes, avoid kids and anyone who comes into contact with kids.

One of these at the front door for the girlfriend when she comes home from work?

Seriously, with a little snotbag bringing home everything from nursery at this time of year, sticking him through one is about the only way I can work out that would stop me picking everything up from him!

Here in Hong Kong, people will put a surgical mask on at the first hint of getting a sniffle, and many people just wear one on public transport.

I don’t actually know whether this helps very much. I guess it’s marginal.

Avoid people,and stay in your man cave as much as possible.

Ditch the girlfriend?

Sleep more. See also dont have kids

jam bo – Member
Avoid children and anyone who works with them.

&

no_eyed_deer – Member
Ditch the girlfriend?

Or get her to move out for the Winter

I’ve just sneezed on my iPad…….I’m send you all my snotty germaniods…enjoy

Make sure you get plenty sleep. Very important if you are training for an athletic event.

Eat the right foods.

Make sure that you keep hydrated.

Regular exercise helps but make sure you are observing the above. 🙂

Cup of harden-up with a side order of get on with it?

Failing that, just have a lemsip.

I suffer with all this too. My kids are walking bio-hazards- just constantly rotating colds, stomach bugs, other random infections, worms etc. No way of avoiding all this imo.

But I’m up for trying some of the above re supplements/ health food shop stuff. The health food shop is almost next to the LBS, so when I’m next in for something i’ll stock up on all this.

I’ve got a goji berry plant too, but haven’t seen a decent crop yet.

Zinc supplements are supposed to prop up the immune system, ditto glucosamine.

I meant glutamine there, doh… not glucosamine.

I’ve got daughters aged 5+8 and a wife who is a teacher/Brownie leader.. I get a couple of colds every winter.

My main objective when I start getting a cold is to try and prevent it going lower than my throat. At the 1st hint of a sore throat I gargle TCP several times a day. Not really possible to tell how effective this is, but I think it makes a difference. It does have the added benefit of annoying everyone else in the house, as they hate the smell 🙂

Does getting colds regularly strengthen your immune system?

Make contact with children, anyone who works with them on anyone in healthcare.

That way you’ll build up some immunity to them but of course not all as that’s impossible.

Wash your hands. Stop picking your nose. Shrink-wrap your girlfriend.

Does getting colds regularly strengthen your immune system?

Based solely on personal experience – no. Being fit and not smoking etc. seems to have a more pronounced affect on how my body deals with and reacts to the cold virus.

Cougar – Moderator
Shrink-wrap your girlfriend, lots of specialist websites available for reference 😉 .

FIFY

I have found that I get far less cold related illness since drinking Redbush tea every day.

If I run out of it at work and go a week without then I have been immediately struck down with a cold from the gods.

Redbush for the win, oh and wash your hands, I’ve also developed a slight phobia of door handles at work after being amazed at how many dirty **** don’t wash their hands.

scruff9252 what ironman you doing? and what training program are you following?
interested, as im in Wales 2016 and need to do some training sooner rather than later.

flu jab

flu jab

😐

I was in the dr’s a couple of weeks ago with my daughter getting her thumb infection cut open to drain (as you do), and was discussing the imminent flu jab for all primary age school children.

Apparently this is because ‘it has been decided this year that children were a main cause of spreading illness’s’ 😯 😀

no shit Sherlock…

Thanks all. Will pick up some immune boost multivitamins and antiseptic hand wash / handrub as a first step.

I work in a civilised team where we work from home whenever we have a bit of a cold, that has resulted in me mostly avoiding colds for the last few years. Seems that’s not an option for kids…

Pezza, I’m doing Outlaw in July. I’m currently on week 4 of doing the trainer road sustained power build plan. When that finishes I’ll be launching into Fink’s 30 week plan around mid Dec. It’s long, daunting road but hopefully mostly enjoyable.

Eat the right things, lots of fruit and veg. I take a Berocca a day too, and get plenty of exercise. The few times I’ve had colds has been when I don’t exercise bizarrely.

scandal42 – Member
I have found that I get far less cold related illness since drinking Redbush tea every day.

my wife is ginger…….I don’t think drinking her bush will help tho 😯

Cbm has it
Lots of fruit and veg,especially chilis.
Don’t wash your hands too much.
Most import – keep warm immediately after exercise.fleecy hat and top as soon as you stop

Lots of fruit and veg,especially chilis.

Hadn’t really thought about that, but we also eat a lot of chillis!

Drac

Make contact with children, anyone who works with them on anyone in healthcare.

That way you’ll build up some immunity to them but of course not all as that’s impossible.

Yeah about that, I’ve got a 10 year old in School, an 18 month old in Nursey 2 days a week and a wife who’s a District Nurse, I swear I spend more time ill than well.

Yeah about that, I’ve got a 10 year old in School, an 18 month old in Nursey 2 days a week and a wife who’s a District Nurse, I swear I spend more time ill than well.

I’ve a 12 year old and 9 year old, my wife works in a hospital and I work in primary healthcare. The wife and I rarely get colds.