flu | Health And Wellness Tips

Fight Flu Germs-Winter Season Down Fall

Winter is a fun time of year. The landscape is covered in white, you have plenty of holidays to spend with loved ones, it generally is a good time of year. But it also has it’s downsides. Winter is also the time of year when the flu runs rampant and everyone seems to be getting sick. Getting the flu is something nobody wants, we would all much rather avoid it if we can.

So since the best way of dealing with the flu is to simply not get the flu, you want to Fight flu germs before they get in and cause you harm. There are some tips that can help you do just that and kick the flu to the curb before it lays you up in bed.

1. Get plenty of exercise. Exercise is a great way of keeping your body healthy. A healthy body also means a healthy immune system, and the stronger your immune system is, the better chance it has at fending off any pesky invaders like the flu. So keeping it in running order is important.

2. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. While getting exercise is important, your body needs the proper fuel as well. Your body is a machine like any other, it needs proper care and fuel to run, fruits and vegetables have needed vitamins and minerals to keep your body and your immune system running.

3. Get plenty of rest. One of the best ways to Fight flu germs is to simply make sure you get plenty of rest. It can be difficult in a hectic life, especially during the flu season when there just seems to be so much you need to do. But you should try to ensure you get plenty of sleep so your body is well rested and able to fight off invaders.

4. Keep your hands clean. In your daily life you touch quite a few things, from objects to people. This allows you to pick up all sorts of nasty germs just waiting to do your body harm. Pretty much all of these will be dealt with by your immune system, but if your immune system is busy fighting other germs, flu germs may slip past your defenses and start mucking things up. So keeping your hands clean limits the amount of germs you are taking in, allowing your anti-bodies to focus on the real threat.

5. Get a flu shot. The ultimate way to Fight flu germs is to simply get a vaccine. Vaccines work by introducing an inert virus into your body, allowing your immune system to kill it and learn what exactly it is. Once your immune system learns what it is, it can make anti-bodies designed specifically to target and kill that virus, meaning when a flu germ gets inside you, your immune system can react much quicker in destroying it.

If you take preventative measures and keep yourself safe and healthy, the flu should not be much more than a minor inconvenience, allowing you to enjoy the holiday season to it’s fullest.

Children And Flu Vaccine-Tips To Help Fight The Flu During

Children And Flu Vaccine-Tips To Help Fight The Flu During Holidays

With the flu season ever approaching you will want to prepare yourself. The worst thing that can happen during the holiday season is to get bogged down with the flu. There is simply too much going on for you to be stuck at home sick. But what can be even worse is having your kids be the ones to catch the flu. Because then it you have to stay home and take care of them.

Sometimes Children and Flu vaccine do not mix, as there are often a lot of complaining to be had when you try to get them one. So all in all, your child getting the flu is not something you want to deal with. But there are some methods you can use to minimize the risk of them even getting sick.

1. Keep active. Exercise is a great way to boost the immune system, so having your kid remain active and stay in shape allows their immune system to run at peak capacity. Now exercise does not necessarily mean thirty minute workouts or going to the gym. Simply having them run around playing with friends is great exercise. But if they are going to be playing out in the snow make sure they are bundled up tight.

2. Fruits and vegetables. Another method for boosting your child’s immune system is to feed them plenty of fruits and vegetables. These types of foods contain various vitamins and minerals needed for a strong immune system. So simply by changing up their diet you can spare yourself of trying to mix Children and Flu vaccine.

3. Rest. Getting plenty of rest is yet another major component of keeping your children healthy. While exercise is important, recharging after an action packed day is equally as important. If they do not get enough sleep, their body will not be as recharged as it should be and will not be able to fight off the flu as well as it should.

4. Keep their hands clean. Kids love running around and they love to get their hands on things. There are a lot of germs out there and while you do not have to be all OCD over it, you should make sure they wash their hands regularly to prevent them from picking up something particularly nasty. When germs invade their body, it is the immune system that fights them off, but if their immune system is busy fighting off the various small time germs they have picked up, it makes it easier for the flu to move in and take hold. So keeping their hands clean can go a long way towards preventing that.

5. Flu shot. Lastly, and probably the most dreaded preventative measure for any parent is the nightmarish flu shot. As I have said above, Children and Flu vaccine rarely mix well and there is often a lot of complaining to be had. But as painful as it might be, ultimately it is in their best interest. Simply getting a flu shot is probably the best method out there for protecting them against the flu.

The Damaging Nature Of Chronic Fatigue

At first glance, you would think that the term “chronic fatigue” says it all. In medicine, any disease, disorder or illness that has the word “chronic” attached to it means that they persist for more than 6 months, either recurring or not. However, chronic fatigue means more than that.

While it seems pretty straightforward, there is actually so much more to this disorder (or disorders) than what its name suggests. It could mean anywhere from persistent headaches, flu-like symptoms or fatigue that goes on for weeks and months. Some even have to suffer for over a few years. Some never really fully recovered.

Patients normally have to suffer from flu-like sickness that does not subside from medications or rest. Also, there is some degree of debilitating exhaustion that limits one from functioning well. Many patients describe this exhaustion as being worn out even before getting up in the morning. In fact, chronic fatigue is not resolved simply by taking a nap or a longer sleep.

The reverse is often true- the lesser activities a patient performs, the higher are the chances that the illness will get worse. With chronic fatigue, a person is also constantly plagued with foggy thoughts and unstable concentration. As if to make it much worse, the person also simultaneously feels joint and muscle pains, disturbed sleep, sore throat, and general sense of absurd health.

But that is not the end of it. For some, these symptoms develop psychological stress that in turn develops anxiety, depression and irritability. These conditions pose great risks of becoming full-blown disorders if appropriate interventions are not administered.

The sad fact is, people who are affected with chronic fatigue syndrome used to be very healthy, very active individuals. They used to lead very normal lives that were free from any of the aforementioned symptoms. This makes one wonder how a perfectly healthy person in fact one who probably had led a very active, if not exceptionally energetic life turn into someone who is perpetually sick? Good question, but one that is difficult to answer.

There are actually no clear answers as to why chronic fatigue syndrome develops in one person and not to another. Current studies and clinical evidence however suggests that chronic fatigue syndrome can develop after contracting a serious infection or after experiencing extreme levels of stress. Having said that, there are numerous medical cases that purport to these theories, so to speak.

There are, for example, valid estimates where 96% of people who develop chronic fatigue used to actively exercise prior to the onset of the disease. Majority of the patients were also at the prime of their lives when they developed the disease. It is not surprising therefore that this disorder is coined as the “yuppie disease”, because it occurs at the time when a person is supposedly healthy and full of life.

After the onset of the disease, the lives of these people are changed drastically. They get stuck in their beds and quit their jobs because it is very taxing to get up. They had to abandon their roles and obligations because they do not have even enough energy to take care of themselves. In fact, they had to live a very sedentary and weak life because they are exhausted all the time.

Indeed, life for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome sufferers is hard, oftentimes debilitating.

How To Live A Healthy Life With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Imagine a lifetime of sickness, of perpetual headaches and of endless flu-like illness. Imagine being unable to walk from your bed to the couch because of too much exhaustion. Imagine being locked up in your house, unable to go to work to earn a living. Well, that sums up life for most sufferers of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or CFS is a disorder both of the mind and the body. Apart from the symptoms mentioned above, CFS also afflicts the immune system which makes an individual become very sickly. It also affects one’s threshold to physical activities, thus making an individual feel worn out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Further, it limits a person to very minimal activities which make him incapable of holding a job.

With these realities, it is hard to imagine how one can live a normal, healthy life while suffering from chronic fatigue. But can a normal life materialize if you are continuously bothered by the symptoms of this disease? Most likely yes. Below are some of the things that one can do to limit the negative effects of the disease on yourself and on your life.

Remove the diets that spell disaster – It is easy to sabotage one’s health these days by just following the average American’s sense of food proportions, by consuming too much processed foods and by eating too many flour- and sugar-based foods. Sugar is notorious for killing the diets of Americans and so are flour, transfat, processed foods, etc. These types of foods are accounted for numerous diseases that upset health.

Since these foods take up so much space on the plate, nothing is left for foods with high nutritive values anymore. And for people suffering from CFS, it is crucial to maintain a certain level of nutrition in the body. So always try to eat healthy foods, this would lessen some of the biggest problems concerning your condition such as infection and weakened immune system.

Conquer Chronic Fatigue – If you are a sufferer of CFS, you understand that it is easier to stay in bed than to work around the house when you are seriously exhausted. However, it is important to maintain some form of physical activity. Try not to give in to exhaustion and incorporate activity to your daily life. Eventually, you would be able to exercise without getting too worn out.

Win over the illness mentality – In the face of chronic diseases, it is a lot more convenient to let negative thoughts defeat you. Try to picture a life free from chronic fatigue and try to make that picture your goal. Think that your condition is just a state of mind and changes in thinking would liberate you from the troubles of your disease. If you use this technique, which is actually a sound psychotherapeutic technique called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, you would not only help alleviate the symptoms of your condition but you can also prevent these from bothering you again.

Discover techniques that can treat your condition – Since the cure for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is yet to be established, you might as well discover one for yourself. There are actually treatment techniques that you can formulate for yourself as bases of your self-care system.

These can be made from careful observation of activities and treatments that you respond well to.