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cold and flu prevention

Flu and Cold Prevention Tips
Health and Fitness

Tips and Products to Stay Healthy During the Cold and Flu Season

With new products ready to keep pesky bacteria at bay this cold and flu season, along with tried-and-tested tips, there's still no sure way of stopping the germs — especially if you've got kids.
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With new products ready to keep pesky bacteria at bay this cold and flu season, along with tried-and-tested tips, there's still no sure way of stopping the germs — especially if you've got kids. Parents seem evenly split between opting for the vaccine and fighting the flu with their own methods. Being prepared is the first step to staying healthy this cold and flu season. Click through for simple tips and a few products, that might make your life less sniffly this Fall. What's your family's secret sick-busting weapon? Leave a comment below and share!

Source: Flickr user mikeyskatie
Wash Your Hands Load Up on Vitamin C Method Antibac Wipes On-the-Go Cleaning Pack a Reusable Water Bottle Load Up on Tissues Eat Some Yogurt
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Should My Kids Get a Flu Shot?
parenting

Tell the Truth: Does Your Kid Get a Flu Shot?

It's hard to believe, but if you look around you'll notice that in addition to falling leaves, it's also cold and flu season, and just about every pharmacy is offering a flu shot to those who want one.
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It's hard to believe, but if you look around you'll notice that in addition to falling leaves, it's also cold and flu season, and just about every pharmacy is offering a flu shot to those who want one. With kids back in school, stuffy noses are popping up all over the place — even at my home. While simmering a big pot of homemade chicken soup and offering my daughter orange-juice-filled sippy cups, calling the pediatrician to schedule a flu shot seemed like the smartest thing to do this Fall season.

But is getting a flu shot the best way to prevent getting sick this cold and flu season? With the vaccination needing two weeks to take full effect and the height of flu season due to hit mid-October, scheduling the shot sooner rather than later ensures your lil one may be protected. Even if your tot gets vaccinated, she's still at risk of getting the flu, making the shot an opportunity to expose her to various strains, which might come with side effects including rash, headache, fever, and hives. With many parents still nervous about vaccinating their kids, getting a flu shot is once again a hot-button issue.

Reducing exposure to the virus is the best way to prevent the flu. Eating healthy, spending time outdoors, enjoying regular exercise, and washing hands can also reduce the chances for catching the flu. But kids are social butterflies, making hitting the local playground, playing with friends at school, and even visiting the grocery store during the flu season big opportunities for exposing kids to thousands of germs.

Tell the truth — does your kid get a flu shot each year or do you take the risk that they might get sick?

How to Prevent Getting Sick in Yoga Class
Yoga

How Yoga Classes Can Make You Sick

Sweating it out in yoga class could result in a case of the sniffles, and not because you're sweating out toxins.
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Sweating it out in yoga class could result in a case of the sniffles, and not because you're sweating out toxins. You get sick because you're coming in contact with germs and your immune system is losing. Here are four ways to effectively battle germs during yoga class.

  • Borrowing a studio mat: I don't know what's more gross: how many people have sweat on those mats, or when was the last time these communal mats were cleaned. Either way, eww. It's time to invest in your very own yoga mat to keep germs at bay.
  • The teacher assists you: Of course the instructor is only trying to correct your alignment and help you get a deeper stretch, but she also helped Ellen, and Bobby, and Sue, and who knows who else and what germs they have. During cold and flu season I politely opt out of assists, and I've noticed a huge decrease in how often I come down with a cold.

Keep reading to learn more strategies for staying well while getting your asana on.

Fittingly Mad: Don't Share?
Rant

Fittingly Mad: Don't Share?

I have decided that little kids are germ factories disguised as our utterly cute progeny.
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I have decided that little kids are germ factories disguised as our utterly cute progeny. Our love for them shadows the truth of that fact. Recently, at yet another doctor's appointment, I was told to not share food with my kids as a means of protection, of self preservation through these viral times. Saliva is a major transmitter of germs.

It sounded so logical, so plausible, until I got to the dinner table that night. Do you know how impossible it is to NOT share food with your kids? We are in the "learning how to share" phase of toddler life. Let me tell you it is a long learning process. Since I have to model behavior I really feel like I can't say "No." Especially when I hear the words "bite please mama" come out of my toddler's mouth.

Plus, even though she starts her meal on her own, she eventually climbs onto my lap. She eats from my plate and asks for bites from my fork and she is fast. Sometime she steals a bite off my fork that was actually headed for my mouth.

That was the craziest advice I have ever heard. Urrrggghhh- don't share food with your kids. Urrrggghhh.

Give your Immune System a Boost
sleep

Give your Immune System a Boost

I am paranoid about the flu, I'll admit it.
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I am paranoid about the flu, I'll admit it. So I'm putting my paranoia to good use and figuring out simple ways to boost my immune system and I would like to share them with you.

One of the easiest ways is to sleep at least 7 - 9 hours a night. For me, this might mean going to bed a little early since I am not always in control of my wake up time. My 20 month old daughter IS my alarm clock.

Or course exericise is beneficial too - it is my answer for all the ills of the world. Working out helps to strengthen your immune system and increases the body’s natural virus-killing cells. This is why if you have a little cold it is good to do a light work out.

Eating nuts and sunflower seeds also gives your immune system a little boost since they are high in Vitamin E. Vitamin C might get all the press, but Vitamin E is the unsung hero of your immune system since it helps stimulate the production of natural killer cells that seek out and destroy germs. It helps you fight the good fight.

I'm going to chomp on some seeds right now.