This winter safe your family from the flu

Wintertime seems to breed illness and disease, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Keep your family safe this winter from the flu by prevention. Prevention is the key to happiness and healthiness during this cold and flu season. Thousands of people are hospitalized every year because of the flu, and several thousand people actually die from it each year. These simple flu prevention tips will help keep you and your family out of that group so that you can enjoy the season, flu-free.

Prevention

The easiest way to prevent the flu virus is to make sure that you and your family members all receive a flu shot. It is recommended that those with weaker immune systems (i.e. elderly people, young children) definitely receive a flu shot, but it is advisable that everyone receive a flu shot, regardless of age. Even though the flu sounds rather tame, those with weak immune systems have a much harder time recovering from the flu, and even those with healthy immune systems may have a hard time recovering. Your flu shot is the best prevention tool.

Tips

Besides a flu shot, the best way to avoid the flu is to adhere to the following tips:

Don’t share utensils or drinks with anyone—even if they aren’t sick. Anyone could be carrying a budding flu virus and simply not have any symptoms yet.

Wash your hands often with soap and hot water. Germs lurk everywhere around us, from car steering wheels to pens to countertops. Washing your hands often to get rid of the germs you pick up is an easy way to prevent spreading the virus germs. Wash your hands, especially after contact with others, after coming home from work or school, before eating, and after you cough or sneeze.

Avoid touching your nose, mouth, or eyes. The most common way that the flu virus spreads is by touching something that has the flu virus germs on it, and then touching your nose, mouth, or eyes. Keeping your hands off your face is a very effective flu prevention tip.

The flu is very contagious. People who have the virus are contagious a day before they start showing flu symptoms and up to five days after the symptoms appear. Avoid contact with people that are sick, as they can more easily spread their germs to you. The virus is easily passed from one person to another by coughing or sneezing, so avoid contact with people doing so.
If you start to feel as though you may be coming down sick, take the day off to recover and rest. Even if it’s not the flu, it’s best to nip the illness in the bud and take care of it yourself. If you do catch the flu virus, definitely take a few days off so that you can recover and don’t infect others.

To keep your family safe from the virus, disinfect countertops at home and vacuum and dust often to ensure that your house stays fresh and that germs that may travel home from work or school can be killed instantly. It’s also important to take care of your immune system by exercising regularly and eating healthy. It’s difficult, but not impossible, to keep your family healthy during the cold and flu season.

Flu symptoms include fever, exhaustion, congestion, achiness, and sometimes a runny nose and sore throat. Flu symptoms often occur abruptly. If you experience any of these symptoms, the best thing to do is to rest and your body to recover.