Get ready for winter

Are you one of those people for whom keeping healthy in winter often feels too much of an effort? You feel tired, sluggish, lacking in motivation? You try to brighten the days with the wrong types of diet, expecting your body to cope. With a bit of preparation and by following these simple steps, winter can be a season to look forward to.

1. Keep active – Being outdoors, even on cloudy days, will help your body absorb some of the sun’s uplifting energy. A brisk walk of at least 10 minutes every day is one of the best ways of getting your daily exercise with the added bonus of improving low mood due to the production of endorphins.
2. Avoid stimulants such as nicotine, alcohol and caffeine that drain the nervous system. Ever increasing amounts of alcohol as the festive season draws closer can play havoc with your immune system but can also have a dramatic effect on your mood.
3. Don’t eat for comfort –Start your day with a warming bowl of oat porridge. Not only do oats help lower blood cholesterol and stabilise blood sugar, they also have a gentle calming effect, helping you to face the day ahead. Enjoy bowls of nourishing soups using a high quality vegetable concentrate, stews, rice dishes with nuts, warming vegetable bakes and stewed fruit.
4. Adequate sleep is essential for our health and frame of mind. Get at least 8 hours sleep per night to enable your body to repair and restore, leaving you feeling refreshed and ready to cope with the challenges the next day has to offer.
5. Have fun – Check out your local activity centre and take up a new class. Physical activity reduces tension and releases anger and frustration. Make new friends, have a laugh. As the saying goes, ‘Laughter is the best form of medicine’.

Let’s face it. Not many of us get through winter without catching a cold. On average, adults can expect to get 2 or 3 colds a year and each can last up to a week or so. If you are prone to catching colds or flu, it’s important to have a supply of good quality Echinacea drops or tablets to hand, in preparation for the cold season.

Taking Echinaforce® Echinacea drops or tablets regularly between October and the beginning of February means that your immune system will be on the alert, ready to deal with the miseries of colds and flu during the winter months. If, however, you have already caught a bug, Echinacea will help speed up your recovery time.

There’s no mistaking that bunged up feeling that so often accompanies a cold, when your head feels as if it is ready to burst. A constantly running nose causes swelling and inflammation of the mucous membranes lining the nasal passages leading, in turn, to an increase in nasal catarrh, blocked nose or nasal congestion. Sinuforce Nasal Spray is a herbal remedy with menthol for the rapid relief of a blocked or congested nose. It reduces swelling of the nasal mucous membranes without affecting its natural protective function and can be used for periods of up to 30 days.

A cough can be the hardest thing to shift after a cold, the ensuing irritation resulting in many a disturbed night. Use a remedy that soothes spasm in the respiratory tract without weakening the ability of the body to expel foreign matter.The herb Ivy is well known for its beneficial action on coughs, particularly those associated with thick mucous. Thyme is also known to help expel mucous, benefiting both coughs and catarrhal conditions. Both these herbs can be found in Bronchosan cough syrup.

For those whose catarrh sits firmly in the head, blocking the nose and the ears and making breathing and hearing difficult, Plantago (Lance leaf plantain) is the herb to choose. It contains mucilage, tannins and silicic acid and has the ability to reduce the amount of inflammation present in the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract, making it ideal for battling the phlegm that persists for weeks after defeating a cold.

If you’re planning to be out and about this winter, it’s worth keeping Echinaforce Sore Throat Spray to hand. Made from extracts of fresh Echinacea purpurea, Sage and Peppermint Oil, the spray comes with a plastic dispenser to deliver spray directly to the back of the throat.

One in five people in the UK suffer from cold sores that can not only prove embarrassing but also have a habit of recurring. Bio-Propolis is a cold sore barrier ointment formulated with carefully selected skin protectives and propolis extract that can be used at any stage in the development of a cold sore. It comes in a convenient sized tube so that it can be readily available whenever required.

Vitamin C has many uses throughout the body, from boosting the immune system and absorbing iron, to helping maintain a healthy heart. Humans cannot synthesise or store Vitamin C and so it has to be obtained continually from the diet or from supplements if dietary sources are insufficient. Easy to take Nature-C tablets, made from a wide variety of fruit and herbs, are an excellent choice.