Whenever we think of the approaching winter, we fear the cold that comes with it. Winter, besides bringing in the cold and chill, is also responsible for causing colds and spread of viral diseases. Hence, we naturally try to find ways to keep ourselves warm and comfortable in the winter months with minimal exposure to the cold. Listed below are some tips to help you stay warm and healthy during the winter season.

 To keep yourself warm:

Put on dark-coloured clothing.

Wear dark-coloured and thick clothing. Avoid continuous usage of silks and polyesters. Cover your hands and feet with socks and gloves to keep them warm.

Take hot liquids.

Consume hot liquids like hot soups (which are also excellent appetisers), hot beverages or one-to-two glasses of hot chocolate.

Have heavy lunch/dinner.

Have a heavy lunch or dinner, preferably hot items, to keep your stomach full. A filled stomach will cause less cold as the body would generate heat out of the intense metabolic activity. It is advisable to have less of rice or curds and more of chapattis.

Apply oil to the body.

Apply oil to the body before taking a warm-water bath. Alternatively, butter which serves as a good substitute to oil, can be applied.

Exercise regularly.

Exercise your body regularly. Skipping, running or walking on a tread mill for a few minutes daily would suffice to keep you warm throughout the day.

Cover the floor.

Cover the floor with a big bed sheet or a rug. If there is no bed sheet or rug, just ensure that you wear chappals while walking in home and avoid sleeping on the bare floor.

Close the doors and windows.

Close all the doors and windows. Switch on the electric lights, preferably the sodium vapour ones.

Consume sweets and oily foods.

Eat sweets and oily foods; however, their intake needs to be limited due to the danger of developing obesity.

Use mosquito nets.

Usage of mosquito nets while sleeping serves the dual purpose of keeping away the mosquitoes as well as the cold.

Create Friction.

Friction causes warmth. Rub your hands briskly together to create friction, thus producing warmth.

Make a Fire.

Create a fire either with the help of sticks and a lighter or rubbing a battery on a steel wool piece. Sit in front of the fire and warm yourself. Or, put your hands in front of the oven and feel the warmthness that emanates from the oven.

To prevent a bout of cold:

Whenever you needed to expose yourself to cold weather or got caught in a downpour, the following tips would be useful to avoid catching a cold, which is one of the most common complaints in winter.

• If your hair is wet, immediately dry it with a towel or an electric drier.
• Have some hot rice immediately.  Boil ghee, fry a few pepper balls in it and gulp the first few morsels of rice with this preparation.
• Cover yourself with a blanket. Give yourself the steaming treatment by dissolving turmeric in hot water and breathing in the vapours for a few minutes.
• Also, keep camphor balls- the nonedible ones-handy. Whenever, an onset of cold is suspected, keep inhaling a preparation made by mixing a few rice grains with a piece of camphor. In order not to allow the strong odour of camphor to go, put the preparation in a muslin cloth and tie it up.
• One teaspoonful of lemon juice or ginger juice in warm water with a teaspoonful of honey added to it would also help in combating cold or any infections due to cold.
• Use garlic, either alone or with tea. This helps in the effective treatment of any symptoms of cold