People who never get colds?

[Dalesgirl16]

Please advise what you do to never get colds? I’m willing to try anything. I take multivitamins every day but that appears to do nothing to help!

To clarify, I see a multivitamin as a stopgap whilst you sort your diet out.

I don't think there's any failsafe route. Some people are more prone to bugs but one thing I do in winter is regularly use a hand cream after washing. Germs can get into you through cracked dry skin on your hands. Cream helps stop that. And try not to rub your eyes if you don't have clean hands. Athletes avoid this apparently before tournaments. It's a quick route to your bloodstream and a sure fire way to pick up germs. I hardly ever have colds.

I am 52 years old and have never had the flu that I can remember.I am a trained paediatric nurse .(not working anymore in that field) I get colds very seldom maybe every once every 10 years. The last time I was really sick was 2011 with a bad tummy bug.
My kids are the same now 17 and 19 and rarely sick since they were babies.When they were small I also left them eat with dirty hands from playing outside and sometimes when they were knackered after playing outside in the evening they went to bed dirty (earth etc on feet and hands)My mother always said that was clean dirt and I do believe that.

I don't take any supplements' etc but do eat healthily with tons of tomatoes though because I just love them.
When I start to feel sick I always go to bed early.I do wash my hands frequently also with normal soap .I have nothing anti bacterial in my house and never had.

I have become obsessed with avoiding colds and have only had one mild one since then

however, this has involved being a tad anti-social - actually asking cold-ridden colleagues to step away from me and talk from there if possible!

I also clean my desk, computer, phone etc and even spray the door handles etc when people have colds - AFAIK cleaners don't do this every day so I do!

also I use a nasal spray preventative thing - cold defence - before getting on the Tube

Wash hands frequently and never touch face if possible!

Take allicin if I think I have a cold coming on

Before getting really neurotic about it, I'd have at least 3 a year and they would go on for a week. September 2016 is the last one i had and it was only a mild one that went on for 2 days.

The handwashing and not touching your face is the biggest thing I expect. But I live alone which helps!

I have asthma and have had pneumonia in the past so friends and family know if they have a cold they have to cancel plans with me.

Wash your hands regularly but not with anti-bac soap (unless you have been handling raw meat, or similar)

I rarely get colds, or anything else really, even when the rest of my family is suffering. However I suspect my immune system is somewhat overactive: I get hayfever, asthmas, psoriasis all that kind of thing.

I think it's just the luck of the draw. I never get colds, don't take supplements and it's about 10 years since I had flu. However I am a nurse so could be all the handwashing and maybe built up some sort of immunity, like the teachers.

Vitamin C -1000mg, vitamind D3 at least 5000iu, and zinc. Most people in the UK are low in vitD. Recommended daily amounts are usually far to low. These three suppliments will help build up your immune system.

I eat raw onion as a cold preventative, if I think I might be coming down with something.
No idea if it works, although I haven't had a cold since I started eating it, but by 'eck your nose feels clearer!

Sleep in an unheated bedroom. Someone said that to me a few years ago and since I turned the rad off in the bedroom, never had as much as a sniffle.
I use an all night electric blanket though!

Do a lot of exercise and keep your weight to it’s optimum or near it . Also lots of fresh air . I also allow my body to heal itself if I get anything . I never go to the doctors with anything and have no antibiotics in adulthood bar when I’m pregnant which I’m frankly shit at.( pre eclampsia and worse both times )

Enough sleep and eating onions I eat a lot of raw onion (as a snack - I'm disgusting!) and I swear it helps as the winter I quit onions I got a stinking cold.

Eat well. Sleep well, wash hands . Also if you start getting a cold, drink plenty of water , I think it flushes the virus out sometimes if your lucky before it’s taken hold.

Oh yes , have a window open at night .

Also make sure your house is clean but not bleached within an inch of its life . I do wash my hands with anti bac fairly often too but not too much . My friend swears by wearing gloves in public too.

I think luck has a lot to do with it. DS is nearly 21 but has genuinely only had about 5 colds ever. Starting uni brought on his worst and he had another corker this summer.
He was always basically clean at least once a day as a child, whether washed or bathedm but he was often a bit grubby at times - built up a good immune system.

Conversely, I have no immune system because of drugs I take for Crohns and have fewer colds now than I ever did before.

I rarely get colds and haven't had a tummy bug for 30 years. I work in health care and am constantly with sick people in their homes, often don't get the chance to wash hands between jobs and get sneezed/coughed/vomited on more times than I care to think.
I also ignore use by dates on food and really only wash my hands at home when I think they're dirty.
I never had antibiotics as a child, first dose was when I was 19 so perhaps that allowed my immune system to develop well.
I do have a yearly flu jab now though.

My weight fluctuates and I never get colds when I am fat but get them constantly when I'm skinny.

My DH & I rarely get sick but I think it is luck. Looking back at the things people have posted on here, we do some but not others.

I do wash my hands a lot but DH does not.
We eat plenty of veg and a healthy everyday diet, but interspersed with many meals out/wine etc.
We take no supplements
We do minimal exercise
We do sleep with an open window.

I find that handwashing is the best prevention, especially after going out. I eat lots of veg, take Floradix every day, and my spaniel makes sure I get lots of regular exercise .

I rarely get sick anymore, though I am fairly prone to lung infections (due to asthma). What I've found works for me is taking specific vitamins/minerals during the winter and then increasing them significantly (within safe levels) if anyone around me starts getting sick or if I can feel a cold starting to come on. I take on a regularly basis 500mg vitamin c, zinc, vitamin d (both of those at the recommended adult dose every day), and echinacea. If my husband or daughter or someone I work closely with at the office is sick, I increase that to about 1500mg vitamin C (500 3 times a day), double the zinc, and double the echinacea. I also just generally eat healthy (lots of fruit, veg, whole natural foods) and wash my hands regularly. That seems to work. Even when I do get sick, it's very mild, lasts a day and is gone while my husband or daughter might have it for about a week with a lingering cough. I've only gotten horribly sick twice in the past 2 years (with a sinus infection and ear infection) and both times it was when I ran out of those vitamins and didn't replace them, so I didn't take them. It was miserable. I have a 4 year old, so lots of sickness going around. That seems to work for me and I'm traditionally someone who is very prone to illness.

I'll second the not touching eyes and nose. My house is not very clean (I'm one of those who think sterile environment = weaker immune system), but I noticed that since I made a point of never touching my eyes, I rarely get colds.

I also think clean house = wasted life, but that's another thread!

God I had forgotten about garlic!
I wish I had remembered. I am currently dying of snot.
I usually crush it and put it in honey, otherwise it is revolting.
Also cayenne, honey and lemon with fresh ginger is a good drink, if you can take it.
Needless to say I have not done this either

Have no idea.

I haven't had a cold since July 2016, and probably before that it was 2 years.

DH is the same - as are the 2 teenagers. None of us has had the flu, ever.

We take no supplements, eat fresh but not obsessively, drink loads of booze, both do loads of exercise.

We sleep with our bedroom window open 365 days a year.

I have had flu (real flu - prostrate for several weeks) about three times in my life. Terrible. If Spanish Flu rears its ugly head again I'll be the first one gone.

I flippin' always get a cold when I go on a plane. Exactly three days afterwards I get the sore throat, tingling nose and bingo - several days at least of holiday ruined. I don't know what to do except wear gloves and a mask on planes.

My granny who lived to over 100 was never ill in her entire life. Never one headache, stomach bug or cold. Not one. I just think some people are blessed with a fantastic constitution. Fil is the same: 96 with total dementia, but in excellent health with a huge appetite.

I posted on another thread the other day about the Common Cold Institute (I think it was called) on Salisbury Plain where people used to get a free two-week holiday in return for being subjected to cold germs. It closed down a while ago because they gave up and never could understand why some people got colds out of thin air whilst others didn't in spite of the germs being squirted up their nose.