5 reasons your flu won't go away

5 reasons your flu won’t go away

If you've had a stubborn bout of cold or flu recently, you might be wondering what's hindering your recovery. 5 common reasons that your flu just isn't going away, could be as follows:

You're deficient in key nutrients
You're dehydrated
You aren't resting enough
You're stressed
There's a secondary infection at play

I run through these key areas from a nutritionist's perspective, hopefully helping to turn your recovery time around.

How long does it take the flu to go away?

The symptoms relating to a cold or flu can last up to a week or two, but this is very variable depending on the type of infection at work. The viruses that give rise to flu infections are particularly clever as they can mutate year on year in order to survive and affect more people, plus, compared to the viruses giving rise to the common colds, they tend to cause symptoms that are more severe, and/or that may hang around for longer.

Remember, if your symptoms persist for much longer than a couple of weeks it might be time to go to the doctor for a check-up. However, in the meantime, it's also worth considering these 5 key areas:

1. You’re deficient in key nutrients

As a nutritionist, I can't help but start by reminding you that diet is key. Of course, depending on how ill we are, food may be the last thing on our minds, but did you know that how you eat day in, day out, really helps put you in good stead for overcoming infections more successfully? Some of my top takeaway diet tips are as follows:

Support digestion and gut health – Gut health has been more prevalent than ever recently and there is forever a plethora of new research being released that suggests that a healthy, diverse population of gut bacteria is essential for supporting good immune responses.¹

But, digestive health, even before we reach the gut, is important too. Simple tips such as eating slowly and drinking apart from meals can help to encourage better gastric secretions which, in turn, means we are able to make better use of nutrients and absorb them more easily from our food.

Eat fresh – The easiest way to achieve healthy gut bacteria? Eat fresh! As wholesome and as wide a variety of fresh foods as possible. Start small - why not just try to eat one new fresh ingredient a week? This can build up over time and, before you know it, there won't be anything you won't have tried, something your gut will definitely thank you for. A good ball-park figure is to aim to eat at least 30 different, fresh food ingredients each week.
Top up with a supplement if need be – Whilst diet should be your primary source of nutrients, I'm in no way adverse to topping up with supplements. Particularly as with some, such as vitamin D, we really rely on supplement sources in order to ensure we are getting enough. These nutrients really are important for firstly supporting our immune system to work well in the first place, but also ensuring we have better outcomes and faster recovery times if we then were to fall ill.^2,3

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2. You're dehydrated

Drinking sufficient water is often one of the cheapest and easiest ways to support your health and can truly make some positive improvements. However, it might surprise you to know just how many people struggle with it!

Being properly hydrated will not only help your immune system to work better in the first place by putting it in better stead for detecting and annihilating any bugs, but it will also help to support your recovery. Immune cells need to continually patrol our system in order to outnumber the virus and dampen its effects.

Remember, depending on the symptoms you are experiencing, from fever to digestive upset, you could end up more dehydrated than ever. So, sipping water continually throughout the day is a must.

Don't like plain, still water or really struggle to get enough? Watch my latest self-care tip for a helping hand.

My Self-Care Tip: Jazz up your water

Here I explain how adding fruit or herbs to your water can make it more appealing and make it easier to hit your daily quota!

3. You aren't resting enough

It's common knowledge that we need to rest up if we're not well, but many of us struggle to achieve this. Unfortunately, whilst an infection is still lingering, this is the very time that we become most vulnerable to subsequent infections (see below on 'secondary infections,' for more info on this), so we really need to take it easy or we could end up worse-off in the long run.

Any stress on the body can leave our immune system working under par. Both a lack of sleep or doing too much, too soon (for example, in the form of exercise) are examples of this. So, it's sensible to focus on these two areas in order to aid a quicker recovery.

Shut-eye from a sensible time in the evening is crucial – your immune system is thought to work more efficiently earlier in the evening,⁴ plus retiring to bed earlier in the evening means you're more likely to hit your eight hours sleep too. Research suggests that any less than this could hinder the functions of your immune system by as much as 70%⁵– certainly not what you need if you're still struggling with some after-effects of a recent virus!

4. You're stressed

Stress and sleep issues are arguably at an all-time high. This is understandable but, unfortunately, immune challenges are equally prevalent so it's useful to be proactive in any way that we can right now, in order to help protect ourselves.

Whilst some causes of stress are harder to avoid, there are often some habits that we do have better control over, such as drinking too much caffeine. Caffeine ignites our internal stress response which, in turn, can leave us feeling more anxious or jittery, but it may also have some other physiological effects that we may be less aware of.

Caffeine risks draining the body of some essential nutrients. Magnesium or vitamin C, which we need to support our stress and immune responses respectively, are water-soluble so can be subject to excretion from the body if we are mainlining caffeine.^6,7

So, switching in some caffeine-free alternatives could be just the thing you need to help prevent your body's defenses – your immune system – from being unnecessarily compromised. Bambu tastes surprisingly like your favourite coffee, or Rooibos tea is the perfect substitute for black tea.

5. There's a secondary infection at play

Whilst you'd need a doctor to help confirm which infection is actually affecting you, a lingering illness could suggest that there is more than one issue at play.

Whilst you are ill, the clever little viruses that have made you so miserable, are leaving a path of damaged cells in their wake. These cells of yours that have been left compromised, for example, those feeling a little tender in and around your nasal or respiratory passages, can then become more susceptible to infection by other bugs, such as bacteria. This is when other infections, so-called 'secondary infections', can easily set in. Common examples include: ear infections, sinusitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, or flare-ups in conditions such as asthma.

So, if your symptoms are longer lasting and particularly stubborn, it's important to help determine what type of infection might be affecting you, so you can be treated accordingly.

In the meantime, Echinaforce may also be useful, but as always if your symptoms don't improve after 10 days, it's back to the doctor for further advice.