'Tis The Season

'Tis the season for spreading germs! I have had quite a few run ins with being sick this time of year, it's never fun. Here's a few tips for staying healthy this holiday season.

Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands. I just went to orientation at a Fairview Hospital for volunteering. The general rule is any time you touch something that sick people have been in contact with you wash your hands before and you wash your hands afterwards. Their instructions for hand washing is as follows:

Turn the faucet on, rinse hands & then pump out soap. Scrub your hands at least thirty seconds or the tune of the ABC's or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Clean in between fingers, under fingernails, and all the way past the wrist. To clean off the soap place finger tips together and facing down. Start rinsing at the wrist. The idea here is to wash germs off and not back up. Use papertowel to open doors if possible. I usually wipe my hands off and then take one all the way back to my office and then dispose of it.

Cover that cough!! When my parents' generation was younger they were told to cover their coughing with their hand. When I had bronchitis in high school the doctor told me the younger, hipper generation was being taught to cover their mouths with the inside of their elbow. Rarely does one shake elbows, and it is still easily accessible. I've noticed many people who have a cough that lingers do so because in my opinion they keep the germs so close by. Instead of coughing into your hand and then touching your keyboard, phone, keys, glass, pen, etc. cough into your elbow and keep your hands clean and germ free.

Curb your oral fixation!! I have a problem with biting my nails, nervous habit. Well, even though I love to bite my nails I have a rule, no biting my nails during the cold and flu season, no chewing on pen caps or anything else that places dirty, germy objects anywhere near my mouth.

Lysol Wipes - Use 'em! Whenever I get sick at work I usually take no more than a few days before I've completely recovered. My trick? The second I detect a cold or the swine coming on I follow the above rules and a few others to help me get over the germs faster. Here's the if you do get sick guide.

1 - Drink TONS of water. Avoid alcohol, avoid soda. Drink juices, drinks with electrolytes, and water. Stay hydrated.
2 - CONSTANTLY wash your hands, even after touching regular surfaces. Our office has alcohol based waterless gel soap (aka Purell) and I use it every time I am in the copy room.
3 - Wash your pillow case EVERY night. When I had the swine flu I slept on a different pillow case every night. I washed my sheets as often as possible. When I was done being sick I made sure to change out my sheets as well.
4 - Gargle Listerine. Once in the morning, once in the evening, once before bed. If you're home sick and can do this more often I'd suggest once an hour. Kill the germs.
5 - Do NOT share beverages. No this is not an anti-mono speech, but rather something way worse. A few years ago my entire family had to be given medication for bacterial meningicoccal. What's that you say? Well it's the worst form of bacterial meningitis. How did we come in contact with it? Well, my Aunt Becki forgot to get her yearly shot for said disease because she has a weakened immune system. Not only did she put herself at danger, but she could also have been carrying the disease to the rest of us. How? Well it's Christmas, people were tasting each other's drinks, etc. The doctors decided to aire on the side of caution. The moral of the story is, eat off of your fork, drink out of your glass. Just because someone 'feels fine' doesn't mean they aren't carrying some sort of illness.