Nasal Obstruction
In many, the susceptibility to colds is due to abnormalities in the nose or throat. Nasal obstruction is a very common condition. The nose, like the eye, is usually an imperfect organ. These obstructions are often the result of adenoids in childhood, which interfere with the proper development of the internal nasal structures. Malformation of the teeth and dental arches in childhood are frequent and often neglected causes of nasal obstruction. Such malformations are caused by the arresting of the growth of the upper jaw and nasal structures. Correction of the deformity of the arches often renders nasal surgery unnecessary. Such conditions not only predispose to colds, but increase their severity and the danger of complicating infection of the bony cavities in the skull that communicate with the nose. They also increase the liability to involvement of the middle ear and of the mastoid cells which are located in the skull just behind the ear. The importance, therefore, of having the nose and throat carefully examined, and of having any diseased condition of the mucous membrane or any obstruction corrected must be apparent. All who suffer from recurrent colds should take this precaution before winter sets in.
General Resistance
If the nasal passages are put in a healthy condition, strict obedience to the rules of individual hygiene will almost wholly prevent colds. In fact, except where actual nasal defects exist, the frequency of colds is usually a fair indication of how hygienically a person is living. The following points need especial emphasis, though they repeat in some cases what has already been said in the text.
Skin Training
It is a familiar fact that exposure and chilling will often produce a cold. This is usually due to the fact that the nerve centers controlling the circulation of the skin are over-sensitive, and exhibit a sort of hair-trigger reaction to exposure, causing a disturbance of the circulation, and of the heat-regulating machinery of the body of which the spongy shelf-like turbinated bones in the nose are an important part. Skin training, then, appears to be the first hygienic steps toward establishing a resistance to colds.
Such training for the skin may be secured by various means. One should first accustom himself to a gentle draft.
Cool bathing, to a point that produces a healthy reaction, is another important feature of skin training.
Cold bathing, by those affected with kidney trouble, is not advisable, but delicate individuals, who cannot react well to the cold bath, can greatly increase their resistance by graduated cool bathing performed as follows: Standing in about a foot of hot water, one may rub the body briskly with a wash cloth wrung out of water at about 80 degrees F. and reduced day by day until it is down to 50 degrees F. Following this the cold douche or affusion may be taken (water quickly dashed from a pitcher) beginning at 90 degrees F. and daily reducing until 50 degrees F. is reached, or just before the point where an agreeable reaction ceases to follow.
Light Clothing