The winter season brings many wonderful things with it: family gatherings, amazing food, presents, snow, and so on. However, the colder temperatures of winter also mean that you are placed at a greater risk of catching a cold of one form or another and potentially spreading it to the very friends and loved ones you were hoping to reconnect with.
Often Wash Your Hands
If there is one thing that the pandemic is good for, it is reminding people how often they should wash their hands. Dirty hands carry the very germs that can lead to colds and even the flu. While it is perfectly plausible to catch a cold from germs hanging in the air of particulates released during a cough or sneeze, the chances of catching a cold are much higher by touching surfaces containing those germs. Remember to wash before meals, after using the bathroom, and as part of your routine upon coming home.
Run Your HVAC System
While you might think that just running the heater will help stave off a cold by keeping you and the rooms of your home nice and warm, the truth of the matter is that an active HVAC system ensures that air circulates throughout a structure. By circulating air, you deny viruses a chance to malinger in the still air and give everyone under your roof an extra level of protection against catching a cold. If you think that your heating and air conditioning are overdue for an upgrade, feel free to reach out to an HVAC company.
Avoid Touching Your Face
Any time that you have been out in public or otherwise near a place with a high concentration of germs, you should wash your hands as soon as you can. Germs are smart enough to know where best to enter the body and the various orifices of the human face, like the nostrils, mouth, eyes, and ears, are all easily reached after you scratch your cheek, wipe your nose or otherwise touch some part of your skin around the face.
Regularly Clean Common Surfaces
Dirty surfaces are literal breeding grounds for germs so you must regularly give them a cleaning. If you are planning on hosting any sort of gathering, consider upping the frequency of how often you clean common spaces like your living room, dining room, bathroom, and kitchen. You should also be sure to clean doorknobs, handles, and light switches since those are certain to see lots of use from hands that might be covered in germs. While obsession is never a good thing, it is better to clean slightly too often than to not clean often enough.
Get A Good Amount of Rest
Sleep is how the human body can not only recharge its energy levels but also restore its defenses. Burning the midnight oil to get finish some last-minute holiday shopping or cooking can leave you just a bit more susceptible to infection and disease. While the average human adult needs seven to eight hours of rest to be at peak performance, children can require anywhere from 10 to 14 hours, depending on their age.
Eat Well-Balanced Meals
While the winter season is great for feasting on a lot of amazing foods, you must remember to cover your nutritional basics amid all of the feastings. A body that has been fueled with a well-balanced meal is more easily able to resist infections; giving those body antioxidants can only bolster the resistance. Try to ensure that you get at least half a plate of fruit and vegetables during every lunch and dinner.
Keep Active
While a good exercise session can do wonders for keeping the holiday pounds away, it also suppresses hormones that cause inflammation during times of stress, like a heated argument between family members, and wakes up your disease-fighting white blood cells. Try to fit at least one 15-minute workout into each day.
Finishing Off
There are many ways of avoiding a cold during the winter months and most of them are rather simple to do. Get your HVAC checked, eat some fruits and vegetables with each meal, exercise daily, keep your hands washed and free of your face, shoot for an eight-hour rest, and regularly clean commonly-touched surfaces like countertops and handles.
