Winter is in full swing, which means the kids are home and cold and flu season is upon us. Add a global pandemic to the mix and keeping your whole family healthy becomes top priority. If you’re worried about how you’re going to keep everyone healthy all winter long, here are a few tips to help you do just that.
Sanitize Frequently
One of your most effective weapons in the face of winter sicknesses is sanitization. If you make a point to sanitize commonly used surfaces on a regular basis, you’ll be doing a big part to keep bacteria from accumulating on them. When you consider that bacteria can increase up to 31% daily on surfaces that aren’t regularly disinfected, this should become a staple in your everyday cleaning routine. Not sure which surfaces need cleaning most often? Here are a few you should start with:
- Kitchen contertops
- Bathroom faucet handles
- Computer keyboards
- Doorknobs throughout the house
- Desks and tables
When in doubt, look to the high-traffic areas in your home. Which surfaces get touched the most? If you have a landline, the phone is probably a good place to start. Your kitchen and bathroom are also probably high traffic areas that see a lot of family activity. When you take the time to disinfect surfaces in these areas on a regular basis, you’re reducing the number of bacteria that could accumulate there from sources both inside and outside of your home.
Keep Your Medical Appointments
As much as your kids might not love it, keeping everyone’s regularly scheduled medical appointments is critical for maintaining health. Whether someone in your family has a preexisting condition or you’re just going in for a normal physical examination, seeing your family doctor can tip you off to potential problem areas in your family’s diet, exercise levels, and more. It’s especially important to listen to your doctor’s counsel during cold and flu season. Their guidance could very well help you prevent a cold or the flu from spreading around your house this season. Looking for a new doctor? The profession has grown almost 300% over the last 30 years, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding a family practitioner provided they accept your insurance.
Don’t Avoid the Cold
It’s a common misconception that being outside in the cold can actually cause someone to develop a cold. In fact, being inside with strangers and failing to wash your hands is way more likely to result in a case of the common cold than playing in the snow for a few hours. All that said, one of the best ways to keep everyone in your family healthy is to get active and get outside for a little while! Not only is regular physical activity important to a healthy lifestyle, but spending time outside can be great for your mental health, as well. Just make sure everyone is wearing appropriate attire for romping around outside in the snow. The last thing you want is someone slipping and getting injured because they didn’t have snow boots on. Considering that almost 45.6 million people suffered preventable injuries that required medical treatment in 2018 alone, you can spare a few extra minutes to make sure everyone has appropriate footwear and attire for the great outdoors. Once you’re all outside, there’s a world of possibilities waiting for you in the snow!
Staying healthy is about more than eating right and washing your hands. To help your family truly stay well, it’s important to create balance in all things. Hopefully these tips will help you do just that!
