Issue Date: October 13, 2004
Publisher: Mellanie True Hills, The Health & Productivity Revitalizer

The Healthy Living Newsletter brings you health updates and tips for optimizing your life, health, and work.

Welcome, new subscribers.

Topics in this issue:

1. What Can You Do to Avoid the Flu?
2. Read the First Two Chapters of A Woman's Guide to Saving Her Own Life

1. What Can You Do to Avoid the Flu?

With flu shots being so hard to come by this year, what can you do to stay healthy and prevent the flu? Here's some research information along with additional thoughts that may help.

• Be active: Two University of Illinois researchers have just presented findings at the American Physiological Society meeting indicating that exercise may help us avoid the flu. They found that mice that ran on a treadmill after receiving flu viruses survived at a higher rate than mice that were sedentary. Three times as many young, exercising mice survived compared with their couch-potato peers, as did twice as many older ones. The mice only exercised twenty minutes per day, but that was enough to strengthen their immune systems. The same researchers are now testing whether flu vaccine is more effective in seniors who exercise, and initial data is bearing out their conjecture.
• Eat right: Eat lots of fruits and vegetables, which are full of vitamins and minerals and will keep you healthier.
• Get enough rest: Seven to eight hours sleep per night will help to keep your immune system healthy and ward off the impact of germs. (It will also help you avoid heart disease since getting too little sleep puts you at risk for that, too.)
• Manage your stress: Stress shuts down the immune system, making it harder to fight off germs.
• Wash your hands: Your mother always told you to do that before eating, and that's especially good advice doing cold and flu season. That's especially true if you're at higher risk (over 65, pregnant, have young children in day care, or have a chronic illness.) For those times when you can't wash, such as when you're strapped in on an airplane, consider carrying hand wipes or hand sanitizer (Purell, etc.)

One anecdotal thought comes from my own experience, but there is no research to back it up. Over many years of flying multiple times per week, I noticed that I got sick with colds or sinus infections within 24 hours of flights on which I didn't have a glass of wine on the flight or later that evening. When I recognized that, I started making sure that I had just a single glass of wine during, or within a few hours of, the flight. As a result, I flew at least 3 years without any colds, flu, or sinus infections. (Knock on wood!) Is there a correlation? I don't know, but it was an interesting coincidence. I'm not encouraging you to start drinking, but if you do so already, it is an interesting data point.

2. Read the First Two Chapters of A Woman's Guide to Saving Her Own Life

The book is finally finished, and the first two chapters are available on the web for you to read.   

Those two chapters are about my story, and why you should care; the rest of the book is focused on you and what you can do to stay healthy and to avoid heart disease and other serious illnesses.

This workbook/manual has a wealth of research and information and is 180+ pages packed full of tools and processes to walk you through making permanent life changes that can save your life. It also has lists of valuable online health and medical resources, and one of my favorite parts is the inclusion of my secrets and resources for healthy eating. Can you believe that there are actually fat-free brownies and cookies? There are, and so much, much more is also listed to help you quickly develop a diet to ensure your longevity.  

Bill Clinton had heart bypass surgery—he didn't know how to avoid it. With this book, you'll know how to avoid it and you needn't succumb to it. This book is for all the women in your life.

Please read my story, or watch an abbreviated video version of it.

That's it for this issue.

Until next time, wishing you health and productivity,

Mellanie

Mellanie True Hills
The Health & Productivity Revitalizer
Speaker, author, consultant, and coach revitalizing health and productivity

PS. If you would like to have Mellanie speak for your organization, or help revitalize your health or your company's productivity, just send me an e-mail. Please check out some of the organizations for whom Mellanie has spoken or with whom Mellanie has worked and read comments from attendees.

PPS. You may reprint this article in your publication or company newsletter by including attribution, copyright, and contact information. Please send us a copy. Thanks.

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