How To Stay Healthy Year Round

Some tips for women on how to stay healthy year-round:

- Get a massage. Most studies show that massage can reduce anxiety, blood pressure, and heart rate. Lowering these is likely to cause your stress level to drop, which is one key to building immunity.

- Take a cold shower. Some say this helps with low energy, migraines, circulation, and pain reduction, in addition to helping women age gracefully. In fact, some say cold showers are even the secret to firm breasts!

- Treat stomach problems 'gingerly.' For centuries, ginger has been the go-to root for a wide range of stomach issues. Researchers believe its compounds stimulate digestive secretions, improve intestinal muscle tone, and help move food through the gastrointestinal tract.

- Wash your hands...a lot. The Centers for Disease Control and prevention says hand-washing is the number one action you can take to dodge getting sick and keep yourself free of bacterias that can cause foodborne illnesses like E. coli and salmonella. Wash with regular soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds, vigorousoly scrub all parts of your hands, not just your palms, and check your fingernails for trapped dirt.

- Try a health cocktail. Although taking vitamin C and zinc for cold prevention isn't proven to work, some studies show that C is especially helpful for people who are under extreme stress, and that zinc can prevent viruses from multiplying. Some experts think there's no harm in trying...and that just believing these remedies work may help, too.

- Eat more garlic. Garlic is rich in antioxidants that boost immunity and fight inflammation. That means the herb, in addition to boosting defenses against everyday illness, probably helps to stave off cancer and boost heart health.

- Stay positive. In one study, participants who had heightened activity in a region of the brain associated with a positive attitude produced greater amounts of flu antibodies. Another study showed that people with sunny dispositions churned out more intibodies in response to vaccinations.