| | | | Healthy 365 News Issue # 14 - September 6, 2011
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| Update From Dr. Weaver |
| | Hello Readers, Summer is rapidly coming to an end and school has started again which signals the onset of another year of learning for elementary, middle school, high school, college, and graduate students. What about those of us who have completed our formal education? What are our benchmarks for moving from one level of education to the next? Is it a promotion at work, or a new hobby or skill we decided to try and master? I would like to encourage you to set a learning goal for the next year related to something that you enjoy. It could be a refresher or update related to your college major; mine was chemistry so I don't think I will be going over that again. Or, you could choose something that you always wanted to do but never had a chance to do such as art or music or even public speaking. I think I will do the same and I will let you know what I decided upon soon. Today, I am providing you with tips on how to stay healthy and avoid illnesses. With winter around the corner, breakouts of diseases become more common. Dr. W |
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| Health Tip of the Week |
| Winter is Coming: Here Are 5 Ways to Protect Your Self From Illness As the change of seasons gets closer and closer, it is a good time for you to develop a strategy on maintaining your health and avoiding illness. While the tips that follow can be of benefit year round, certain communicable conditions are more common during the cooler months because we tend to stay indoors more and the increased human contact is associated with a higher incidence of diseases that spread from person to person. Since the cure for the common cold still has not been discovered, it is best to take precautions and minimize the possibility of coming in contact with the many sources of diseases. Here are some tips to help keep you away from the culprits. - Safe food handling and storage- Did you know that there is no such thing as the 24 hour flu? If you have become violently ill for the duration of 24-48 hours or less, you have probably consumed contaminated food. This may be the result of cross-contamination (food that has touched other tainted foods or surfaces), undercooked meat or food that has been improperly stored or thawed. You can prevent illness by disinfecting your kitchen and food preparation surfaces often and following safe food storage guidelines as set out by the Food Safety and Inspection Services. Always use a meat thermometer to determine if your food is properly cooked. This is the only way to really tell if your meat is fully cooked to a safe temperature. Use an appliance thermometer to ensure your refrigerator and freezer are keeping your foods at safe temperatures during storage and store all meats at the bottom of the fridge and vegetables and other foods at the top. This will prevent the meats from cross-contaminating your raw foods.
- Take care of your immune system - Your body's immune system is your natural defence against illness and disease. We are designed to fight off external attacks from infections, viruses, chemicals and our environment as well as internal diseases such as cancer. Our skin, organs and blood all work together to battle disease but if any one area becomes stressed or weakened, the immune system can break down and allows us to become ill. A healthy lifestyle of proper nutrition, the right amount of sleep, exercise, reduced stress, proper hygiene and avoidance of toxins such as tobacco and alcohol will help you maintain a healthy immune system. Supplements including protein, vitamins A, C, and E, omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, selenium, calcium, iron, and antioxidants, including carotenoids like lycopene and beta carotene will help keep your immune system strong.
- Hand washing - We all know to wash our hands after going to the bathroom, but there are a great deal of other sources that are equally as germ laden as a bathroom. Surfaces such as keyboards, telephones, TV remote controls, money, hand rails and banisters and so on are handled often by many people and are rarely disinfected. Our hands pick up germs and bacteria constantly. Get in the habit of keeping your fingers out of your mouth, nose and eyes as these are the three main portals for ingesting bacteria and viruses. Wash your hands not only after using the bathroom, but before you eat. To wash your hands properly, wet your hands with warm (not hot) water, lather with soap for at least 20 seconds away from the stream of water and then rinse thoroughly. It is the suds of the soap that trap the germs in the bubbles and allow them to be rinsed away.
- Balanced diet and exercise - Your body is like a fine tuned machine. It requires adequate fuel and movement to function properly. A balanced diet will ensure that all of your organs are well maintained with the necessary energy, vitamins and minerals it needs and movement will keep your circulation and joints healthy.
- Reduce stress - There is no doubt about it, high stress levels can do a number on your health. Your immune system will weaken, you can develop high blood pressure and your mental health can suffer when you are exposed to stressors long-term. We all have things that stress us out whether it is from work, kids, financial problems, etc. It may not be possible to eliminate stress from your life entirely, but you can give your body "time off" to help it recover. The key is to identify the source of your stress and do what you can to reduce it. The other important factor is to take time to de-stress. This may involve taking some "me" time or maybe just a few minutes of meditation or deep breathing several times per day.
The fact is that illness can many times be prevented and taking a pro-active approach to your health is always much more effective at keeping yourself healthy than treating illnesses when they occur. You know the saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". Write down these 5 tips on an index card and post them in your kitchen or at your desk at work as a constant reminder.
 
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