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No doubt, your apartment building has rules—no pets, no loud music, and no jumping into the pool from the third-floor balcony. Maybe your neighborhood does, too—no solicitation, no high fences, no plastic flamingos. Certainly, we live in a world where government is crucial to establishing order within a society—whether it’s as big as a country or as small as a household. But when it comes to the things that threaten your body, bacteria and virus don’t believe in rules. They believe in anarchy. They believe in rioting through your organs and creating chaos, only to leave your body in a pile of rubble.
The scoundrels need to be stopped. It’s true that your body has an elite way of fighting attackers. In some ways, you need to trust your body to take care of you. But that doesn’t mean you have to sit back and do nothing. In fact, it’s up to you to call your anatomical city council meeting to order and establish some system of immunological government. When it comes down to it, you’ve got the power to establish some repercussions for the virus and bacteria that think they can come over and play in your neighborhood. These are the ways to bolster your defense system:

Trust Mom

Though you may not be able to tell by the fat-laden meat loaf she makes, your mom wants to keep you healthy. Let’s face it: though she may have been wrong about rock music, she got things right a lot of times. These are her best prescriptions for staying germ-free.
“TIMMY, WASH YOUR HANDS!” Bribes, high fives, and love notes aren’t the only things that pass from hand to hand. Germs do, too. In fact, they travel through your hands like a Ping-Pong ball. They’re constantly being passed from one person to another through shaking hands and touching objects that other people have touched. It’s the most common way infections can be passed—you touch someone or something, then your hand touches your mouth, nose, or eye. Now, we’re not suggesting you lock your hands inside your pockets and never touch a thing (a definite downer on your anniversary).

Stop a second and think about how many things you touch that other people have touched immediately before you—sink faucets, door handles, gas pumps, money machines, other people’s hands. The best thing you can do to prevent spreading (and receiving) germs is to wash your hands regularly. Discovered in the 1840s by an Austrian doctor who found that bacterial infections decreased with hand washing, the habit we take for granted is actually one of the most powerful things you can do to protect yourself from viruses, fungi, and bacteria. Soap and water will separate bacteria from your hand and keep it from entering your system the next time you touch your mouth or nose. For those times when sinks are hard to come by, it’s a good idea to keep some antibacterial gel in your car, purse, or briefcase. Rub in a dime-size squirt to kill bacteria. While we want you to stay healthy, we also don’t want you to be paranoid or antisocial when it comes to fighting off germs. Just don’t limit yourself to washing hands before meals and after using the bathroom. The more you keep your hands clean, the more you’ll be rewarding your immune cells with well-earned vacation time.

“TAMMY, DON’T DRINK THAT!” Mom never liked it much when you’d stick your mouth in streams, under spigots, or on the park water fountain. She wanted you to drink the pure stuff. While it’s easy to tell you not to drink lake water, we also want you to rethink your use of tap water. A lot of people can get low-grade infections from bacteria in local water supplies—and that can lead to such symptoms as bloatedness, itchy eyes, stomach cramping, and fatigue. And you’d have no idea what even caused the problems. You don’t need to blow your 401(k) on bottled water, but it’s a smart idea to use a water filter for any drinking water you use out of the faucet. Designed to remove bacteria and/or impurities from water, filters come in many types. The simplest is a pitcher fitted with a charcoal filter. You pour tap water into the pitcher; by the time the water seeps through to the filter, it’s been cleared of many impurities. High-end filters use reverse osmosis—a system that’s under your sink or basement and pulls water across a membrane that cleans water for the whole house. And ultraviolet water filters radiate water between your tap and the cup to destroy many bacteria.

“TOMMY, TAKE ALL OF YOUR MEDICINE!” Typical scenario: You get sick. You call the doctor. You get medicine. You take medicine. You feel better in two days. You stop medicine. That’s a mistake. Antibiotics aren’t really designed to make you feel better, though that’s a darn nice side effect. They’re designed to kill or incapacitate the enemy. So while you may feel better in two or three days, it’s important to take the whole course of antibiotics—even if it’s ten days or two weeks—to make sure you’ve killed all of the enemy. If you take medication for only half its course, you may only weaken the remaining bacteria without finishing them off completely. And weakened bacteria actually come back stronger than before, worsen the infection, and spread it deeper into your body—which results in a greater threat to your cardiovascular and other systems. Unless you’re longing to meet that new physician who specializes in infectious diseases, take the full course of medication. When you’re fighting persistent little suckers like bacteria and viruses, you need to land the knockout punch, not just the meager hooks and jabs. By the way, antibiotics can kill not only the bad bacteria, but the good as well.

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