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Preventing the Flu: Good Health Habits Can Help Stop Germs
The single best way to prevent seasonal flu is to get vaccinated each year, but good health habits like covering your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, and washing your hands frequently, can often help stop the spread of germs and prevent most respiratory illnesses like the common cold and the flu.
1. Avoid close contact.
Avoid close contact with people who are sick (if you have close contact, wear a paper mask over your nose and mouth and wash your hands frequently). When you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick too.
2. Stay home when you are sick.
If possible, stay home from work, school, and errands when you are sick. You will help prevent others from catching your illness. The Centers for Disease Control recommends that you stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone.
3. Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing.
Covering your mouth when you cough, or covering your nose when you sneeze with your hand will NOT PREVENT GERMS FROM BEING DISPERSED IN THE AIR.
If you must cough or sneeze, cover BOTH your nose and mouth with a tissue, and then put the your used tissue into a waste basket. Alternatively, you can cough or sneeze into the crook of your elbow.
Aerosolized viral particles can transmit infection for several hours.
4. Wash your hands frequently.
Several studies have highlighted the importance of washing your hands frequently with soap and water for 20 seconds (regular soap is as effective as anti-bacterial soap) or with an alcohol-based hand cleaner (like Purell), wiping your hands until they are dry.
5. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
A University of California at Berkeley study videotaped college students as they read or typed on their laptops. On the average, the students touched their eyes, noses and lips 47 times during a three-hour period, once every 4 minutes.
Germs can enter the body through breaks in the skin or through the membranes of the eyes, mouth and nose. The eyes appear to be a particularly vulnerable port of entry for viral infections, said Mark Nicas, a professor of health science at Berkeley.
6. Practice other good health habits.
Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food.