Every year about this time, the advice starts coming.
Take this.
Don’t eat that.
Buy this supplement.
Drink this concoction.
Do this every morning and apparently you’ll never get sick again.
If only it were that easy.
I’m certainly interested in things that can help us stay healthy. But I’m also a fan of not making health more complicated than it needs to be.
Because when cold and flu season rolls around, some of the best things you can do aren’t particularly exciting.
They also don’t come in a fancy bottle.
Start with sleep
This one isn’t going to sell many books, but sleep matters.
Your immune system doesn’t operate separately from the rest of you. Consistently cutting your sleep short affects a lot more than whether you’re tired the next morning.
And I know the usual response:
“I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”
I’d prefer we didn’t use that as the goal.
If you’ve gotten into the habit of staying up later than you need to—watching one more episode, scrolling for another half hour, or doing things that could easily wait until tomorrow—getting some of that sleep back might be one of the simplest things you can do for yourself.
Wash your hands
I told you some of this was going to be boring.
Respiratory viruses can spread in several ways, and washing your hands remains a simple way to reduce the chances of carrying germs from your hands to your eyes, nose or mouth.
Soap and water work just fine.
You don’t need to scrub like you’re preparing for surgery.
Get outside
When the weather cools off, it’s easy to start spending a lot more time indoors.
Don’t disappear into the house until spring.
Go for a walk.
Get some daylight.
Keep moving.
Fresh air isn’t a magical immune-system treatment, but regular physical activity, daylight exposure and maintaining a normal routine are all good reasons to keep getting outside.
What about vitamin D?
This is one that comes up frequently.
Vitamin D is important for normal immune function, and some people do have low vitamin D levels—particularly when sun exposure decreases.
But that doesn’t mean everyone should start taking enormous doses because somebody on the internet said more is better.
If you’re concerned about your vitamin D level, it can be measured. Then you actually know what you’re dealing with.
That’s usually a better strategy than guessing.
Don’t forget the obvious stuff
Eat reasonably well.
Drink enough water.
Stay active.
Get enough sleep.
Wash your hands.
And if you’re sick, give your body a chance to recover instead of trying to prove how tough you are.
None of that sounds revolutionary.
Maybe that’s the point.
We’re constantly looking for the new health trick when sometimes the things that have earned their place are the things that have been sitting right in front of us all along.
Try this this week
Pick one boring healthy habit you’ve let slide.
Maybe it’s going to bed 30 minutes earlier.
Maybe it’s taking a walk after dinner.
Maybe it’s finally getting outside during your lunch break instead of eating at your desk.
Don’t try to fix everything.
Just put one good habit back where it belongs.
A little trivia
Why do colds seem to show up more often when the weather turns cold?
It isn’t simply because you walked outside without a jacket.
Respiratory viruses spread more readily under certain cooler, drier conditions, and we also tend to spend more time indoors and closer to other people during colder months.
So your mother wasn’t completely wrong about putting on a coat.
She just may have been blaming the wrong thing.
And because we can’t be serious all the time...
I’ve started taking my health much more seriously.
I now eat cookies while standing up.
That makes them exercise cookies.
I’m pretty sure that’s how this works.
— Dr. Dan
