Flu Season: 10 Surprising Ways To Catch The Flu (VIDEO)

Whether you decide to get a flu shot this year or not, it's important to take steps to prevent yourself from getting the seasonal flu, as well as H1N1, commonly referred to as swine flu.

If you already sneeze into your sleeve, wash your hands diligently, and avoid crowds where these viruses can easily spread, you're on the right track. But you still may be putting yourself at risk in these unexpected ways -- probably without even realizing it.

1 of 10

Worrying Too Much

1 of 11

First Slide

Previous Slide

@

Panicking about getting sick can make you just that -- sick. It's easy to get carried away, with all the hype about the scary swine flu virus; however, it's important to look at things in perspective. Overall, H1N1 has not proven to be anymore of a threat than the regular seasonal flu, and most people who do catch the virus fully recover. Research does show, however, that anxiety can manifest itself in a wide variety of ailments -- including acid reflux, insomnia, skin rashes, and depression -- so it shouldn't be surprising that the added stress of worrying about swine flu can also weaken your immune system and leave you more vulnerable to catching a bug.

Bruce Beresford-Redman Murder Case: TV Producer In Mexico To Face Charges In Wife's Death

sponsor generated

Classic Italian Dishes

Newt Gingrich Under Fire From Conservative Media

Arizona Tornado 2010: Rare Twisters Hit Flagstaff Area (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

Panetta: Syria Military Intervention For U.S. 'Has No Simple Answers'

Redneck Games Slideshow: Vote

Panicking about getting sick can make you just that -- sick. It's easy to get carried away, with all the hype about the scary swine flu virus; however, it's important to look at things in perspective. Overall, H1N1 has not proven to be anymore of a threat than the regular seasonal flu, and most people who do catch the virus fully recover.

Research does show, however, that anxiety can manifest itself in a wide variety of ailments -- including acid reflux, insomnia, skin rashes, and depression -- so it shouldn't be surprising that the added stress of worrying about swine flu can also weaken your immune system and leave you more vulnerable to catching a bug.

comments(26)

Total comments: 26 | Post a Comment

1 of 11

This Risk

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

Not very surprising I'm surprised!

• 
  1
• 
  2
• 
  3
• 
  4
• 
  5
• 
  6
• 
  7
• 
  8
• 
  9
• 
  10

Top 5 Risks

loading...

Top 5 Risks

UserName

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Top User Slides

← Prev|Next →

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Users who voted on this slide

← Prev|Next →

loading...

Comments

[My Good Babushka]

04:28 PM on 01/17/2011

Oh man, I'm sicker than I've been in ten years. I think I got the swiner. None of these things help when you have little kids that will cough right into your face.

[Mom1Home2Work3]

12:22 AM on 01/17/2011

All good but the best advice I ever got was from my preschoolers Germ Smarts for Kids program. In the program, germ stopper #1 is "If you need to touch your face the back of your hand is the place."

Think about it. Your palm touches every germ infested surface right? If you then use your palm to touch your face you are putting the germs where they need to go to make you sick!

The back of your hand does not touch ATM's, door handles, surface so using the back of your hand keeps the germs away.

Major lightbulb moment for me. Pass is on....

[sufi666]

04:26 PM on 01/16/2011

This gym advice is no joke. Most people are inconsiderate and many men won't even wear flip-flops in the shower. It's quite easy to pick up a nail fungus, which requires 90 days worth of pills to cure. It's a benign condition but it's a pain to attend to. Also most gyms don't clean often enough.

[playsindirt]

04:00 PM on 01/16/2011

I've been doing yoga religiously for over 5 years now and nothing helped my achy hip until I added a session of Pilates to my weekly regime. I noticed a difference after one 90-minute session.

[Michael McFadden]

05:19 AM on 01/16/2011

The article says "Frequent hand-washing, as often as 10 times a day, is one of the most recommended defenses against the flu, but 39 percent of respondents seldom or never wash after coughing or sneezing."

Washing after covering one's mouth for a sneeze/cough is a good public health measure, but can someone explain to me how it is a DEFENSE against catching the flu? Or is this one of those "It's good for public health" lies similar to the hype around the "deadly threats" of secondhand and now thirdhand smoke? Health information should be based on facts, not upon molding our behaviors to a desired norm... even if that norm might be a desirable thing from a public health standpoint. Lies and misinformation create an atmosphere where people no longer trust the true information that they *should* be trusting. - MJM

[Steve Becker]

08:50 PM on 01/15/2011

I suspect that there are an awful lot of people out there that can't tell the difference between a cold and the flu......

[lovelygirl33]

08:17 PM on 01/15/2011

I always hear people putting down articles like this, saying you're a whiner about getting sick, but there are a lot of people with conditions, if they catch a cold or the flu or food poisoning, it could turn into something worse and become life-threatening.

I just have to ask these folks, it is so hard to think of others health, if not your own?

[prodemlib]

09:17 PM on 01/13/2011

Attention parents:

That day-glow green or yellow stuff coming out of your child's nose is NOT Angel fluff! If your child is sick, KEEP THEM HOME! For that matter, if YOU are sick, STAY HOME!

Thank you

[lovelygirl33]

08:18 PM on 01/15/2011

Agreed! And fanned for reminding us. Thanks.

[SFherbalmedicine]

07:41 PM on 01/13/2011

Cold weather can absolutely cause a cold or flu. Colder temperatures directly lower our immune system. The greatest amount of ATP in the body is consumed trying to maintain homeostasis. Our bodies are constantly working to balance our core temperature at 98.6 degrees (give or take -- depending on the patient). This is a complex, critical and delicate balance needed to sustain life. And it never stops working.
www.SFherbalmedicine.com

[jo smith456]

06:30 PM on 01/13/2011

Worrying too much or too little, will catch help you catch flu...

Nothing is every right...

[flowereater]

05:54 PM on 01/13/2011

Well, no matter what I do I get it every year. I wash my hands like a maniac. I exercise moderately. I relax. I take some vitamins. I eat my vegetables. This year I got a flu shot for the first time. I am now in my 2nd week of it and a regular snot factory. My partner got it this year too.

I think some people and climates are just more susceptible, me and mine being among those.

I had it for two months five years ago and it eventually turned into walking pneumonia after my doctor refused to give me antibiotics. Ever since then it comes back whenever I have any exposure whatsoever.

[Chuck Bluestein]

05:54 PM on 01/13/2011

The above mentions alcohol as lowering your immune system since it makes you more likely to get the flu. With a strong enough immune system you will never or rarely get the flu. Also people get them in the cold weather not during the summer. This is also associated with the immune system. There are many changes in lifestyle in the summer and in cold weather.

In the summer, your body can make lots of vitamin D from sunlight and that is more important to your immune system than any other vitamin. That is why its RDA was tripled in November 2010. Also lack of sleep weakens your immune system and that easily happens around the holidays. http://bit.ly/no-flu People get more exercise in the summer and that strenghtens the immune system helping you to avoid the flu and even cancer according to studies done. Also all the extra sweating during the summer cleans many toxins out of your body. Toxins weaken the immune system. Over eating creates extra toxins in the body and that happens around the holiidays.

[OutAtFirst]

05:42 PM on 01/13/2011

Hugging, kissing and shaking hands weren't even on my radar.

[BannedInBoston]

02:36 PM on 01/13/2011

11) Not taking your vitamins.
 
I've found vitamins C, D, & E plus selenium, zinc, echinacea, golden seal, and garlic to be highly effective against both colds and flu. I may be asking for it and I don't mean to brag but I haven't had the flu in nearly a decade and no bad colds for a couple of years (and the single one I had two years ago was due to donating _blood on a very cold day in February).
 
I also get a flu _shot every year. You can argue about whether they work or not but if you get them regularly and don't get the flu, I would argue that that's evidence they work.

[alahnar]

04:31 PM on 01/13/2011

I agree with everything you said, but I want to point out one thing. You said you got a bad cold after donating blood on a very cold day in February. Contrary to popular belief, it is impossible to catch a cold because it's cold outside. The cold is a virus - you get it by being exposed to the virus, not weather. It's possible, but unlikely, that donating the blood lowered your immune system so that you were more likely to catch the virus, but it is absolute that the weather had nothing to do with you getting sick.

Hope this didn't come across as patronizing - just trying to spread information. :-)

[Chuck Bluestein]

06:08 PM on 01/13/2011

The cold weather has nothing to do with catching the germ but with the immune system. Warm weather is expanding and cold weather is contracting. People get a lot more exercise (or activity) in warm weather and that strenthens your immune system so you are less likely to get the flu or cancer according to many studies done. Food does not have much vitamin D and how many people supplement with 10,000 IU of vitamin D daily? But less than an hour of summer sun gives you that much vitamin D.

Do you know which of the 50 states is closest to the equater (brightest sunlight) and the warmest state? This is a tricky one. It is Hawaii. People in that state have a higher lifespan than in any of the other states.

[BannedInBoston]

07:23 PM on 01/13/2011

I'm perfectly aware that cold weather does not "cause" colds, flu, and other diseases. It does, however, weaken the immune system as does donating blood. The combination of the two weakened mine to the point where I succumbed to the cold virus that was already present. The vitamin supplements I take work by strengthening my immune system, as do flu shots....

[onionboy]

11:53 AM on 01/13/2011

Worry just right. Is that the motto here?

[Heauxbeaux]

02:07 PM on 01/13/2011

Yes, follow the Goldilocks theory of life ;-)

[onionboy]

02:59 PM on 01/13/2011

She was a thief and a squatter. :)