It happens gradually. Your throat starts to get itchy, you’re popping Advil like it’s Adderall on finals week, and before you know it, your dorm room is a cesspool of festering illness. It becomes obvious that you, like many of your peers during this season of climate change, have fallen victim to the common cold.

While we might know what Health Services and nutritionists say about preventing it, not much can be done about the guy in lecture who decides to sneeze on the door handle right before you have to touch it. And while eating healthy, sleeping regularly and getting the right amount of vitamin C are all helpful ways to fend off illness, keeping the body healthy tends to take a back seat when there are papers to procrastinate … I mean, write, and exams to study for.

While studies show that the common cold is caused by some 200 different viruses that are usually spread through hand-to-hand contact with someone who’s sick, the impact of stress on the immune system also plays a major role in catching a cold. Losing your keys, fighting with a significant other or failing an exam have physical as well as psychological effects. Stress causes an imbalance in your immune system, making it harder for the body to fight off these viruses.

If you feel like the winter’s going to be an inevitable six-month battle between your immune system and hundreds of lurking viruses, we have a few tips for you to keep your mind and body on track. Believe it of not, the solution to preventing a future cold might lie in a yoga mat.

With its demonstrated ability to reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol, studies show that yoga helps to improve the immune system. Yoga adjunct faculty member Alenna McDonald tells us that by practicing just a few different poses, or asanas, and breathing techniques on a daily basis, we can reap yoga’s many benefits. “Regular yoga practice can squeeze out tension,” she said. “Your lungs and respiratory track become strengthened, the lymphatic system gets the chance to flush out toxins and oxygenated blood is brought to the organs.”

Here are just a few different poses and their potential benefits. Grab a mat and try:

1. Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana)

Benefits: Brings energy to the head and respiratory area; helps clear the sinuses.

Directions: Stand with your feet hip-width apart and rest your forearms on a chair seat. You can also place a blanket on the chair seat for extra padding. Hold two to five minutes.

2. Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Savasana)

Benefits: Encourages blood flow to the sinuses, helps to ease congestion, helps prevent the complications of secondary infections by draining the lungs.

Directions: Press your hands down into the floor, turn your toes under and lift the pelvis up and back. Keep knees bent and remain on the balls of your feet as you flatten your back and raise sitting bones. Lengthen the spine and widen between shoulder blades. Let the neck be a relaxed extension of the spine. Hold for 1-3 breaths.

3. Supported Bound Angle Pose (Salamba Baddha Konasana)

Benefits: Opens the chest, abdomen and groin; relaxes the nervous system.

Directions: Sit on the floor with your knees bent toward your chest. Bring the soles of your feet together and let your knees open toward the floor. Support the outer thighs with folded blankets at a comfortable height. You can also place sandbags on each inner thigh to deepen relaxation. Release your arms out to the sides and let go of any tension. Relax in the pose for a minimum of five minutes.

So if you thought yoga was just for snobs who like to brag about being “centered,” think again. This form of exercise might actually be the answer to both preventing misery and solving it when eating healthy, sleeping regularly and washing your hands 20 times a day becomes impossible.

“While we can’t control all that happens in life,” McDonald said, “yoga can help us to reacquaint ourselves with our emotional and physical needs, providing an excellent means of stress prevention.”

Maybe it’s time to just relax and meditate a little.