How Tom Brady’s Cold Could Affect the Super Bowl

Jared Wickerham/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — This is nothing to sneeze at ahead of the Super Bowl: Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has a cold.

Brady told reporters he’s sure he’ll be fine in time for Sunday’s clash against the Seattle Seahwaks, saying, “It’s been lingering, so I’m just trying to get some rest. A lot of garlic, old remedies, everything I can.”

But epidemiologists aren’t sold on the garlic — but they also say there’s a good chance Brady will be just fine in time for the big game.

“That will keep those linebackers away,” Dr. William Schaffner, chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, said of the garlic remedy, which he called “folklore.”

“People get better as time passes with colds, so I expect that he will indeed improve by the time Sunday comes along,” he added.

Schaffner, who has not treated Brady, said most colds go away after about four or five days. He also said the most important thing Brady can do this week is stay hydrated and get plenty of sleep at night.

“That’s the stuff your grandmother told you which is actually is useful,” he said.

Exercise also helps with symptom relief because it stimulates adrenaline production, Schaffner said.

Adrenaline constricts the blood vessels in the nose to relieve some of the stuffiness from a cold. He said most people have their favorite over-the-counter drugs for symptom relief, and those might help Brady, too.

“I think hydration, sleep, the passage of time and his exercise actually bode well for his performance on Sunday,” Schaffner said. “He may not need that garlic to keep away the linebackers.”

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