5 Tips to Stay Healthy This Cold and Flu Season
Cold and flu season is around the corner, and we want to help you stay healthy during it. Here are 5 tips to help you.
Get Vaccinated
Vaccinations help to prevent illness and help to lessen the symptoms if you do get sick. Vaccines to talk to your provider about this cold and flu season include influenza (flu), COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Maintain Healthy Habits
It's important to maintain health habits such as washing your hands, eating a well-balanced diet, exercising regularly and getting enough sleep. A healthy lifestyle is an important factor to keeping your immune system strong and allowing your body to fight off infections.
See your doctor or APP for an annual physical or wellness visit.
During your annual physical, your doctor or APP will review your health and order lab work to screen for medical conditions which may affect your health. Medical conditions that can weaken your immune system or your ability to fight off infection include asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, cancer and autoimmune conditions.
Discuss over-the-counter cold and flu medications with your pharmacist, doctor or APP.
These medicines can help with the symptoms of being ill but do not help to fight off the illness. Many over-the-counter cold and flu medications can interact with prescription medications. Your community pharmacist who fills your prescription medications is a great resource to discuss what over-the-counter medicines you can safety take for your cold and flu symptoms.
Stay home and rest if you are sick.
Getting plenty of rest will help your body recover from illness. In addition, this helps to prevent the spread of illness to others.
The first step to avoiding illness this cold and flu season is to get vaccinated, but if you do get sick, consider having a point-of-care test for flu and COVID-19, which allows you to get results within 15 minutes. This can be done at any Village Medical practice and many pharmacies. If you test positive for flu or COVID-19, your doctor or APP can discuss possible treatments that will help lessen the symptoms and severity of the infection. A key component to getting certain treatment is the time since your symptoms started, and that is why it is important to get tested as soon as possible after your symptoms begin.
While we can’t skip cold and flu season, the above tips can help prevent you from getting sick and help you feel better sooner if you do happen to get sick.
*An advanced practice provider is defined as a nurse practitioner or physician assistant.