The abrupt changes in our bodies, including the constantly changing environment, can cause varying risk factors in people's overall health. Therefore, making healthy habits more important to practice to help prevent common illnesses like cold and flu from occurring. While viruses can spread all year round worldwide, cold and flu seasons can commonly affect thousands of people of all ages simultaneously.
Although one can be affected by cold and flu any time of the day, the peak season can happen at the end of the year, continuing until the early months of the following year. Common causes include differing viruses that can easily enter the body through air passageways like the nose and mouth, including the eyes. But what are the ways one can do to prevent seasonal colds and flu? Continue reading to learn more.
1. Avoid Close Contact
As mentioned, cold and flu are common respiratory illnesses caused by different viruses that are contagious. This means these illnesses can be spread directly or indirectly from one person to another. Avoiding close contact with people having symptoms can mean preventing getting sick. In similar situations, if you feel any symptoms, avoiding close contact with others can also help avoid spreading the illness.
Contagious periods can last for about one day to two weeks, depending on how long a person has cold and flu symptoms. Remember that as long as others have the symptoms, you are not safe from getting sick, and vice versa. What are the symptoms to look at? Symptoms that may occur after exposure may include cough, sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, congestion, low fever, body aches, and mild headaches.
Avoiding close contact can also mean staying at home when feeling sick. Keeping away from people and hafting regular activities at school, work, etc., can help prevent the spreading of the illness to others. Additionally, taking Cold and Flu over-the-counter medications early, within two days, can help ease the symptoms and possibly reduce sick time.
2. Wash Hands Regularly
Every day in our lives, we encounter and get in contact with different things around us. Washing your hands regularly can help maintain cleanliness and protect you from common illnesses like cold and flu. Handwashing is the simplest yet most effective way to clean your hands.
Simply use antibacterial soap and rinse them with clean water. Moreover, use ample time to ensure you get rid of and inactivate the membrane of the existing germs and viruses. If soap is unavailable, you can directly use hand sanitizers that are alcohol-based for similar hand-cleaning effectiveness.
This simple healthy habit can help ensure that germs and similar viruses causing colds and flu can't get inside the eyes, nose, and mouth. This is because most people touch these entry points without even realizing it.
3. Eat Vegetables
Maintaining a healthy immune system by eating vegetables is one great way to protect yourself from getting the common cold and flu. Most significantly, green-leafed vegetables significantly provide the body with necessary vitamins and other health advantages to enhance immune system functions.
A healthy and well-balanced diet involving numerous fruits and vegetables high in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fibers is key to stimulating and boosting activities in the immune cells. These healthy intakes can help the body become strong and enable it to fight back illnesses efficiently.
4. Get Vitamins
Aside from the natural source of vitamins and minerals like vegetables and fruits, taking supplements rich in specific vitamins and minerals is necessary to boost the immune system. Healthy habits include taking vitamin D, C, and zinc supplements to help the body acquire the necessary needs for immune system stimulation and functions.
Vitamin C, particularly, supports immune cell formations and eventually contributes to the body's protection against microorganisms. On the other hand, Vitamin D supplements play a significant role in regulating the immune cells during infection. Moreover, Zinc can help reduce and ease occurring symptoms and possibly help reduce cold duration, including avoiding a number of respiratory infections.
Simply put, allowing yourself to get the necessary vitamins can help boost the immune system, fight viruses and infections and help the body quickly recover from common illnesses.
5. Exercise
Keeping the body active is another healthy habit one should regularly practice. Doing simple exercises like walking, running, or other routine exercises is enough and helpful to keep the body moving.
How is this helpful in preventing colds and flu, including other health risks? An active body can equate to the active circulation of white blood cells, or WBC, disease-fighting cells in the body's immune system.
Moreover, the increase in body temperature and movement caused by exercising can help increase WBC counts and destroy bacteria in the body. Thus, minimizing the risk of infection formation, fighting viruses, and keeping the body strong and healthy.
Conclusion
Cold and flu season is for sure around the corner whenever we are on the calendar. Though many factors can be the causes of the growing number of common illnesses occurring, these can be prevented and avoided with proper and healthy habits. Healthy habits come with discipline and effort to keep the body stable and achieve its optimum state to help fight against common illnesses.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of sciencetimes.com
