Four Ways to Keep Your Family Well This Winter

Winter is always the time of year I dread. As if being perpetually cold is not enough, there are also the endless winter colds and germs to vie with. Kids spend days away from school, which means parents have to take sick days off from work to look after them. After the kids get better, parents fall victim to the same bug – not an ideal situation. This winter I’m going to try the following to keep the family in tip top shape.

Take hygiene seriously

Of course this should be done all year round. However, in the winter there are so many bugs around that it’s worth paying special attention to family hygiene. Kids come home from school with different forms of germs on their hands. They go to school toilets, hold door handles and classroom furniture without washing their hands properly.

Encourage your kids to wash their hands thoroughly and you do so too. Have them wash their hands first thing after they come home to avoid spreading viruses to other members of the family. Consider giving them (dry wash) antibacterial hand gels to take to school with them. They come in pocket-sized bottles and can be purchased from the supermarket. They dry quickly on the hands (which is why they’re called dry washes) and are very useful if the child forgets to wash their hands when they leave the school toilets.

Exercise

No one wants to spend time outdoors when it’s freezing cold, but keeping active lowers your risk of picking up illnesses. Walk the kids to school if you can, or park a few minutes away and walk the rest of the way. When going shopping or to work, walk as much as possible and make it a point to take the stairs. Merely walking for 20 minutes every day keeps your body healthy and keeps the extra pounds away. Remember that the body loses weight simply by keeping warm.

Consider the flu jab

If you’re constantly getting the flu year after year, consider taking the flu jab in the autumn. Small kids, the elderly and people with asthma and other types of illnesses can get them free from their GPs. Even if you have to pay for it, it’s worth your while. If you’re not convinced about its efficiency it may be a good idea to try it one year just to see what happens. Sometimes people who’ve had the flu jab still get the flu, but its effects are much milder than they would’ve been without the vaccine.

Eat right

Eating healthily is key to keeping the illnesses at bay this winter. Give your family lots of green leafy vegetables. Pack a piece of citrus fruit or pure fruit juice (not squash or sugary drinks) their lunch boxes every day.

If you have time, some freshly squeezed orange juice with breakfast will go down a treat. Kiwi fruit has a lot more vitamin C than oranges, so have a stock of those in your fruit basket too. Remember that Zinc helps in the absorption of Vitamin C, so a supplement could come in quite handy.