Cold and Flu Prevention

If you're trying hard to avoid colds and the flu, here are some prevention strategies to keep you healthy—short of moving to the North Pole where germs cannot survive!

• Keep current on inoculations, and ask your doctor about flu shots.
• Wash your hands often, with lots of soap and lots of water! Don't share washcloths or towels.
• Use disposable towels instead of cloth handkerchiefs. If you’re in a public restroom, shut the faucet off with a paper towel and try to push the door open with your shoulder or use the paper towel to turn the knob.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you sneeze or cough. If you don't have a tissue, cough into your upper sleeve.
• Colds are only caught from other people; during cold season, don't shake hands or touch surfaces and then bring your fingers to your nose or face.
• Don't bite your nails; it spreads germs.
• Don't share food or drinks, even a taste.
• When in doubt, hug instead of kiss, even if your heart feels otherwise!
• Drink plenty of liquids, especially fresh pure water.
• Get plenty of sleep. Go to bed early!
• Cut back on sugars and alcoholic drinks.
• Eat correctly, especially lots of fruits with high vitamin C content as well as veggies and grains which cleanse your system.
• If you can, take it easy as soon as symptoms develop.
• Stay at home if you are sick.

And here is some good old-fashioned advice from our 1852 Almanac!
"To avoid fall fevers, eat moderately, drink sparingly, lie not down on the damp earth, nor overheat yourself; but keep your temper, and change your clothes as the weather changes."
Have you heard about the Google Flu Trends tool that estimates flu activity? Get an early-warning system for outbreaks of flu in your state.

Causes (and Effects) for the Common Headache

More time is lost to business and industry from headaches than from heart disease, stroke, and cancer combined. If you suffer from headaches, consider this . . .

You are not alone.

In the United States more than forty million people annually consult physicians for relief of headache pain. A research organization called the International Headache Registry estimates that 20 percent of the world's population suffers chronic and disabling headaches. Americans spend more than $700 million annually on aspirin and acetaminophen.

Take two Kolbes and call me in the morning.

Adolf Kolbe was a great nineteenth-century chemist whose work has made life bearable for uncounted billions of people. Kolbe, who was the first scientist to synthesize organic compounds from inorganic materials, also found a cheap way to produce salicylic acid, the key ingredient in acetylsalicylic acid—better known as aspirin.

It's not all in your head.

Psychological factors play a role in producing headaches by causing actual changes in tissue and blood. Some experts believe there is a headache-prone personality, often described as perfectionist, hard working, inflexible, and likely to set unrealistic standards for himself and others. Evidence to support this theory is disputed, however.

My head feels better, but now my nail polish is melting.

In experiments with biofeedback, test subjects have reported relief from headache pain by concentrating on making their hands feel warm. Scientists believe such concentration can increase blood flow to the hands, thus relieving headache-producing pressure on blood vessels in the head.

Because it feels so bad when I stop.

Cluster headaches, so known because they seem to occur in clusters around one eye or the other, are among the most painful of all headaches, described by some sufferers as feeling like "a knife in the eye." They are twenty times more common among men than women, especially among heavy smokers. Most remedies are ineffective, and patients with cluster headaches have been know to beat their heads against walls because of the agonizing pain.

Not tonight dear, I'll get a headache.

Headaches may be caused by the sudden contraction of head and neck muscles just before orgasm, excessive pressure on the spine, or a sudden increase in blood pressure during sexual activity.

An hour later, your head hurts.

Food prepared with MSG, common in Chinese food in America, can trigger headaches in persons susceptible to migraines.

Blowing in the Wind: Allergies and Pollen

If misery loves company, then hay-fever sufferers should never have to be alone.
Thirty-five million Americans have pollen allergies that may cause itchy eyes, ears, and throats; difficulty breathing; or all of the above.

Which Plants Cause Allergies?

• Insect-pollinated plants have bright flowers and heavy, sticky, pollen grains that tend to stay put and cause few allergies.
• It’s the wind-pollinated plants that cause the most problems for allergy sufferers. Their small, dull, inconspicuous flowers produce clouds of tiny, light, pollen grains that are blown aloft for great distances and can easily penetrate window screens.
• To increase the chances that at least some pollen grains will reach the appropriate female flowers, plants produce many more grains than are needed—and some end up on our hair, on our clothes, and, alas, in our eyes and nasal passages.

The Big Offenders

Pollen counts are high in the spring and fall. Trees, grasses, and weeds are responsible for most windblown pollen. The big offenders are:

• Large shade trees such as oaks, maples, and beeches; tree pollen emerges in the spring.
• Most lawn grasses; grass pollen emerges in the spring and continues through summer.
• Common weeds such as lamb’s-quarter, pigweed, and ragweed, which may produce a million pollen grains on just one plant. Some weed pollen begins in the summer; ragweed, a major allergen, causes problems in late summer and fall.
• Goldenrod, which blooms along with ragweed, is often blamed for allergies, but it is bee-pollinated and causes few problems.

There has been a huge increase in hay-fever sufferers in recent years, partly due to a growing interest in fruitless and seedless “litter-free” trees. Many of these are males that may be litter-free, but they are definitely not pollen-free. To make matters worse, fewer female trees are being planted, so less pollen is being caught. Instead, it falls to the ground, where it can be stirred up by mowers and foot traffic.

How to Limit Allergy Discomfort

For gardeners or anyone who has allergies but loves the outdoors, there are steps that can be taken to limit discomfort.

• Plan your outdoor activities when pollen counts are lowest, such as in the late afternoon or during cool, wet weather.
• Be especially wary during the morning, when pollen is often emitted in larger amounts.
• Dry, windy days distribute pollen farther, whereas rain washes it from the air, lowing pollen counts (but encouraging mold, which causes some people more headaches).
• Plant only all-female trees and shrubs.
• Limit grassy areas by planting insect-pollinated ground covers.

By carefully choosing the right plants and gardening when pollen counts are low, you can make your yard a healthier and more enjoyable place to be, which is nothing to sneeze at.

16 Folk Remedies for Headaches

Here are 16 folk remedies for headaches. Back then, they didn't have that warning, "don't try these at home"!

1. Put leeches on your forehead.
2. Rub cow dung and molasses on your temples.
3. Tie a buzzard's head around your neck.
4. Use powdered moss as snuff.
5. Have someone else rub your head; the headache will be transferred to that person, but it will be less severe.
6. Have a relative read chapters of the Bible to you.
7. Stand on your head or spin around until you are dizzy.
8. Soak your feet in hot water to draw blood from your head.
9. Run around the house three times.
10. Ask a seventh child to blow in your ear.
11. Put a buckwheat cake on your head.
12. Rub your head with a piece of stone containing iron ore.
13. Wrap damp cloths around your head and burn scented wood.
14. Plait a handful of hair very tightly on top of your head.
15. Lean your head against a tree and have someone else drive a nail into the opposite side of the tree.
16. Tie a leather thong tightly around your head.(If this fails, you may tell your friends, "The thong is over, but the malady lingers on," which will give them headaches.)

100 Ways to Avoid Dying

How to avoid dying -- All without giving up any of the stuff you really like to do . . . or eat.

Doctors and scientists are always telling us ways to live longer. Usually they involve a healthier diet or lifestyle: that is, eating less fat and more vegetables, getting more exercise, or giving up smoking.
We wholeheartedly endorse these rigorous and unpleasant methods of extending life, but our research into centuries of American folk wisdom has turned up 100 EASY ways of avoiding death by observing a few simple rules in everyday situations. These beliefs come from all over this country and were actually collected by students of folklore and anthropology.
None of them were made up. Just remember: if you fail to observe these rules, we won't be responsible for the consequences!

Housekeeping Hints

1. Don't take ashes out of the fireplace or wood stove between Christmas and New Year's Day.
2. Never place a broom on a bed.
3. Close umbrellas before bringing them into a house.
4. Avoid sweeping after sundown.
5. You mustn't wash clothes on New Year Day.
6. Don't shake out a tablecloth after dark.
7. Never wash a flag.
8. Don't turn a chair on one leg.
9. Keep cats off piano keys.
10. Don't hang a dishcloth on a doorknob.
11. Sweeping under a sick person's bed will kill him or her.
12. Don't ever, ever rock an empty rocking chair.

Credit: Carolyn Dougherty

Renovation and Decorating

13. Never add-on to the back of your house.
14. You mustn't cut a new window in an old house; the only way to avoid fatal consequences is to toss your apron through the new window, and then jump through it yourself.
15. Never drive a nail after sunset.
16. Don't move into an unfinished house.
17. Avoid carrying axes, shovels, and other sharp-edged tools through a house; if you must take one inside, always take it out by the same door.
18. If you move out of a house, don't move back into it for a year.
19. Don't hang your sweetheart's picture upside-down.
20. If a picture falls from the wall, don't pick it up.
21. Never carry a peacock's feather into a house.
22. Keep cut flowers out of bedrooms overnight.
23. Don't ever carry a bouquet of wildflowers indoors before May 1.

Sewing and Fashion

24. If you cut out a new dress on Friday, you must finish it that same day.
25. Don't make new clothes between Christmas and New Year's Day.
26. Never hold a stick in your mouth while sewing.
27. Always sew cross-stitching on your underwear.
28. Don't walk around in one shoe.
29. If you see a will-o'-wisp while out walking at night, turn your coat inside-out.
30. Never wear another's new clothes before they have worn them.
31. A woman who makes her own wedding dress will not live to wear it.

Cooking and Table Manners

32. Never set three lamps on a table at the same time.
33. Don't set the table backwards.
34. Never serve 13 at a table.
35. Avoid drinking coffee at 5 o'clock.
36. You mustn't write on the back of a dish.
37. Never return borrowed salt.
38. Don't ever cross knives while setting the table.
39. Be sure that someone else cooks your birthday dinner.
40. Don't put two forks at one place setting.
41. Never, never turn a loaf of bread upside down.

Sleeping

42. Sleeping with your head at the foot of the bed is surely fatal.
43. Don't sing in bed.
44. If you hear a dog howl at night, reach under the bed and turn over a shoe.
45. Don't count stars.
46. A man should never dream of a naked woman; a woman should never dream of a naked man. (You know who you are...)

Personal Hygiene

47. Never rub soap on your skin on a Friday.
48. Don't look into a mirror over another's shoulder.
49. Avoid combing your hair after dark.
50. Absolutely no haircuts in March.
51. Let a baby's hair and fingernails grow until their 1st birthday.
52. Don't let two people comb your hair at once.
53. Never shave at night.
54. NEVER, EVER share a razor used by a dead man.

Funeral Etiquette

55. Never hold a funeral on a Friday.
56. When a person dies in a house, you must immediately cover all mirrors and stop all clocks.
57. Children should not pretend to have funerals.
58. Don't ever try on a mourning veil.
59. Always remove a dead body from a house feet first.
60. Never ride in a hearse, unless you are the driver.
61. Don't count the cars in a funeral motorcade.
62. Avoid wearing new clothes to a funeral, especially new shoes.
63. Pull the shades in a room where a funeral service is taking place; if the sun hits a mourner's face, he is the next to die.
64. When walking in a funeral procession, don't look backwards.
65. Never point at a grave.
66. Try not to step across a grave.
67. Never leave a grave open overnight.
68. Don't ever be the first to leave the graveyard after a funeral.
69. If a corpse lies unburied on Sunday, another in town will surely die soon.
70. Wait a year before putting up a tombstone for a family member; if you don't, another family member will go before the year has ended.

General and Miscellaneous

71. Drink May rainwater.
72. When sick, don't look in mirrors.
73. Don't give a person a peony.
74. Never measure your own height.
75. Try not to imagine it's Saturday when it's not.
76. Don't count cars on a passenger train.
77. Never whistle in a coal mine.
78. Avoid measuring a person who is lying down.
79. Don't walk backwards.
80. You mustn't allow a candle to burn itself out.
81. Never sell a dog.
82. Try not to kill a crow; but if you do, be sure to bury it while wearing black.
83. If you transplant a cedar tree, you will die by the time it is big enough to shade a grave.
84. The same is true of a willow tree (as in 83)
85. Don't ever hang your hoe on a tree branch.
86. Don't skip a row when planting corn or beans.
87. If you watch a person out of sight, you'll never see them again.
88. Avoid stepping over a person who is lying down.
89. When your name is called, don't answer the first time-it may be the Devil calling you.
90. Never shake hands through a window or over a fence.
91. Try not to sit with your back to the fire.
92. Don't burn sassafras wood.
93. If you walk with your hands locked behind your head, it will kill your mother.
94. Don't even THINK of mocking an owl.
95. Don't store your shoes above your head.
96. Never kill a locust.
97. Never kill a lizard.
98. If you hear a hen crow, you must kill the hen.
99. If you are on a train when a woman boards, dressed in black, get off.
100.Whatever you do, don't let a lizard count your teeth.