Stop the spread of nasty illnesses this cold and flu season, with these six simple and easy to implement tips that will help protect your family’s health.
A change in season can often bring a rise in cold and flus and other nasty illnesses – a risk that can be easily minimised with some simple personal hygiene habits. With Autumn now upon us and the threat of coronavirus gaining momentum around the world, it seems an appropriate time to touch on the basic personal practices you can put in place now to prevent illness and better protect the health of you and your family.
These 6 tips will strongly decrease your chance of picking up bugs this season, and The World Health Organisation even sights these tips as a good protective measure against the new coronavirus.
1. Keep Your Distance
Stand a metre away from anyone coughing or sneezing so that no germ particles (ew!) make their way to your body.
2. Wash Your Hands
And wash them regularly! Keep hand wash in the bathroom, kitchen, and at work so that it’s easy to do this regularly. I like to keep an alcohol based hand-sanitiser in my bag (and even send the kids to school with one in their bags) which I can uses regularly throughout the day. It’s also good to use a hand sanitiser after shaking hands with someone.
3. Cough + Sneeze Properly
Yes, there is a proper way to sneeze and it’s good to teach your children this at a young age. Tissues are great for coughing and sneezing into, and should be thrown out immediately after use. If you don’t have a tissue though, get in the habit of coughing and sneezing into your bent elbow as opposed to your hands. This will prevent you from spreading your germs by touching shared surfaces after sneezing or coughing into your hands.
4. Keep A Clean Home
We spend so much time at home – sleeping, showering, eating – which makes us very susceptible to picking up illnesses from other family members at home. Cold and flu germs can last on surfaces for some time, and apparently even the coronavirus can persist on surfaces for up to several days! Here are a few cleaning tips for a germ free home that will help you and your family stay germ free during the cold and flu season.
5. Don’t Touch Your Face
Kids are particularly bad at touching EVERYTHING and then touching their eyes, nose and mouth. This is a very common way to catch viruses because the germs that are picked up on our hands are easily transferred to our bodies through the eyes, nose or mouth. This is another reason why it’s very important to wash our hands before we eat.
6. Know When To Rest… And When To See A Doctor
If you or your child feels unwell, take the time to rest and try to stay home so that you can keep your bugs to yourself. If someone in your family has a fever, a bad cough or is struggling to breathe, get to a doctor sooner rather than later – it’s always best to err on the side of caution when it comes to these things (especially when it comes to our precious babies!).
HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR FAMILY HEALTHY?
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