Being sick is never fun, especially when everyone around you is getting the same thing that you have. One of the toughest times to get sick is cold and flu season, and this year, it’s worse than ever. According to the CDC, this is the most widespread on record in the 13 years it’s been recorded, with a reported 30 pediatric deaths this month alone.
As we move through the end of January into February, it’s important to prepare ourselves for the rest of the flu season. Here are some ways to help protect yourself from the flu and keep yourself healthy.
- Get Vaccinated
There is absolutely no reason to ever go into flu season without a flu vaccine. There is no evidence to the claim that flu vaccines make you sick, and the benefits of being vaccinated include heightened resistance to the virus, prevention of other diseases and illness, and countless others.
- Vitamins, Vitamins, Vitamins
As a part of maintaining your health and taking care of your body, you should be taking vitamins every day regularly. Multi-vitamins are great for the average adult, with a strong emphasis on Vitamins A, C, D, E, calcium, potassium, fiber, and magnesium. Vitamin C is your best bet at helping your immune system stay healthy and fight off sickness and disease.
Depending on your gender and age, however, your body will need different vitamins. I use familydoctor.org to better understand what my body needs.
- Eating Right
Just like with vitamins, you should be eating healthy year-round to maintain your body and your immune system. However, cold and flu season may be the most important for this, and it’s doubly important to know what to put in your body. Keeping yourself full of different fruits and vegetables will help support your immune system, and iron and protein will help keep your muscles and bones strong. The worst part about getting sick is the aches and pains, so you want to make your body as strong as possible.
- No Touching!
This time of year is definitely not the time to be giving your friends hugs and to shake strangers hands. The cold and flu can be spread through simple contact between anybody, so do what you can to keep to yourself for a while. Avoid public places like the gym or the pool or grocery store. These places see a lot of foot traffic, with hundreds of people unknowingly touching and coughing upon things shared from person to person. It’s best to bring some disinfecting wipes when you do go out, and wear a medical mask to both prevent the inhalation of germs and the spreading of ones you may not know you have.
- Keep Clean
No one in the history of forever has been “too” clean. And now, when everyone is sick and contagious, absolutely no one is clean enough. Be sure to be constantly washing your hands with warm water and antibacterial soap, and wipe down all the surfaces you touch with a disinfecting wipe. Inside your own home, scrub your surfaces at least twice a week with bleach to kill any and all germs left behind. Disinfect your hands out and about with hand sanitizer, and be sure to always cover your mouth with your upper arm when you need to cough. Coughing into your hands only helps to spread the germs through seemingly harmless contact.
This flu season may be the worst one on record, but that doesn’t have to mean it will be the worst for you. As long as you’re doing your part to keep yourself and your space clean, you’re already doing the hard part. Make sure to keep eating healthy and take your vitamins every day! Ignore what others say about the flu vaccine; it’s engineered to help you, and the benefits worth it.
Good luck, stay healthy, and head over to The Zeal Life to tell us how you make it through cold and flu season! Make sure to subscribe below
