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Health, Safety & Environmental Bulletin No 062

S Martin – 2 November 2007

10 Tips to Prevent Cold and Flu

Please see below the latest bulletin issued by ExxonMobil.

A Note from

the Medic

10 Tips to Prevent Cold and Flu the "Natural" Way

#1 Wash Your Hands - Most cold and flu viruses are spread by direct contact. Someone who has the flu
sneezes onto their hand, and then touches the telephone, the keyboard, a kitchen glass. The germs can live for
hours -- in some cases weeks -- only to be picked up by the next person who touches the same object. So wash
your hands often. If no sink is available, rub your hands together very hard for a minute or so. That also helps
break up most of the cold germs.

#2 Don't Cover Your Sneezes and Coughs With Your Hands - Because germs and viruses cling to your bare
hands, muffling coughs and sneezes with your hands results in passing along your germs to others. When you
feel a sneeze or cough coming, use a tissue, then throw it away immediately. If you don't have a tissue, turn your
head away from people near you and cough into the air.

#3 Don't Touch Your Face - Cold and flu viruses enter your body through the eyes, nose, or mouth. Touching
their faces is the major way children catch colds, and a key way they pass colds on to their parents.

#4 Drink Plenty of Fluids - Water flushes your system, washing out the poisons as it rehydrates you. A typical,
healthy adult needs eight 8-ounce glasses of fluids each day. How can you tell if you're getting enough liquid? If
the color of your urine runs close to clear, you're getting enough. If it's deep yellow, you need more fluids.

#5 Get Fresh Air - A regular dose of fresh air is important, especially in cold weather when central heating dries
you out and makes your body more vulnerable to cold and flu viruses. Also, during cold weather more people
stay indoors, which means more germs are circulating in crowded, dry rooms.

#6 Do Aerobic Exercise Regularly - Aerobic exercise speeds up the heart to pump larger quantities of blood;
makes you breathe faster to help transfer oxygen from your lungs to your blood; and makes you sweat once your
body heats up. These exercises help increase the body's natural virus-killing cells.