January 10th, 2013 Wash Your Hands! Avoid the Flu
The flu is making it’s miserable rounds again. Symptoms of this year’s flu are coughing, sneezing, fever, nasal congestion, overall weakness. There are two really powerful things you can do to either avoid getting the flu this year (and any other year, actually) or to reduce the intensity of the flu if you do get it.
1. Wash your hands. The flu virus can live for many hours on surfaces like doorknobs, desktops, bathroom floors and counters, pencils, cell phones … etc etc. If you touch something in public, wash your hands. It’s that simple, really. Lots of soap. Lots of water. Wash those little buggers right down the drain.
2. Don’t touch your mouth, nose, or ears. At all. The main way you will infect yourself is by touching a contaminated surface and then introducing the virus to your mouth, nose, or eyes. Don’t touch your face at all unless you’ve just washed your hands.
If you want to do even more to prevent the flu, Moneyning.com has a good list of 12 tips for avoiding the flu. The last one is to drink a little alcohol. Yes, it really does say that. Now, I don’t know if it is true or not, but it sure sounds like a good excuse to relax with a small glass of good wine. See for yourself at Moneying – 12 Tips for Avoiding the Flu (without a flu shot)
Now stay healthy!
January 20th, 2013 at 10:16 pm
So simple, yet so affective. I am good at the washing the hands part but will have to practice with rubbing my face.
I don’t wear mascara because I’ve noticed that I always rub my eyes and smudge it all over my face.
Perhaps observing how often I rub my face may have more benefits than I realized.
Priska recently posted..Can Positive Thinking distort your view of reality and make life appear worse?
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Patti Reply:
January 20th, 2013 at 11:48 pm
I’ve been trying to be more aware of how often I touch my face, especially after I’ve been in contact with something like a shopping cart. I figure that if a simple habit can prevent a lot of grief and unpleasant illness, then the habit is well worth it.
I’m with you on the mascara problem … I have to wear ultra waterproof mascara.
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January 20th, 2013 at 11:26 pm
I’m terrible at washing my hands. You’d think I would have learned after being bed-ridden by the flu for 6 weeks a few years back….
I think the problem is that 99.9% of the times that I don’t wash my hands, I don’t get sick, so emotionally the argument that I should wash my hands is unconvincing.
On the other hand, I’m eager to apply tips 11 and 12 – de-stress and consume alcohol 🙂
Amit Amin recently posted..Money Secret #3: The Stoic’s Guide To Buying Happiness
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Patti Reply:
January 20th, 2013 at 11:37 pm
I was intrigued by the “consume alcohol” tip too … I wonder if it’s the relaxing effect or the disinfecting power of the alcohol itself that makes it a method of preventing the flu? Or just an excuse someone made up? It sounds good, doesn’t it?
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January 21st, 2013 at 11:42 pm
It seems everyone is sick with the flu, and like Amit, this one takes 6 weeks off of a productive life. I had to take lessons in this because my dr. says I’m already 3 strikes down (autoimmune,enbrel, chemo) so everyone has to be careful (I have such caring friends). Now tomorrow I have to go into the hospital for the day and sit for tests, etc. Good advice. I learned it was more than 15 sec under hot water. I am also intrigued by the wine. I’ll bring that up the next time the dr lectures me 😉 This is your PSA, Patti 😉
Lee J Tyler recently posted..An Intro to Procrastination, Neuroscience and Writer’s Block
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Patti Reply:
January 23rd, 2013 at 3:28 pm
Hello Lee, I hope all went well with your day of testing. The “15 seconds under hot water” rule is good to keep in mind for hand washing. That is probably a lot longer than most of us are in the habit of doing.
Hmmm … I do wonder what the doctor will have to say about the wine being a prevention of the flu! I’m still curious about that one. 🙂
Sending you lots of healing thoughts and asking any one else reading this to do the same!
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