We’re back into lectures and sadly freshers’ week seems like a distant memory. You’re wondering even now how you had the energy to go out five or six nights in a row AND think of a new costume for each of them. Unfortunately we still have one thing to remind us of that frantic week, and it is not a whole load of new friends or even embarrassing photos to detag. It is the dreaded ‘Freshers’ Flu’. And it is not just limited to the new freshers, somehow it manages to cross the year gaps and infect everyone with unerring certitude.
So here are a few tips to try and keep the flu at bay, or, if you are already suffering, to try to speed up your recovery, because this illness, dare I say it, can be worse than man flu!
Eat your 5 a day
I know this seems boring and predictable, but actually it’s very easy to not manage to get enough fruit and veg into your diet,
especially if you are cooking for yourself, as fresh food often goes off before you’re ready to eat it. But fruit and vegetables are packed with vitamins and antioxidants that can help stave off flu or at least reduce the symptoms. Simple vegetables like carrots and broccoli are full of Vitamin C, or you can treat yourself to memories of summer with blackberries and strawberries. Blackberries and strawberries are some of the top antioxidant foods you can eat, which, as the name suggests, prevents oxidisation reactions in the body which can lead to cell damage. So not only are you beating flu, you are avoiding more nasty illnesses at the same time!
Add garlic to everything
Even the Ancient Chinese and Egyptians used garlic as
a way to stave off flu, and this has continuedthroughout the centuries. It has anti-biotic and antiviral properties that are perfectly designed to fight off bugs, and its active ingredient, allicin, can break up mucus just like cough medicines and pills are designed to do. So add as much of it as you can (without making your friends think you have an odd obsession with avoiding vampires) to all of your cooking and you should recover more quickly.
Exercise
I appreciate that it’s annoying how everything seems to come back to exercise,and also that getting up and going for a run is the last thing you feel like doing when your body aches and your nose is streaming, but annoyingly it can really help. Just going to the gym and sitting on the exercise bike that lets you read or text at the same time whilst giving your legs a gentle work out for half an hour a day can give your immune system the added boost it needs to fight off the virus. Even just taking the long route to lectures can help. A study at Appalachian State University showed thatpeople who walked regularly for twelve weeks had half the number of colds as people who were less active.
So, to sum up, keep your body as healthy as you can, fill it with good stuff and keep it in shape, and hopefully a few late nights here and there won’t affect your recovery from this illness that you may have only just heard about if you’re a fresher, but will be speedily learning to dread and hate!