Back to school means back to crowded classrooms with re-circulated atmosphere and shared germs. Although the official flu season does not peak until November, frequent colds and the rising frighten of deadly virus strains like H1N1 begin the moment children return to school.
Let’s understand it
Even if you don’t have children, you are bound to come in direct contact with a child at a certain point in your day between the carts in the supermarket and shaking hands with a businessman/father to three small ones. By improving your body’s natural infection-fighting mechanics, you can oftentimes avoid illness-even if you’re exposed to infectious organisms which are making others sick.
What to do?
- Wash your hands frequently with soap and water. Flu and cold viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing by people with colds or flu. Sometimes individuals can become infected by touching something – like a surface or object like a door handle – with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose. Since your hands come into contact with many distinct objects throughout the day, they have a greater likelihood of attracting germs. You should wash your hands thoroughly and often-for 15-20 minutes with warm soap and water every time you wash. When you can not escape to clean your hands, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. If there are germs on your hands, placing them near your face is your surest way to get them on your system.
- Avoid close proximity to ill men and women. Conversely,if you or your children are ill with flu-like symptoms, the CDC recommends that you stay home from school, work, the gym, etc. for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone. Keep away from others as much as possible to keep from spreading your disease.
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you sneeze. Then throw the tissue in the garbage after you use it and do not touch anyone or anything until you clean your hands.
- Exercise regularly. Keeping fit and active helps to reduce stress, improve oxygen levels in blood, and circulate lymph through the body. Simply 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day can help the immune system to optimally carry out its defense.
- Eat nutrient-rich food. Consume a diverse diet of colorful fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and fish to boost your immune system naturally. Eliminate foods which are void of nutrition such as sugary snacks and fried foods as these actually depress the immune system.
- Breathe loads of fresh air. Open the windows, go for a brisk walk out, sit in the sunshine and breathe in the fresh air. Outdoor exercise in the sunlight benefits by increasing oxygen uptake from the cells. Additionally, it is well-known that sunlight is your best source of vitamin D, but in addition, it aids to create a sense of well-being which then contributes to a better production of these cells, structures, and compounds the body uses to build the immune system.
- Laugh out loud. Laughter lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones, increases muscle flexion, and boosts immune function by raising levels of infection-fighting T-cells, disease-fighting proteins known as Gamma-interferon and B-cells, which create disease-destroying antibodies. Laughter also triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, and produces a general sense of well-being. So throw in a funny movie,read animations, or share humorous stories with a friend-laughter is the best medicine!
- Don’t smoke and avoid second-hand smoke. We consider smoking as causing problems long in the long run, but smokers have a greater rate of instant infection. Using tobacco in any form will reduce the immune function by flooding the body with free radicals. Smoking also affects both your antibodies and your cells that attack foreign substances. Smokers are more likely than non-smokers to have upper and lower respiratory tract infections due to suppressed immune function and paralyzed cilia, the hair-like projections from the lungs which sweep out microbes and other thing that may lead to disease & infection.
- Get sufficient sleep. Keeping a normal sleep routine can help boost the amount of certain hormones that help immune system working. It’s common to see that individuals who suffer from insomnia or other sleep disturbance tend to become sick more often, have more allergies than others, and might even suffer from other immune-related ailments. During sleep our bodies are -charge’ – therefore it’s necessary to aim at getting 7-8 hours of sleep every night.
- Avoid alcohol. While you do not need to quit drinking completely, it’s been shown that individuals who consume more tend to get ill more frequently. If you drink, select a glass of red wine. Besides benefiting the center, a Spanish study found that those who drank a daily glass of red wine had fewer colds then non-wine drinkers.
