Last week I had a shocking cold. Blocked nose, sore throat, and feeling poorly. This made me think about the countless vitamins and supplements on the market that promise to ease symptoms of a cold, help you recover faster, and reduce your chance of getting another cold.

No one enjoys the sneezing, fever and aches that come with colds and flu, but unfortunately, once you’re sick all you can do is wait it out. Between getting a ton of fluids and even more rest, you might try some mindfulness meditation to help you find some mental and emotional relief.

Research shows for every 100 healthy adults vaccinated against influenza, 99 get no benefit. So is it even worth getting? Let's look at the science.

Android/iOS: You run the risk of catching the flu, or someone's cold, or some other random virus pretty much every time you decide to leave your house - but what if you knew where people were sick before you went there?

The flu is no joke. It can knock you about for days and make you feel rotten the whole time. Discount Drug Stores pharmacist, Melissa Hui, has some tips to help survive the impending flu season so that you can try and come out the other end unscathed.

You have a fever, runny nose, and can't get out of bed. It must be the flu, right? Not necessarily.

When you meet up with a colleague or friend, greetings typically involve some form of physical contact. Be it a handshake, high-five or good ol' fashioned hug, all of them can be pretty dangerous during flu season.

That sneeze in the elevator. The snot somebody wiped on that handrail an hour ago. Your coworker who won't stay home, breathing right next to you. Cold and flu viruses are everywhere. And if you're coming down with something, you're spreading them too.

As we head toward winter, health professionals and the public are anxious about another influenza season like 2017, when record numbers of Australians were diagnosed with flu.

The flu is usually a mild illness that leaves us out of action for a few days. But for some, especially the elderly and children, the flu can be much more severe. In fact, influenza kills more kids than the feared meningococcal infection.

Everyone knows there's no better place to catch the flu than on an aeroplane on your way to that holiday you've been looking forward to for months.

This is the season when we send our kids off to school with shiny new backpacks, and every year, they bring home the same thing: The first round of back-to-school colds. In our house, with a two-year-old intent on drooling on everyone he touches and a six-year-old still perfecting her personal hygiene practices, pathogens are passed out like hugs, and it's only a matter of time before the whole family is sick.

Have you ever wondered why the influenza virus is more potent and dangerous than the common cold virus? They’re both viruses, but what makes the influenza worse that it causes more deaths? Let's take a look at the science...

Brief news items of note for Lifehacker readers, including: Sydney's flu outbreak, Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 6 leaks, board games, awesome aerial photography and Aussie scientists continue doing unbelievable things.

Welcome back to Dose of Reality, where we see whether the week's health news is really worth worrying -- or celebrating -- about. Today we're facing down death and disease, and the news is actually mostly good!

If you have a blocked or runny nose, chances are you’ll reach for a tissue or hanky to clear the mucus by having a good blow. But do you go for one nostril or two? Hard blow or gentle? It turns out that some ways are more effective (and less risky) than others.

From vitamin C and echinacea to warm clothes and antibacterial soap, there’s no shortage of ideas about how to prevent and manage colds and flu. Unfortunately, many of these are not based on solid scientific evidence. In fact, medical researchers are only starting to unravel the range of factors that affect our susceptibility to getting an infection. Now we have discovered that our body clock plays an important role – making us more prone to get infected at certain times of the day.

Flu shots work, and are a smart way to reduce the chances that you'll end up sick this winter. But that's not the impression you might get if you listen to the rumour mill. Flu shot myths abound, and it's time to put the biggest ones to rest.

I'm at home rocking the summer cold from hell. Meanwhile, my partner is checking out a bunch of cool tech at CES in Vegas.

Suffice to say, I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself.

We're pretty good at being caretakers when we're in the country though. We've both played nurse while the other was excreting a whole manner of unholy bodily fluids.

Common sense says you should never workout when you're not feeling well, but there are a few exceptions. If you're worried your illness is taking you off track of your fitness goals, here's what you need to know.