The holiday season often sees an uptick in several common illnesses that can interfere with your daily life. While these illnesses don’t often pose a severe threat, catching a cold or the flu isn’t how anyone wants to spend their time around the holidays. There are many illnesses that come along around the holiday season. CheckPoint is here to tell you how to stay healthy ahead of them. 

How To Stay Healthy Ahead Of The Holidays

Perhaps the biggest reason why we see more cases of common seasonal illnesses around the holidays is that people often gather more frequently during this period. This gives germs more chances to spread. Not only that, but increases in travel mean that germs are introduced into different areas, giving them a chance to reach and infect even more people. Luckily there are several ways you can easily increase your chances of warding off pesky seasonal illnesses that don’t require medicine or a trip to the doctor. 

Tips For Avoiding Colds

The most common seasonal illness is the common cold. The common cold is a generic name for viral infections that, according to some estimates, infect Americans about 1 billion times per year.  What you might not know is how easy it is to keep you and your family safe this year when the common cold comes back around. 

It should be no surprise that one of the best ways to protect yourself is simply by washing your hands. Washing your hands often for at least 20 seconds under warm water with soap can greatly reduce your chances of catching a cold. According to the CDC, regular handwashing is one of the best ways to eliminate germs that may be living on your hands. 

Avoid touching your face, mouth, or eyes. This is another very common way that the common cold can infect you from either your environment or from contact with another person who may be infected with the cold virus.

What you may not know is that getting enough sleep can also help prevent infection. Your body needs sleep, and when you are not getting adequate, restful sleep, your immune system can lag and leave you more susceptible to catching a cold. 

Flu

Preventive measures for the flu look a lot like keeping yourself free from the cold. Take extra precautions if you are around people you know who have been recently infected. There are also extra steps you can take that can help give you more peace of mind that you and your family are well-protected this holiday season. 

Getting your flu shot is the best way to ensure that you and your family have the best protection against the yearly flu strain. A flu shot can not only help prevent you from contracting the flu, but it can also help keep symptoms milder if you do get sick. Getting your yearly flu shot can help prevent not only you but others from getting the flu virus. 

Diet And Exercise

Often forgotten during the holiday months, maintaining a well-balanced diet and exercise habits can go a long way toward keeping you healthy. Mixing in vegetables to weeknight meals, or going on a walk after work can provide vital nutrients your body needs, and improve your cardiovascular health. 

Limiting alcohol consumption during the holidays may often prove difficult, but increased alcohol consumption can often suppress your immune system and make you more susceptible to seasonal illnesses. 

COVID

Preventing COVID-19 is similar to preventing other viruses like the flu or common cold. Frequent handwashing and avoiding touching your hands and face can help stop COVID-19 before it can make you feel sick. 

As with any other illness, if you feel sick, have a fever, or test positive for COVID-19, stay home from the next party and quarantine for at least 5 days. This will help make sure you and others can get to all of their holiday events this season. 

Stay Healthy This Holiday Season 

Staying healthy ahead of the holidays can be no easy task. However, by taking some mild precautions, and by taking steps that can keep you safe, you won’t need to worry about missing out this holiday season. If you do find yourself ill this holiday, call CheckPoint Urgent Care, which will get you back on your feet in no time.