The flu-causing virus is prevalent throughout the year in the United States. Nevertheless, the virus is more active in the fall and winter seasons. The flu and cold season often begin in October and intensify in February.
Currently, it’s more important to stay safe than ever, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic is still around. It’s essential to keep your hands clean and get a flu vaccine every year. To know more tips on how to stay healthy during flu season, read along.
- Keep Your Hands Clean
Washing your hands is the first and sure bet to protect yourself from disease-causing germs. According to a specific study, regular hand washing can lower more than 20% of respiratory illness transmission. Therefore, it’s essential to wash your hands regularly. The best way to get rid of all germs in your hands is by cleaning them using soap and running water for at least 20 seconds.
- Get A Flu Shot
Immunization is the best way to avoid influenza. Since the flu virus mutates every season, getting vaccines each year is advisable. Each person above six months can get a flu vaccine, especially the elderly and those with low immune systems.
It’s important to note that you might experience Guillain-Barré symptoms after a flu shot. If this happens, ensure to seek medical assistance to improve the symptoms. Guillan-Barre Syndrome (GBS) is characterized by tingling pain, vision problems, difficulty swallowing, and bilateral weakness. GBS is a rare disorder but can cause severe pain and sometimes can be fatal. Ensure you talk to your doctor to avoid extreme GBS symptoms.
- Avoid Biting Your Nails
Regardless of how often you wash your hands, your fingers are bound to touch many things that might be contaminated. When your fingers collect germs, and you keep on biting your nails, you directly take these germs into your mouth, and you start getting sick. To ensure you don’t introduce flu-causing germs in your system, avoid biting your nails or touching your nose and eyes during flu season.
- Use Hand Sanitizer
Soap and water might sometimes be out of bounds depending on your schedule. At such moments, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with not less than 60% alcohol. Hand sanitizers with less than 60% alcohol aren’t effective in killing germs.
- Disinfect High-Touch Surfaces
Germs can survive on surfaces for some hours. Some even survive for several days. Surfaces such as door handles, kitchen and bathroom countertops, and gym equipment are perfect breeding spots for disease-causing germs and bacteria. Therefore, it’s vital to disinfect such surfaces from time to time. Remember to wipe phones, remotes, and switches often to keep sicknesses off during the flu season.
- Take Care Of The Laundry
Clothes and beddings are also the perfect spreading zone for germs and bacteria. Ensure to wash them well with hot water safe for fabrics and use suitable bleach to remove germs. When handling dirty clothes, carry them in a basket to avoid direct contact. Then, put them directly into a washing machine and clean your hands immediately.
- Boost Your Immune System
You can help your body fight diseases by consuming vitamins and minerals known to boost the immune system. According to experts, vitamin C and zinc can prevent and reduce the duration of colds. Vitamin D is also believed to enhance the immune system.
- Get Some Fresh Air
The primary reason diseases spread faster in winter is that people stay indoors, sharing the same air. Keeping windows open for some time or stepping out for fresh air can do magic in clearing your lungs. If that’s hard to do, you may need to invest in an air purifier. Some makes are designed to eliminate inactive bacteria and allergens and neutralize viruses.
- Isolate Yourself
If possible, isolate yourself from sick people. If you’re the one infected with the flu, remain at home. Ensure to cover your mouth when coughing. Likewise, you might need to keep your distance to prevent cold spread if you can’t isolate.
- Get Enough Sleep
According to some research, individuals who sleep less than seven hours are more likely to catch colds than their counterparts who sleep more than seven hours. Quality regular sleep strengthens one’s immune system, enabling the body to fight off flu, colds, and other illnesses.
- Utilizing Early Detection Strategies
Recognizing flu symptoms early can significantly improve your management and response to the illness, which is crucial for quick recovery and minimizing the spread to others. Early detection allows for timely treatment, helping to alleviate symptoms and potentially shorten the duration of the illness. One useful tool in your arsenal could be the FDA EUA Authorized Rapid At Home Flu Test Kits, which enable you to test for the flu from the comfort of your home and get results quickly. Along with regular health monitoring, these kits can be an efficient way to stay on top of your health during flu season, ensuring you take the necessary precautions and treatments without delay. This approach not only benefits individual health but also assists in controlling the spread within communities.
Conclusion
As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. During flu season, it’s essential to practice safety precautions to avoid infection. The flu is a transmittable disease that can affect everyone in your home once a single person is infected. Luckily, you can successfully distance yourself and the flu with the above tips.
5 comments
To stay healthy during flu season, also remember to keep the humidity level in your home within norm. The ideal relative humidity for health and comfort is somewhere between 30-50% humidity. Low humidity causes dry skin, a sore throat and can even increase your likelihood of catching a cold or the flu. With less relative humidity, virus particles are able to travel farther in the air. The flu may even spread more rapidly in the upper respiratory tract when it’s dry.
Good suggestions! Thank you. Another thing you may want to do is to install an ultraviolet air treatment system in your home. This system emits powerful, germicidal ultraviolet (UV-C) light which sterilizes and reduces airborne microorganisms as they pass through the system.
@ ESCO:
Good point!
@ Polestar:
That’s a good point! However, upgrading air conditioner filters to a HEPA filters with high MERV level is not enough. You should also remember to replace them regularly. According to this source https://escoutah.com/breathe-easy-tips-improve-indoor-air-quality/, better to check them monthly and replace it when filty. Dirty filters are a real enemy to your health, since all pollutants and viruses came from the outside, are not caught by them, but begin to circulate throughout your home.
Another thing you should really do in order to minimize the risk of infection is to replace your standard air conditioner filters with HEPA ones. The higher the filter rate, the cleaner the air in the house. So, MERV 16 indicates that it can easily remove particles at a size of 0.3 to 1 micron. In simple terms, MERV 16 filters capture 98% of airborne viruses in the home.