Cure your Christmas come-down
Feeling stuffy and blocked up? The problem may be that you’ve not left the house for the best part of two days during the eating and drinking marathon that is Christmas.
Central heating can dry out the mucous membranes in your sinuses, causing inflammation. Mucus can then accumulate inside the sinus space and any bacteria lurking inside gets the chance to start breeding, resulting in a sinus pain, stuffiness and infection.
ST STEPHEN’S DAY RESCUE: Adding moisture to the air can combat this problem. Use a humidifier if you have one – or just place a bowl of water close to the radiators in your bedroom and living room. But what you really need to do today is to brave the weather and get outside for a good 20-minute walk.
“As well as boosting circulation and clearing the sinuses, research shows that exercise increases activity of the body’s natural killer T cells that help fight infections,” explains sports scientist Nicola
Ayres. Has all that rich food and excess booze yesterday left you feeling nauseous, with a sore stomach and maybe a touch of diarrhoea too?
ST STEPHEN’S DAY RESCUE: Try some old-fashioned Alka-seltzer with its traditional mixture of pain-reliving aspirin and the stomach-settling antacids citric acid and sodium bicarbonate (note, if you have a history of stomach ulcers, look instead for the aspirin-free variety).
It’s also a good idea to stick to plain food today such as toast, rice or pasta to quell nausea, while eating live yoghurt that contains lots of ‘friendly’ bacteria will calm an irritated digestive tract. You could also try: Healthspan Artichoke Extract – this bitter vegetable is packed with cynarine, a natural tummy-soothing extract which research shows can help restore normal digestion following overindulgence. For some people, eating lots of stodgy Christmas foods can have the opposite effect to that above, and instead triggers constipation and an uncomfortable bloated stomach.
ST STEPHEN’S DAY RESCUE: Start the morning after the day before with a fibre-rich breakfast of porridge with fruit, and drink plenty of fluids to keep everything moving through your digestive system. And when you head out for that Boxing Day stroll, make sure your pace is fast enough to raise your heart rate, as this will help to kickstart your slowed digestion. Nibbling some of those festive dates or any other dried fruit can also ease constipation as they’re much higher in fibre than the fresh variety. Try the oldfashioned but gentle remedy Califig Syrup of Fig. Family gatherings and Christmas parties with work friends mean closer contact with a greater number of people than normal – which is why cold and flu germs spread like wildfire over the festive season.
ST STEPHEN’S DAY RESCUE: Don’t waste money on expensive cold ‘cures’ – the latest research by the Common Cold Centre found that the three most effective ways to beat a cold were simply: bed rest, taking a plain paracetamol to ease fever and aches, and drinking plenty of hot drinks to soothe the throat and relieve nasal congestion.
The old adage of ‘starve a fever, feed a cold’ also contains a grain of truth. Consume too few calories and your body could think it’s under siege and pump out stress hormones which can further strain your immune system, making it less able to fight off a cold.
Research published in the medical journal Chest also found that chicken soup really could ease cold symptoms, thanks to its anti-inflammatory ingredients, and the good news is that turkey soup has exactly the same benefits – so put those leftovers to good use in a healthy broth today.
Your bowels have come to a standstill
Brave the weather and get out for a good walk. Exercise will boost your circulation and clear the sinuses
You’re developing post-party flu
The best ways to beat a cold are: bed rest, take a plain paracetamol, and drink hot drinks for your throat
You’re flat-out exhausted
Burning the candle at both ends in the run-up to Christmas often means that come the 26th, many of us are feeling pretty sleep deprived. And it’s no wonder this makes us feel dreadful, as our bodies are actually programmed to need more sleep than normal during the cold winter months, as a response to fewer sunlight hours and coping with lower temperatures.
On top of this, sleeping fewer than seven hours per night causes a decrease in immune activity that means your risk of catching a cold is three times more than somebody who gets eight or more hours, according to research by Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. In short, catching up on lost shut-eye will benefit your whole body.
ST STEPHEN’S DAY RESCUE: Have an early night tonight. Spend at least 30 minutes winding down before bedtime by reading, gently stretching or having a warm bath. Take a screen break for an hour too, as the blue light emitted by tablets and phones has been found to disrupt sleep.
“But don’t rely on a tipple to give you a good night’s sleep,” warns nutritionist Linda Foster. “It may help you nod off initially, but alcohol actually disrupts normal sleep rhythms so you’ll wake feeling less refreshed in the morning.”