The holidays are a wonderful time of year filled with good food, time with loved ones, and memorable moments that will last forever. Unfortunately, the holiday season is one of the easiest times to get sick due to increased exposure to other people and poor health habits. To ensure you don’t end up with a bug this holiday, we recommend following these preventive tricks.
How to Prevent Holiday Sickness
1. Be Careful When Traveling
If you are traveling this holiday season, whether by bus, train, plane, or even boat, you will come into contact with a tremendous amount of people and their germs. There is a good chance one of those people will have a cold, the flu, or even COVID-19. To minimize your chance of also getting sick, we recommend:
- Washing your hands frequently or use hand sanitizer
- Avoid touching your face
- Wear a mask
- Practice social distancing when possible
- Drink plenty of water
- Get lots of rest
- Load up on vitamins
If possible, take non-public transportation. Rather than getting in a taxi, ask a friend for a ride to the airport. Rather than taking an airport shuttle, book a private car. Rather than taking the bus, drive yourself.
2. Clean A LOT When Hosting
Rather than being the traveler, you may have people traveling to you! If you are hosting holiday events, it exposes your home to every guests’ germs. To keep your home extra safe, we recommend asking your guests to do the following:
- Wash their hands when they arrive
- Wash their hands or use hand sanitizer before meals
- Don’t come if they are ill or have come in contact with an ill person
If your guests took mass transit to get to your home, and they are staying overnight with luggage, we advise having them:
- Spray their luggage and shoes with disinfectants before coming into the house
- Change out of their transportation clothes to be washed and switch to clean clothes
- Taking a shower to remove germs from their skin and hair
When you have guests, you also want to take preventive measures to decrease germs. We suggest regularly disinfecting high-traffic areas such as kitchen countertops, doorknobs, and remotes. Also, leaving out hand sanitizer, especially in dining zones, is a great way to remind guests to clean their hands.
3. Take Care of Yourself
The holidays can be stressful, leading people to modify their lifestyles in an unhealthy way that makes them more susceptible to getting sick. It would be best if you always remembered to take care of yourself, which includes:
- Getting plenty of sleep
- Practicing regular exercise
- Eating a balanced diet with lots of vitamins
- Drinking lots of water
- Skipping overconsumption of sweets and alcohol
- Taking time to relax and destress
Suppose you are one to forget all these essential steps. In that case, we recommend adding them to your calendar, making a daily checklist, or getting your whole family (and even your guests) into a positive holiday routine so everyone leaves healthy and happy.
Feel like you are getting sick? Stop by your local First Care for quick treatment!
