Fa La La La - Cold and Flu Season is Here!!!!

As the winter days shorten, so return the sniffles and sore throats. This is the onset of cold and flu season, when germs travel easily from person to person as we spend more time together indoors. Everything can be a breeding ground for germs, computer keyboards, door knobs, telephones, shopping cart handles and escalator railings.
Germs get spread by hand-to-hand contact, by touching a contaminated surface or by being spewed through the air in droplets as someone sneezes, coughs or talks. The average adult gets about two to four colds a year, while children get about six to 10, mostly in the fall and winter months. Each year 5-20% of the populations comes down with the flu and some get sick enough to be hospitalized. The difference between the common cold and the flu is the severity of the fever. The flue is usually accompanied with fever, aches and pains and congestion in the lungs while a cold is more in your head, but both are contagious.
Colds tend to linger for a week to 10 days while the flue is shorter but carries a bigger wallop which leaves the sufferers feeling drained and exhausted longer. Here are some tips for staying healthy this season. The number one preventative measure for killing germs is washing hands. The CDC recommends washing hands, both tops and palms, for about 20 seconds with soap, then rinsing. Wash before eating and preparing food. Wash after using the bathroom, blowing your nose, changing a diaper and caring for a sick person. For anyone who handles food they must wash their hands: Before starting work, after taking a break, after going to the restroom, after handling refuse and refuse bins, before and after handling food, after touching their hair, nose and face, after smoking, eating or drinking, and after applying dressing to a wound.
Effective Proper Handwashing Technique:
Wet your hands with warm running water.
Add soap, then rub your hands together, making a soapy lather.
Wash the front and back of your hands as well as between your fingers and under your nails.
Rinse your hands well under warm running water. Turn off the sink with a paper towel and dispose in proper receptacle.
Dry hands thoroughly with a clean towel.If washing your hands with soap is not doable, slather on hand sanitizer.
Steer clear of anyone sneezing, blowing his nose or coughing, or at least give them room of at least six feet. You should cover your moth when you cough and sneeze with a tissue or into your elbow (“the Dracula cough”)
You should try to stay home from work if you are coughing and wheezing because otherwise in all probability you will pass that cold on to someone else.
In addition to that, wipe surfaces, desks and tables, phones, steering wheels—with disinfectants and cleansers periodically.
The best protection against the flu virus is the yearly flu shot. This year’s vaccine is made up of three flu viruses. Keeping your body healthy with a good diet, regular exercise and sleep will help guard against viruses. People who have stress get viruses and get more colds.
There has not been an effective study to suggest Vitamin C supplements help reduce the incident of colds, however zinc may be helpful, if taken at the first onset of a cold to reduce the length of time for recover. Just remember if you get a cold there is no cure it just has to run its course.  Stay healthy!!