FLU!

Although I get my flu shot every fall, I still manage to contract at least one nasty bug each winter. The shot reduces my chances of getting influenza up to 90%, but i don't have to stop there. I can significantly improve the odds of staying healthy all winter until spring time by following a few simple rules.

First, I need to know what im up against. In addition to the flu, the average adult suffers anywhere from one to three respiratory illnesses a year, nearly all of them caused by viruses and most of them occurring in the fall and winter. Winter also tends to bring out the kind of bad habits--from overindulging at parties to letting exercise routines slide--that make the body more susceptible to infection.

The reason we get colds in winter isn't directly linked to cold weather, of course. It's that we spend more time indoors with other people and their germs. If you really wanted to make sure you never suffered another cold, you would avoid all contact with other people as well as anything they had ever touched. And you would certainly abandon those ritual handshakes and cheek pecks. Why? Respiratory viruses, including those that cause flu, are highly contagious and can survive for hours on skin, furniture, doorknobs and the like.