Naps & Colds

Late this past week I came down with a cold. Not a full blown runny nose cold, but a soar throat and slight headache cold. The nose, on Saturday, tried to start running, but that was short lived.

Now here I am Sunday afternoon feeling fit as a fiddle. How did that happen considering Thursday the symptoms were only just beginning?

Simple. I have a plan when it comes to challenging colds to test me:

1. Increase the amount of milk or milk products that I consume. The invention of chocolate milk makes this even better.

2. Increase the amount of Orange Juice in order to ensure I am getting more Vitamin C than I know what I do with.

3. Soar throat and sinuses congested? Try chewing Wrigley's Excel Extreme Gum which will just kick the hell out of your soar throat and do a number on the sinuses all in a positive way. I learned this one day after trying a pack of the new Extreme Gum from Loblaws. When I first tried this particular product, I was healthy, and thought the gum was disgusting. But I did note that the gum had an intense menthal tasting action that might be good for getting rid of disgusting mucas tastes in my mouth like you have when a cold is in full swing. After my first cold, I will never leave without this gum! Its widely available at Shoppers Drug Mart, Loblaws and its affiliated stores (e.g. Real Canadian Superstore, Zehrs, etc.).

4. Chicken Noodle Soup. At least I learned something from my mother....when your sick, Chicken Noodle soap is for you!

5. Naps & Nyquil. er...Nyquil then nap. Nyquil, the night time cold and flu edition is will clean out your sinuses and runny nose. But be careful, after taking the recomended dose on the bottle, be sure to act fast in putting the cap back on and racing to bed. This is because you might fall asleep before your head even hits your pillow.

All of the above helped me kick some serious cold ass leave me feeling energized and ready for the world!

Naps are perhaps the best idea, even if you don't have a cold, to re-energize yourself. My sister explained naps in this post that is well worth reading. All though, I don't take setting the alarm part as necessary, I do enjoy a nice weekend nap out on your favourite futon or chesterfield. My favourite napping is usually on a Saturday afternoon on a dreary rainy day. I lay out on my futon with a "throw" on watching boring Saturday afternoon television and drift off to sleep. I have the knack of awakening from my 'power nap' feeling totally re-energized.

Usually I use naps to reward myself from a busy morning. Saturday mornings are usually the best times to get things done. The line ups at the local Canadian Tire are usually nice and short. This is great because I love going in, getting what I want in a store and getting out as fast as I can. Also, at the Candaian Tire I go to, there are usually free Toronto Sun editions right after the checkout counters. These free newspapers are gone pretty quickly though, so you have to be there early to get an edition! The bank on a Saturday morning at 9:30 A.M. is a ghost town! I can get in, see a teller, and get out in five minutes. Later on in the day I would be lucky to get in and out in under twenty minutes.

So with all this in mind, I love Saturday afternoon naps....especially when battling the evil Dr. Cold bug!