by Dr. Sam Benjamin Dr. Sam recommends seven easy everyday health precautions.

Exercise regularly to improve your immune system.


Wash your hands often using proper technique and duration - sing the A-B-C song all the way through to Z, or sing the "Happy Birthday" song twice.


Try Airborne tablets when cold or flu symptoms first appear. These are a natural remedy which combine herbs, antioxidants, electrolytes, and amino acids. While there are no studies to support its efficacy, I admit to using it frequently while traveling and I believe it to be of some benefit though it could cause nausea. Take black elderberry, preferably one that has been processed to remove any unwanted toxins. This is a long-time remedy for cold and flu. Black elderberry eases symptoms and shortens the duration of the flu by improving the action of your immune system. Studies in Israel warrant its claims.*


Use an English ivy plant to purify the air in your home, and never use air fresheners. Open your windows whenever you can, to allow for natural air exchange. If you wish to use a commercial air filter, try a HEPA filter. Ion filters can create more problems than they resolve by potentially increasing the ozone level in your home.


Drink bottled water to avoid the fluoride and arsenic in city drinking water. Or, you might consider buying a reverse osmosis unit for your home. When using bottled drinking water, try to purchase containers that use opaque plastic. Most clear plastic bottles contain contaminants that leach into the water you are drinking. Some of these mimic the female hormone, estrogen, and may trigger early puberty in little girls, as well as a host of other health problems.

• Be aware of what's good for you, and what's not.
  
  
• Ask questions about any prescription written or test ordered for you. Ask, 'what is the evidence that this drug or procedure works?' It might be there is medical proof, in which case ask for references or copies of the medical studies to read. Or, your doctor might say that 'some literature suggests a certain outcome,' rather than proves it. You might still decide to undergo the procedure or take the drug, but you'd be doing it because you and your trusted doctor think it's worth the risk, not because someone told you that there's proof it works, when there isn't.
  
  
• Demand all the information about a medicine or a treatment. Your pharmacist is a good source for information, so ask for advice.
  
  
• Insist on information about alterative treatments.
  
  
• Make choices based on real information. Your physician's opinion is very important, but is often not based on the medical evidence. In the end, you must sort out that information and make a choice.
  

Americans are taking too many medications, including mind-altering drugs for depression and ADD and AD/HD. The medical community has the attitude that everyone needs some kind of therapy or medicine, that everyone has a disease, that every disease has dangers, that we - doctors - know what's normal and we can give you drugs to make you normal.

Don't buy into this mistaken notion of health care without asking careful questions, making sure you really need medications, and that there's no natural alternative.