With cold and flu season fast approaching it’s time to take steps to prepare yourselves and hopefully avoid coming down with even the sniffles. Here are 3 tips for getting through flu season safely. Also, remember how important it is to eat healthy foods; what goes in your body is a direct result of how you feel outwardly. Find out how to eat healthy in your busy world.
Vaccinate!
Active duty military members are required to get a flu shot. Base medical will provide them for free. Most pharmacies will also do free flu shots for active duty members. Your Tricare may even cover the dependents co-pay as well. Also, look into whether or not your base is doing a Shot-Ex. This is a mass vaccination for anyone with a DoD ID. While the flu shot doesn’t guard against every strand of the flu out there, the majority of them do help you from getting the most severe strands. The CDC suggests that everyone over the age of 6 months get vaccinated unless they have an allergy to eggs or the flu vaccine, have had Guillain-Barre Syndrome, or are already severely sick.
Sanitize!
We teach our kids in children’s church a silly little phrase that seems fitting for this time of year. “Wash your hands and say your prayers, because Jesus and germs are everywhere.” Wash your hands thoroughly and often. Remember that if you touch something others have touched, such as door knobs and office supplies, you’re passing germs back and forth. Invest in some Clorox wipes and Lysol spray. Keep your home and office clean and try to avoid touching your eyes, mouth, and face during this season. Germs enter your system more easily with that type of contact. Check out these great home remedies to combat the flu.
Be Considerate!
I know it’s hard to miss work. Sometimes it seems impossible to take a sick day and of course our parents did teach us all to share. But when it comes to germs, if you’re sick please keep them to yourself. You know you hate when you go to work and the guy in the cubicle next to you is sharing his plague so please don’t be that person. Stay home, find some NyQuil and enjoy a Netflix marathon. It’s suggested you stay home for a full 24 hours after flu symptoms are gone and your fever has broken to reduce the risk of passing on the cold to others.