1. Dress the part

“There’s no such thing such as bad weather, only bad clothing,” fitness fanatics say. And they have a point. If you are going to train throughout winter, whether it’s cycling or road running, it’s important to keep warm and avoid getting sick. Invest in proper long-sleeved dry-fit tops or waterproof jackets, and cover your ears and mouth with a buff to avoid inhaling the cold winter air.

2. Wash your hands more than ever

Whether you are at the gym or at the office, you will be exposed to germs on shared surfaces. The best thing you can do to protect yourself is to wash your hands regularly and properly. Avoid spreading germs yourself by always sneezing and coughing into the crook of your elbow.

3. Sleep more

Those cold winter nights give us an excuse to hit the hay earlier. But more sleep will also strengthen your immune system and allow for muscle recovery during a rigorous training cycle.

4. Get a flu vaccination

If you haven’t done so already, and you’ve avoided the flu for now, is it too late for a flu vaccination? According to experts, it takes 10 days for the vaccine to kick in. There is therefore still time and the shot may offer some more protection against flu.

5. Eat healthily

This is easier said than done, especially during winter when all you crave is warm comfort food. Add the increased appetite that rigorous exercise may cause to the mix, and your diet could quickly spiral out of control. But a healthy diet full of antioxidants is crucial for protecting your immune system – eat nutritious vegetable soups, curries, or stir fries packed with flavour. Stuck for ideas? These 11 healthy and warming winter recipes from Food24 may be a good start.

6. Clean your devices and your gear

Your smartphone, your laptop, even your fitness watch are riddled with germs. Give them a good wipe with a sanitiser on a regular basis. Let any wet gear, shoes and clothes dry properly to avoid bacteria from gaining a foothold.

7. Stay hydrated

Just because you don’t feel as sweaty in winter as in summer doesn’t mean you’re not getting dehydrated during a long workout session. More layers means you’re still sweating, even though you’re may not feel it. Proper hydration is key for the body to function optimally. Drier air in some regions can also spur on dehydration without one realising it, and can cause you to feel sluggish and run down. Boost your immune system by drinking enough fluids during the day. If the thought of cold water makes you shiver, keep your water at room temperature, or drink herbal teas or hot water infused with lemon and ginger.

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Marelize Wilke

Better for the environment? Yes. Better for your health? Maybe not.

Nutritionists have cast doubt on some vegan patties, saying that the burgers may be less healthy than beef burgers due to being processed and high in salt.

Dietitian Rachel Fine says, “The problem with a lot of additives is that we just don’t know the long-term effects of them, whereas a beef burger could be just one ingredient: beef.”

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Somewhere between the Mom who obsessively wipes down every knob and toy her child might touch, and the Dad who thinks rolling in the dirt is “good” for kids, there’s a healthy medium, British experts say.

“We have to find a way to protect against infectious diseases and harmful microbes, whilst at the same time sustaining exposure to the essential beneficial microbes in our world,” explained Sally Bloomfield.

How much dirt is okay?

Bloomfield is a member of the International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene, and also the co-author of a new report that surveyed British adults on their attitude towards dirt and germs in the home.

The 2018 survey, from the Royal Society for Public Health, suggests people are confused about how much dirt is OK. A lot of that confusion is probably coming from the rise of the “hygiene hypothesis” – the notion that today’s homes are overly sanitised, and kids need contact with germs to build up healthy immune systems.

But this notion can be taken too far, as Bloomfield’s group found.

In fact, nearly one in four people polled agreed with the statement that “hygiene in the home is not important because children need to be exposed to harmful germs to build their immune system”.

Men were twice as likely as women to express that opinion.

On the other hand, misconceptions around the level of “danger” posed by dirt were also common.

Bloomfield’s team found that “almost two-thirds of those we surveyed (61%) said touching a child’s dirty hands after they have been playing outside was likely to spread harmful germs”.

But that’s simply not true. In fact, “there is little evidence that outdoor dirt and soil is contaminated with harmful microbes (unless there are animals nearby),” according to the report.

Different germs, different hazards

Bloomfield, a researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the key thing to remember is that all germs are not created equal.

Exposure to diverse microbes from other people, domestic animals and the natural environment do help build a healthy immune system and microbiome – the varied microbes normally living in the gut and respiratory tract, experts agree. However, exposure to the wrong types of germs can both weaken the microbiome and cause infections.

And if those infections require antibiotics, “good” bacteria in the gut get destroyed along with the bad, they pointed out.

So, how to find a balance between being a compulsive germaphobe who’s constantly cleaning or the lax parent letting kids chow down on mud pies?

Bloomfield believes a new, more nuanced model, called “targeted hygiene”, is probably the answer.

Targeted hygiene means intervening with kids and their environment, but only when you can stop the risk of infection. This doesn’t necessarily mean avid cleaning. Cleaning does get rid of visible dirt, but it won’t necessarily reduce the risk of infection.

What does? Handwashing.

Handwashing is a simple component of targeted hygiene, and should be timed to certain activities, Bloomfield said.

“Our own bodies, our food and our domestic animals are the most likely sources of spread of infection – so the times that matter are [times such as] when we handle raw food, when we use the toilet, when we care for our pets, when we are infected or caring for someone who is infected,” she explained.

So, be sure to wash your hands well:

• When you first come home
• If you’ve been caring for or playing with a pet
• After toileting
• Before eating or preparing food
• After handling raw meat, fruits or vegetables
• After sneezing, coughing or blowing your nose

‘Common sense’ clean

Most – but not all – of the British adults surveyed seem to understand the value of hand washing, since “73% of respondents said they ‘always’ washed their hands thoroughly with soap after using the toilet and after preparing raw meat”, the report found.

In addition to hand washing, Bloomfield said other important measures include cleaning surfaces that come into contact with food, cleaning surfaces regularly touched by many people, and washing dishcloths immediately after using them so they don’t spread germs.

Dr Aaron Glatt is a spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He reviewed the new report and said he “likes the idea of targeted hygiene”.

“Good common sense remains the best way to prevent infection,” Glatt said. “You don’t need to wash your hands 40 times a day, but appropriate hand washing needs to be stressed. If you’ve just come out of the bathroom or are going to be preparing foods, wash your hands.”

When it comes to routine cleaning, Glatt said the kitchen and bathrooms are two major areas that need attention.

He agreed that pets can potentially be a point of transmission for infection, but if they’re cared for properly, they shouldn’t be a concern.

“We even allow pets into the hospital for therapy,” Glatt said. “In general, kids and pets interact in a positive way.”

Again, common sense should be your guide: “Kids shouldn’t let a pet lick their plate and then eat from it,” Glatt said.

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Can sex help improve the health of a Parkinson’s patient?

It might – at least for some.

So claims a new two-year study that tracked the sexual habits and disease progression among 355 Parkinson’s patients.

“This is in line with data showing a close relationship between sexual health and general health, both in healthy individuals and in patients with chronic disease,” said the Italian-British study team, led by Dr Marina Picillo. She’s an assistant professor at the University of Salerno’s Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Salerno, Italy.

Picillo and her colleagues concluded that early-stage male patients who are sexually active do experience “milder” disease progression and a less dramatic loss of motor skills and other disease symptoms, compared with those who don’t.

But there’s a hitch. The finding only appears to apply to men.

Why? The answer is not clear. But one factor may be that the investigation results were skewed, as twice as many men were enrolled as women (238 men versus 117 women).

Beyond that, the study authors pointed out that women experience different Parkinson’s symptoms to men. And women “are less prone to talk about sexual and genital issues due to societal attitudes,” wrote Picillo.

No cure of prevention

Even so, she and her research team said the findings warrant the attention of movement disorder specialists, who might view a patient’s sexual history as a tool to predict or even influence Parkinson’s disease progression.

If so, the finding could turn out to be big news for the roughly 1 million Americans the Parkinson’s Foundation estimates will be living with the disease by 2020.

For one, the neurodegenerative disease can be very debilitating, presenting symptoms such as uncontrollable tremors, trouble walking, rigidity and stooping, dizziness, balance issues and slowness.

There is also no known cure or prevention for Parkinson’s, and symptoms can be difficult to treat.

So the researchers set out to see if an active sex life might help.

Study participants were about 57 years old when first diagnosed with Parkinson’s. At the 2005–2006 study launch, all were classified with “early-stage” disease.

Men sexually more active

All underwent motor skill disability testing and mental health screenings before completing a health interview that asked about overall heart health; sleep habits; feelings of fatigue, pain, or apathy; stomach and urinary status; attention and memory skills; body weight changes, and respiratory condition.

Patients were also asked if they had sex and/or sexual dysfunction during the past year.

It turned out that the men said they were twice as sexually active as women: While about two-thirds of men said they were having sex, only one-third of women said the same.

At the same time, nearly half the men complained about erectile dysfunction and orgasm problems, and sexual activity did drop off somewhat for everyone during the two years of follow-up.

Still, Picillo’s team concluded that men who engaged in sexual activity displayed less severe motor disability and a better overall quality of life than those who did not. For women, no such luck.

Reacting to the findings, the University of Florida’s Dr Adolfo Ramirez-Zamora stressed that “the association between active sexual life and improvement in motor and non-motor symptoms is important”. He is an associate professor of neurology and a Parkinson’s Foundation education expert.

Dopamine agonists

“It is in line with the concept that improving sexual function increases pleasure, communication and satisfaction between couples, increases relationship intimacy, and reduces stress and [Parkinson’s] symptoms,” said Ramirez-Zamora.

At the same time, he noted that “hyper-sexuality” is a “well-established and common impulse control disorder” among Parkinson’s patients who take a class of drugs known as dopamine agonists, which include pramipexole (Mirapex) and ropinirole (Requip).

Such drugs can help patients by activating a brain receptor that produces dopamine, which is known to help regulate movement. But it could also mean that the treatment – rather than sex — is what contributed to an improved quality of life.

So Ramirez-Zamora cautioned against drawing any firm conclusions on the role of sex in Parkinson’s progression, until more research is completed.

Picillo and her team reported the findings recently in the European Journal of Neurology.

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Sex seems to be just what the doctor ordered for this debilitating condition – but there’s a catch – only men seem to benefit

After enduring months of constant harassment at work, South Korean office worker Christine Jung finally confronted her aggressor – only to be fired and sued for defamation by her employer.

Her situation is not unusual in South Korea, where employees have traditionally been expected to turn a blind eye to abusive behaviour by those in power – a phenomenon so commonplace that locals have coined a word for it, “gabjil”.

But that could soon change thanks to a revised labour law.

The new legislation that comes into effect on Tuesday will criminalise business owners who unfairly dismiss employees harassed at work.

A recent government survey found that two-thirds of workers had experienced harassment on the job, while 80% had witnessed it.

In one of the most high-profile cases, an heiress to the Korean Air fortune threw a temper tantrum at cabin crew after being served nuts in a bag instead of a bowl in 2014 – earning instant “nut rage” notoriety.

Rigid company hierarchies, intense competition for jobs and deference to status all contribute to toxic work environments in an economy dominated by family-run conglomerates.

In Jung’s case, her harasser was the CEO’s father.

“He once told me the building was shaking whenever I walked – because I was ‘too fat’. Another time he tried to follow me to the women’s bathroom. And another time he abruptly groped my stomach in his office,” the 37-year-old told AFP.

“But when I brought up the issue, the management accused me of being a man-hater and a liar.”

Jung finally approached the labour ministry last year, but was told her situation did not count as workplace bullying because the aggressor was not her superior and was not employed by the company, even though he came to the office “virtually every day”, she said.

Brutal work culture

The new law will subject owners of companies that “unfairly demote or dismiss” workers who allege harassment to three years imprisonment or a fine of up to 30 million won ($25 000 or about R350 000).

Employees ordered to write essays for their manager’s children, perform “sexy dances” for executives or even pluck out their boss’s grey hairs are among the examples documented by labour rights group Workplace Gabjil 119 and other non-profits.

Violent behaviour has also been reported. In 2016, a university professor was jailed for abusing his former student and employee, beating him with a baseball bat for taking short breaks and forcing him to eat human faeces.

Nursing is notorious for its harsh training and so-called “burn-to-ashes” brutal work culture, with two recent suicides sparking debate about the sector.

And after the South Korean women’s curling team, nicknamed the “Garlic Girls”, stole the show at last year’s Winter Olympics, they too raised allegations of abuse and exploitation by their coaches.

The issue is present in almost every sector, from K-pop and film to healthcare and academia. But with a weak social safety net and rising unemployment, it is often hard for victims to speak up, as they fear losing their jobs or being demoted.

When one victim complained to his company’s management about bullying, he was told: “Then just leave. Can you actually find a job elsewhere? Oh, perhaps at McDonald’s?”

‘Meaningful step’

Park Jeom-gyu, an activist at Workplace Gabjil 119, told AFP that even with the new law the South “still has a long way to go, since it does not directly criminalise the bullies”, only employers who penalise victims for speaking out.

“But it’s still a meaningful step towards change, as more will feel relatively safer to report when they face harassment at work,” he said.

Michael Hurt, a sociologist at the University of Seoul, says the obsession with hierarchy is a legacy of the wartime militarism of former colonial ruler Japan, later adopted by the South’s authoritarian leaders.

In this power structure, “gabjil in the workplace is a way to prove to oneself and others his or her social worth,” he told AFP.

For many Korean workers, including Jung, the new measures have come too late.

Instead of receiving an apology from the perpetrator, she was fired by the CEO who later sued her for defamation and libel.

The cases were never brought to trial, but Jung said the disputes at one point made her suicidal.

“Those at my ex-employer didn’t treat me like a human being – it was as if I were one of their disposable commodities.”

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