Eat and Sweat Eat and Sweat
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“Carnot is Sick!”, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1893 / Art Institute of Chicago
Wellbeing

Eat and Sweat

How to Survive Winter and Stay Healthy
Katarzyna Sroczyńska
Reading
time 4 minutes

Colds and cases of flu are easier to prevent than to cure. We don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but let’s be honest – we don’t need a crystal ball or a horoscope to know that each and every one of us will catch at least one infection this year. After all, our bodies are attacked by more than 200 types of germs, mostly rhinoviruses, coronaviruses and adenoviruses. These microbes are so clever and mischievous that although we named them and learned to recognize them under a microscope, we are not much better prepared to fight them than our great-grandmothers and grandfathers were. Obviously, it is better to harden our immune systems against infections than to fight them once they get us. Still, every illness must be endured in bed, with our families tending to us with chicken soup and raspberry syrup. Which is why we have prepared a list of more (and less) traditional ways of fighting runny noses, coughs and aching joints.

Drink

Make sure you drink plenty of liquids, but not necessarily at boiling temperatures; there’s no need to burn your already damaged mucous membranes. Black tea with lemon and ginger or raspberry cordial, or linden blossom and willow bark infusions will soothe symptoms of rhinitis and inflammation of the mucous membrane. Indians recommend drinking hot milk with turmeric, ginger, honey and black

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On Thin Ice On Thin Ice
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Photo by Nikołaj Kozakow
Nature

On Thin Ice

The Changing Climate in Yakutia
Michał Książek

“Very warm, only minus five degrees. No snowfall,” writes my friend from Yakutsk, the capital of Yakutia, complaining about the lack of winter. I ask other Yakut friends whether anyone remembers late October being so warm. Suoch, they answer unanimously, with the Yakut word for ‘no’. This time last year, it was -20°C. Everywhere is getting warmer, even Yakutsk; far into the mainland, covered in permafrost.

It was business as usual at first. In September, the frost set in. But then at the beginning of October, temperatures went up. There were puddles everywhere and the snow almost totally disappeared. A thaw set in, as never seen before in Yakutia. And then frost again, followed by more warming up. It used to be that once winter came, it was here to stay and you would expect the first thaw only in March. In any case, the Yakut language does not have any words for ‘thaw’; nor do the languages of the neighbouring Even, Evenki and Yukagir people. In some districts (called uluses) of Yakutia (which is 10 times larger than Poland) daily temperatures in late October have reached 3°C.

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