With cold fronts arriving one after another, how can we stay healthy during the winter?

As soon as the beginning of winter arrives, cold air officially arrives and the temperature starts to drop rapidly.

The "advances" of winter are coming at full speed. How can we stay healthy during the winter? On November 6, the National Health Commission held a press conference to introduce the relationship between the seasons and health.

Can I take antibiotics if I am infected with any virus?

There is an old saying that goes, "The lungs are a delicate organ that will be harmed first by evil." When the weather is cold and the air is dry, our respiratory system is most vulnerable to threats from various pathogens.

Among them, three groups of people need special attention, namely the elderly, children, people with structural lung disease, and people with immunosuppression.

Chen Wenhui, chief physician of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, further explained that structural lung disease refers to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchiectasis, and pulmonary interstitial fibrosis; and immunosuppressed patients, such as those with malignant tumors, need to take some hormone immune preparations for a long time, which causes their immune function to be very low.

"Once an infection occurs, do not blindly use medication." Chen Wenhui emphasized that most infections that people are prone to in winter are caused by viruses. Many pharmacies have test kits. Once we have symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection, we can test ourselves first. At the same time, do not use antibiotics casually. When coughing with increased yellow sputum, fever without obvious improvement, and blood count increases, antibiotics may be needed.

How to prevent "winter vomiting disease"

Another virus that likes to "make trouble" in autumn and winter is the norovirus.

Peng Zhibin, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that norovirus is one of the common pathogens that cause acute gastroenteritis. Norovirus acute gastroenteritis can occur throughout the year and is also known as "winter vomiting disease." Crowded places such as childcare institutions and schools are prone to clustered outbreaks.

Norovirus is not only tenacious, but also has a variety of transmission methods. For example, it likes to hide in contaminated food or drinking water. Once you accidentally eat it, it will take advantage of the opportunity to enter; if you accidentally touch the patient's feces or vomit, it may also "come to your door"; the aerosol produced when the patient vomits, contaminated objects or environmental surfaces will also become its "parasitic grounds", as long as you don't wash your hands after touching them, there is a risk of infection.

After children are infected with norovirus, the main clinical manifestation is vomiting, while adults mainly have diarrhea. Peng Zhibin said that norovirus acute gastroenteritis is mostly a self-limiting disease, and there are currently no specific drugs or vaccines available. However, most symptoms are mild and do not require special treatment. Resting for 2-3 days will recover. Oral sugar and saline or oral rehydration salts can be taken to replenish the water lost by vomiting and diarrhea.

Faced with such a stubborn "enemy", what we need to do is to defend in all directions.

Pay attention to hand hygiene. Wash your hands with soap and running water before eating, after going to the toilet, and before processing food; alcohol-containing disinfectant wipes and hand-free disinfectants cannot replace hand washing.

Pay attention to food and drinking water safety. When processing food, keep raw and cooked food separate; wash vegetables and fruits thoroughly, cook food thoroughly, especially shellfish and seafood; do not drink raw water.

Reduce contact. Patients with norovirus acute gastroenteritis should try to avoid contact with others during the symptom period and within 2-3 days after the symptoms disappear.

Do a good job of disinfection. When vomiting occurs, the crowd should be evacuated as soon as possible, ventilation should be done well, and family members should use chlorine-containing disinfectants to disinfect the contaminated environment and objects in a standardized manner.

It is advisable to take supplements in winter, but can you eat a lot?

Tang Xudong, chief physician at Xiyuan Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, said that Chinese medicine emphasizes the correspondence between man and nature, that is, spring for growth, summer for growth, autumn for harvest, and winter for storage. Winter is the season for storage, which is a good time to regulate the body, replenish energy, and strengthen the body.

There is a saying among the people that "Tonifying food in winter will help you fight tigers in the coming year". Tang Xudong reminds us not to start eating voraciously when we hear about tonic food, but to follow three principles: different for different people, different for different times, and moderate tonic food.

First of all, it varies from person to person. People have different constitutions, so the principles of tonic are also different. Tang Xudong said that people's deficiency syndromes are divided into qi deficiency, yin deficiency, blood deficiency, and yang deficiency. People with qi deficiency may feel short of breath when they move, be too lazy to talk, and have little strength; people with yang deficiency may also have symptoms such as fear of cold, cold limbs, and loose stools; people with yin deficiency are prone to dry eyes, dry mouth, dry stools, and even hot flashes and night sweats; people with blood deficiency have a dull complexion.

Don’t panic if you feel you have “all the symptoms”, because Tang Xudong said that the symptoms of compounding are indeed very common.

He suggested that people with qi deficiency and yang deficiency can eat warm foods such as mutton, venison, and chicken; people with qi deficiency can add qi-tonifying medicines such as ginseng, astragalus, and codonopsis, and people with yang deficiency can add yang-warming medicines such as ginger, dried ginger, and cinnamon; people with yin deficiency and blood deficiency are suitable for choosing mild and sweet foods such as old turtles, old ducks, and fish. People with yin deficiency can add lily, ophiopogon japonicus, tremella, etc., and people with blood deficiency can add angelica, rehmannia, and jujube.

Winter tonic should be taken according to the season. Tang Xudong recommended the traditional Chinese medicine diet - Angelica, ginger and mutton soup. Among them, Angelica nourishes blood, ginger warms the middle and dispels cold, and mutton nourishes the spleen and kidney. You can also eat some raw radish in winter, which has the effects of lowering qi, digesting food, clearing away stagnation, etc. "We should take tonic slowly, combined with exercise and dietary adjustment to improve physical fitness. The degree of tonic should also be moderate. Too much will cause internal heat, and greasy tonic medicine will also cause indigestion." Tang Xudong said.