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Power Up!
Boost Your Immune System
By Leigh Brown Perkins
Lacey Higginson, 6, missed 20 days of school last year. It wasn't a chronic illness. It was chronic colds, one after the other. Her mom Laurie expected kindergarten to be a time of adjustments, but this was ridiculous. "It was difficult," says the mother of three from Loxahatchee, Fla. "It seems like the minute we got over one cold, a new one would hit."
Lacey's experience is not unusual, especially for children in school for the first time. On average, most kids have six to eight colds a year, lasting from a couple of days to two weeks. Most colds and flu make their misery between September and March. But taking a few simple measures this winter can boost your family's immune system, giving you the edge to fight off everything from a stuffy nose to more serious influenza viruses.
Washing your hands regularly is – hands down – the best way to prevent illness. More than 100 viruses cause the common cold, all transmitted through coughing, sneezing and touching contaminated surfaces like doorknobs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend frequently scrubbing hands with soap and water for 15 seconds. Use liquid soap, not bar soap, which can harbor germs. Use paper towels instead of cloth for the same reason. Hand sanitizers kill 99 percent of germs (contrary to urban legend, the National Institutes of Health [NIH] report such gels cannot cause bacteria to become resistant; they're antiseptics, not antibiotics).
Although 10 hours of solid snoring is no guarantee of immunity, not getting enough sleep is a stamped invitation to germs. American kids sleep much less than experts recommend. According to the National Sleep Foundation(NSF), the average toddler sleeps only 11.7 hours; they need as many as 14. Preschoolers sleep 10.4 hours; they need as many as 13 hours. School kids sleep 9.5 hours; they should sleep up to 11 hours. Parents suffer from lack of sleep too. They average only 6.8 hours.
Over-scheduling is partly to blame for all this yawning, but the NSF also cites caffeine. About 26 percent of young kids drink one caffeinated drink a day, and lose about 3.5 hours of sleep each week. Television is another cause of sleepiness. About 40 percent of school kids have a TV in their rooms and they go to sleep an average of 20 minutes later and sleep two hours a week less than kids without a bedside TV.
