Martha Stewart has said she fights a cold by locking her door and downloading the first season of "Downton Abbey." By the time she's through watching all seven episodes, the sniffles and scratchy throat are on the wane.
That's one way of dealing with the common cold, which includes a runny or stuffy nose, coughing and sore throat and, while generally an inevitable winter complaint, is not as severe as the flu. Medical experts say there really is no cure for a cold, which can come from 200 different viruses, but there are many ways of waiting it out and lessening the symptoms.
In this cold season, germ-savvy people have their favorite personal cold remedies. Be they doctor or day-care center operator, what do they personally do at the first sign of a cold?
Kaiser family physician Lynn Mortensen, Santa Rosa - "I go for a walk, drink Good Earth caffeine-free tea, add an extra hour of sleep, wash my hands like crazy to help avoid spreading it. And avoid public contact until I am 24 hours fever-free."
Grade school teacher and mother Kimi Ogg, Santa Rosa - When she starts to feel physically drained, has sinus pressure and can rule out seasonal allergies she declares it a cold, goes to bed early and drinks more water.
"Calling in sick isn't an easy option," said Ogg, who teaches second grade at Steele Lane Elementary. "When I was a kid, my parents' approach was to tough it out. I didn't stay home from school unless I was burning up or throwing up. If it was bad, they gave me orange Triaminic (children's cold medicine)."
With her own four-year-old and 10-month-old, Ogg said she and her husband try not to immediately jump to spoon out medicine.
"We use humidifiers, elevate mattresses, do saline rinses," she said. After that if there's no improvement, she calls the doctor.
During cold season in her classroom, she wipes off desks and counters with disinfectant and gets students to use hand sanitizer. Teachers, she believes, do develop "an immunity of steel" against colds but, she said, "my first couple years teaching I felt like I was constantly sick."
Business owner, meditation teacher and world traveler Barbara Hirschfeld, Sebastopol - "I take brisk walks in the fresh air as one of my remedies. It gets the blood moving and ventilates the body." She also takes Emergen-C, a powdered Vitamin C supplement, and has been getting a flu shot ever since she went one year to Bhutan and a flu shot was included with the rest of her immunizations.
As a meditator, Hirschfeld counts, too, on mindful breathing to reduce pain and stress and help her be aware of changes in her body.
Day care operator, personal trainer and marathon runner Julie Meyer, Santa Rosa - The owner of My Little Farm Daycare and her husband Dick have been taking care of kids and fighting their germs for more than 30 years.
"We're exposed to snotty noses all winter long, but we seem to have a high immunity," said Meyer who used to rely more on over-the-counter cold drugs until she suspected they were the cause of restless-leg syndrome.
Now, she said, "We trust our body's defenses to fight off a cold even though we're exposed to some of the most incredible illnesses.
"We drink a lot of water, stay away from juices and sodas, avoid white foods like sugar and white flour and we exercise. When we get colds, they're usually slight and pass very quickly."
Also a personal trainer, Meyer works out four days a week, including taking a four- to six-mile run after taking care of kids, sniffles or not.
As for kids' resilience, Meyer said they "usually seem to bounce back from a cold after 48 hours, even though their noses could pour out for another two weeks." And a child with a slight cold isn't ordered home.
"If we had a sick policy that excluded children with a runny nose, we wouldn't have a business and 50 percent of our parents wouldn't be able to go to work."
Ceres Community Project nutrition director JoEllen DeNicola, Sebastopol - "My mom told us to take Vitamin C, drink lots of water and get a good night's sleep," said DeNicola who now updates her cold regimen with a few cups of Red Miso soup made with maitake mushrooms and Ceres' special immune broth.
"Then I go to bed and sleep it off."
Ceres immune broth includes fresh vegetables, seaweed, juniper and goji berries and herbs. The Ceres program works with teenage chefs to produce meals for severely ill people.
Yoga instructor Ruth Mankin, Sebastopol - She goes to bed early, drinks water and herbal tea, takes warm baths and makes her mother's chicken soup with onions, carrots, celery and garlic.
"Sometimes if my head is stuffy, I stand on my head to get the circulation going." Mankin does caution, however, that standing on your head for some people might increase the pressure but for her it delivers "great relief when I come down out of the headstand."
Homeopathic doctor Michael Carlston, Santa Rosa - Vitamin D and echinacea are two of his go-to remedies. "Higher Vitamin D levels are linked to lowered rate of influenza and respiratory disease, also more rapid recovery," he said.
Echinacea, he added, "despite false beliefs that research has disproven its efficacy, does shorten cold durations."
If symptoms worsen into bronchitis or a nasty flu, he uses a homeopathic remedy.
Cold season or not, Carlston doesn't worry about being around potential germ-carriers.
"Our immune systems work like our muscles - use it or lose it," hd said. "Research shows that people who have a lot of friends, more contact with others, actually have a lower rate of respiratory infections."
Susan Swartz is a freelance writer and author based in Sonoma County. Contact her at susan@juicytomatoes.com
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