Just what the doctor ordered
FROM HOME REMEDIES TO A HERBAL TREATMENT, THIS IS HOW GPS SUGGEST DEALING WITH COLDS. BY
ALREADY feel like you’ve had your fill of sore throats, coughs and stuffy heads this winter? Colds may be common and minor – but they can still leave you feeling rotten, not to mention being a major inconvenience.
They aren’t really something you want to be traipsing to the GP surgery with however – but wouldn’t it be helpful to know what your doctor really thinks about managing winter ailments? We asked them...
GETTING ILL IS NOT ALWAYS TERRIBLE
Nobody enjoys having a cold, of course. But GP and TV medic Dr Hilary Jones – known for regular appearances on Good Morning Britain – says we can’t always “prevent exposure to viruses, especially in winter when people flock together for warmth indoors”. And if symptoms are mild, we probably don’t need to worry too much.
“Let your own immune system deal with it,” says Dr Hilary. “That’s what your immune system is for – and looking on the positive side, the more you tickle up your immune system, the healthier it is.
“In a way, you’re stimulating your immune system to be healthy.”
ANTIBIOTICS CAN BE HARMFUL IF YOU DON’T ACTUALLY NEED THEM
If symptoms are proving tougher to tolerate, it can be tempting to try antibiotics. But while there are certainly times when antibiotics are vital, they only work for bacterial infections, so taking them when you have a viral infection (ie a cold) is not only futile, but could cause harm.
“Often, both clinicians and patients will be tempted to try antibiotics, even when there is little-tono chance of them helping – ‘just in case’ and often accompanied with the reasoning of ‘what harm can it do?’,” says GP Dr Tom Jenkins.
“We are now beginning to appreciate that there is potential harm at an individual level,” Dr Jenkins adds.
“There are more bacterial cells in the human body than human cells, and most of those bacterial cells are helpful and essential for healthy functioning.
“Because antibiotics are not selective and do not single out just bad bacteria, taking them upsets our bacterial microbiome, and we are now starting to learn about the subtle and sometimes lasting consequences of this.”
Another major concern is bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics – which the World Health Organisation (WHO) describes as one of the biggest threats to global health today. Tackling this is complex but on an individual level,
WHO guidelines suggest people only use antibiotics when suitable.
SOOTHING HOME REMEDIES
ARE WORTH IT
Dr Hilary, who is working with Manuka Doctor ( manukadoctor. co.uk), also points out: “If you do get sick, comforting symptomatic relief is really important, starting with the simple things.
“I’m an advocate of manuka honey – the genuine manuka honey from New Zealand, which carries a number for the antibacterial activity, the MGO methylglyoxal.”
As well as its antibacterial properties, Dr Hilary says it’s “soothing for throats” and can provide an “energy boost” – plus his 97-year-old mother is a fan.
“Not only does she put it in her porridge, she put it on her skin for a few lesions that she has – perfectly well-endorsed by the district nurse who comes to visit her as well.
“You can also put honey in a grog, in hot water, with a bit of lemon, a bit of cinnamon – that’s something our grandmothers used to use, and to good effect.”
THE HERBAL REMEDY THAT’S DOCTOR-APPROVED
There are so many natural remedies out there promising to fight off symptoms, the choice can be overwhelming. But did you know there’s one herbal remedy that is recommended by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) for managing certain upper respiratory tract symptoms?
Pelargonium, licenced as a Traditional Herbal Remedy, features in the recommendations for GPs to consider as one of four selfcare treatment options for adults and children aged 12 and above. It’s mentioned on the NHS website’s page for coughs too – along with getting plenty of rest, staying hydrated, Paracetamol and Ibuprofen where suitable for pain relief, and honey and lemon. Derived from plants found in South Africa and Lesotho, Dr Jenkins says Pelargonium was widely used to help treat infections before antibiotics boomed.
But “over the last quarter of a century”, he adds, “clinical research has begun to revisit this forgotten treatment, especially in Germany, and now more recently here in the UK too.”
Dr Jenkins, the developer of herbal medicine product Centoreze Pelargonium (centoreze. co.uk) explains Pelargonium contains “a large number of biological molecules” that work in a number of ways to “stimulate the body’s immune system to fight infections”.
DIET AND LIFESTYLE DO PLAY A PART
“Diet is always important,” says Dr Hilary.
“A healthy lifestyle does protect us and helps our immune system. Clearly there are obvious things not to do – smoking and excess alcohol – as well as poor nutrition.
“We know vitamin D is important for good immune health, and there are many people who are deficient in vitamin D, who should be taking a supplement as recommended by deficient in vitamin D the WHO and NHS, particularly through winter,” Dr Hilary adds (when there isn’t enough sunlight in this part of the world for our bodies to make sufficient amounts).
“So vitamin D, adequate vitamin C, zinc, and sometimes things like garlic and echinacea can be helpful in making sure your immune system is healthy.”
While a balanced diet comes first, Jones believes “it’s always worth considering a multivitamin, which gives you a little bit of everything, particularly if your diet is restricted or selective in any way or if you’ve got extra needs”, he adds.
“But healthy eating, plenty of fruit and vegetables, adequate protein, exercising moderately and avoiding pollutants and cigarettes – those are the main things.”
The more you tickle up your immune system, the healthier it is
CHECK IN WITH YOUR DOCTOR IF YOU’RE CONSTANTLY RUNDOWN
Dr Hilary Jones
Still feel like nothing seems to help? Then it may be time to check in with your doctor.
“If you’re concerned that you have any possible underlying medical problem, I would always advise discussing matters with your GP,” says Dr Jenkins.
“Sometimes recurrent infections can be a sign of an underlying infection, but sometimes they can be because you are rundown. Your GP is ideally placed here because they have your medical record, are able to look into things in more detail, and can follow you up.”
WE’RE into 2024, but let’s not forget that 2023 was a rather good year for gamers.
There were tears and tantrums, but a definitive list has been reached, so in no particular order, these were the games that rocked our world in
2023.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (PEGI 12) Switch
Nintendo had a big job on its hands in creating a sequel to 2017’s sublime Breath of the Wild. With its landmark open-world, and physics-based sandbox gameplay, it’s rightly considered one of the greatest video games of all time.
So how do you improve on perfection? They looked to the skies.
The kingdom of Hyrule now boasts floating islands that sit high above its lush and verdant lands.
For this outing, Link – who now boasts a prosthetic arm that’s like the Winter Soldier’s but with a magical twist – has a raft of new powers.
There’s Recall and Ultra Hand, but Ascend is the game changer, giving Link the power to float and phase through objects.
Combat has also been improved, with Link able to hurl items at enemies – including bombs.
But while Link’s abilities have been bolstered, the bad guys have been given a leg up too, and there’s myriad new boss-like enemies which really stretch Link’s new skills – and your ability to use them.
The game map itself is the real star here. No part of Hyrule is off limits now, from the skies to the caves and the dungeons which lie beneath.
Nintendo has managed the impossible with Tears of the Kingdom. It has taken an already incredible game and made it richer, deeper and more immersive than ever.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (PEGI 16) PS5
Developer Insomniac had already set the bar incredibly high with 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man, and 2020’s Miles Morales, but fans needn’t have worried about how this third outing would go.
The game picks up nine months after the events of Miles Morales, with both Peter Parker and Miles struggling to navigate the next steps in their personal lives, while facing down a host of supervillains.
One of the main baddies in this game is Kraven the Hunter who, alongside his private militia, is wreaking havoc on the city.
Meanwhile Peter finds himself bonded with the symbiote Venom.
The good news is that despite the game’s combat system being heavily reworked, it still feels instantly familiar. Peter and Miles have a vast array of new gadgets and abilities at their disposal, and both also have individual skill trees to unlock.
Of the new gadgets, my absolute favourite was the Web Grabber which, as the name suggests, lets you grab enemies and pull them towards you, or to smash them into each other.
There’s still that unbridled feeling of joy as you swing through the streets of New York City, and you can even deploy your wings if you feel like taking things up a notch.
Even better, the map has been extended to include Brooklyn and Queens.
Street Fighter 6
(PEGI 12) PS4, PS5, XBOX X/S, PC
Yet another long awaited sequel that landed with a big bang this year.
After the disappointment of Street
Fighter V in 2016, Capcom came back swinging with Street Fighter 6 in June.
Compared to its dull predecessor, Street Fighter 6 offers an embarrassment of riches, including a roster of 18 new and returning characters.
There are three over-arching hubs to dive straight into – World Tour, Fighting Ground and Battle Hub, with Fighting Ground the closest to the traditional 2D Street Fighter action we know and love.
World Tour hub is a game changer, a sprawling, RPG, open-ish world in which your customised fighter can explore and pick fights with just about everyone they meet.
You can customise your fighter to look however you want, from lithe, cat-like martial artists in the vein of Bruce Lee, to hulking, lumbering sluggers a la Arnold Schwarzenegger, and everything in between.
It’s in this setting that your own fighter can adopt one of the game’s existing roster of characters as a sensei to hone your skills.
It also acts as a perfect tutorial for new players, allowing them to get to grips with the basics.
Gameplay-wise not much has changed, with the traditional six-button system still in play, but new additions, like the powerful Drive Gauge system, ensure the action still feels fresh and exciting.
Metroid Prime Remastered (PEGI 12) Switch
More than 20 years after it was first released on Nintendo’s GameCube, Metroid Prime returned in March looking better than ever. Considered the crowning glory of the woefully underrated console, the 2002 hit was the first in the Metroid series to use 3D graphics and to be played from the first-person perspective. Nintendo has gone above and beyond with this remaster, determined to enhance its masterpiece.
Now playable in high definition for the Switch, bounty hunter Samus Aran and the planet Tallon IV – look better than ever.
It’s impossible to overstate just how groundbreaking Metroid Prime was when it was released, and it continues to hold up.
This is a true masterclass in remastering, and other developers would be wise to take note.
Baldur’s Gate 3 (PEGI 18) PS5, PC
No end of year review could be complete without this RPG, which has proved utterly unstoppable in the latter quarter of 2023.
Baldur’s Gate is the third instalment in a series that’s set in the Forgotten Realms of the Dungeons & Dragons universe.
This is a deep and almost total conversion of the much-loved tabletop game. The first in the franchise to use turn-based combat, your character’s actions are decided by the rolling of a 20-sided dice.
Behind the veil a narrator acts as a dungeon master, adding exposition to the plot, and fleshing out the story as the game progresses.
This game is a triumphant mix of storytelling and old school RPG combat. It looks beautiful, with fully realised, rich environments that just beg to be explored – and once more, you have the time and freedom to do just that.
It may be the new kid on the block, but Baldur’s Gate 3 has already earned its place among the pantheon of great RPGs.