Ever wonder what signs and symptoms you can spot of the flu before you actually get the illness? If you can catch those warning signs, you can take action immediately using preventative strategies to help prevent the onset of the flu itself and beyond that, reduce the severity and duration of the flu should you come down with it.

While flu shots are quite popular in today’s times, that’s not the only method of prevention. Getting a good night’s sleep, loading up on vitamin C, eating more garlic, and taking Echinacea are all other ways that you can naturally help prevent that flu from setting in.

So what signs and symptoms should you be watching for? Here’s your checklist.

Feeling Tired And Run Down

Do you feel more tired than usual? Feel as though you just don’t have the energy to make it through the day? We all have those days where we just lack that get-up and get-at-em feeling, but if this has been going on for a few days, it could be a sign that your immune system is weakened. This is then a sign that a cold or flu could be on the way shortly.

Take care now to build your immune system up so that this doesn’t happen.

Achy Muscles

If your muscles are achy and you feel stiff and sore, that’s another sign the flu could be on the way. One major difference between a cold and the flu is that the flu has a much greater impact on the entire body, including the muscles while colds tend to be head up only.

So if your muscles are aching and you haven’t just performed an intense workout, take note of this. It could be the sign of something brewing.

Headaches

People who come down with the cold often report feeling headaches prior to suffering from the illness. Headaches are quite common and can be due to fatigue, tension, or just your immune system not being at its best.

Usually, the headache isn’t a severe headache, but you just notice it lightly there in the background all day long.

If you experience this, make an extra effort to get more sleep that night and see if it doesn’t clear up the problem.

Chills

Finally, many people will notice they feel the chills before they are actually running a fever, so this could be your warning sign. At this point you may already be coming down with the flu, so stopping it could be out of reach, but you can certainly lessen the severity and duration by using the strategies we mentioned above and making sure that you get plenty of rest in the meantime.

So there you have a few of the top warning signs that the flu is brewing. Could you be doing more to help prevent it?

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