From tasty hot chocolate and s’mores to cozy winterwear and snuggling in bed—the holiday season is here, full of festive cheer!
While looking forward to the upcoming festivities, it is important to know how to stay healthy during the winter season so that you can enjoy the season to the fullest.
There are a lot of ways to ensure your holiday season is joyful and safe. Here are 11 health and safety tips for the winter season!
1. Wash Your Hands Regularly
It goes without saying that, in today’s day and age, properly washing and sanitizing your hands has become more imperative than ever before.
This part of the year sees an increase in the spread of different types of flu and viruses (apart from COVID-19), so it's important to make sure you and the people around you are safe. Washing your hands regularly is the best and easiest winter illness prevention method.
2. Drink Lots of Water
During summer, we tend to drink more water because of the heat and subsequent sweating. This trigger, however, is not present during winters, and we end up drinking much less water when it’s cold.
It is important to stay hydrated no matter what season it may be. Water helps flush toxins out of your system, carries nutrients to your body cells, and boosts metabolism. It is essential for optimal physiological and cognitive functioning.
To make sure you drink enough water, always keep a bottle in sight to remind yourself throughout the day. Also, remember that consuming water-rich foods counts towards your daily fluid intake as well!
3. Eat a Balanced, Nutritious Diet
A balanced and nutritious diet is important all year long, but it becomes particularly important during the holiday season to prevent winter health problems. This doesn’t mean that you have to give up your favorite holiday delicacies, but make sure you incorporate healthy food in your diet as well.
For example, a heavy, indulgent dinner can be balanced out with a light lunch before and a healthy breakfast the morning after.
Seasonal fruits like kiwi, mandarins, oranges, and grapefruit are great for boosting immunity. Winter vegetables like broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower will help provide your body with the right nutrients and vitamins.
Ensure you’re getting enough of these vitamins and minerals!
- Vitamin C – Available in fruits and vegetables.
- Vitamin B12 – Available in meat, fish, poultry, and eggs.
- Zinc – Available in animal products, nuts, and seeds.
- Iron – Available in meat, beans, and lentils.
Having a nutritious diet ensures that your body is ready to fight off winter bugs.
4. Get Physically Active
Winter months can make you feel extremely lethargic, owing to the cold weather and how good it feels to be warmly snuggled in bed.
However, if you’re looking up ways on how to stay healthy during the winter season, almost everyone will tell you that you need to exercise regularly and be active. And it doesn’t have to be much. Just 20 to 30 minutes of exercise or physical activity every day can get your blood pumping.
Taking a brisk walk, raking leaves in your front yard, or even climbing stairs are counted! Being physically active can help you stay warm on particularly cold days. It will also boost your immune system and solidify your body’s defense against seasonal ailments.
5. Pay Attention To Your Skincare
The one thing that the winter season will definitely affect is your skin. The drop in temperature and lack of moisture in the air can leave it feeling dry and chapped.
So it becomes important to make sure you’re taking good care of your skin throughout these months. Always remember to moisturize your skin and apply lip balm before stepping out.
Carry a bottle or tube of hand lotion with you while going out, as constant exposure to cold winds can cause skin dryness and cracks.
As there’s limited sun exposure during the cold months, people tend to forget to apply sunscreen, but it’s important to do so on cold, cloudy days too!
6. Layer Up Your Clothes
This one goes without saying—winter is a time to bring out all your warm clothes from the back of your closet. Temperatures fall to very low temperatures in many regions.
It is important to layer up in comfortable clothing that helps keep you warm to help with winter illness prevention. If you spend a lot of time outdoors, warm clothing will help protect against frostbite and hypothermia.
You should always check the weather before stepping out so that you can be better prepared.
7. Go Outdoors More Often
It’s highly tempting to spend your time in winter snuggled in bed all day, however, you should go outdoors more often, especially during the daytime. This makes sure you stay active this season. It also helps you be more productive!
8. Set A Proper Sleep Schedule
A good night’s sleep helps you stay active and healthy, no matter what season of the year it may be. During winter, you may sleep in late in the mornings. This can hurt your sleep pattern.
An irregular sleep schedule leads to bad eating habits, fatigue, poor sleep, and daytime sleepiness. Maintain your body clock properly to avoid different kinds of winter health problems!
9. Make Sure To Get Vitamin D
With shorter days that are overcast, you are likely to get adequate exposure to the sun and your daily dose of vitamin D. Try going out for a walk, especially during midday, so you can get the most of the sun’s rays.
Apart from naturally synthesized vitamin D, getting enough of it in your diet is another way how to stay healthy during the winter season. Fatty fishes like salmon, tuna, mackerel are rich in vitamin D. Egg yolks, red meat, and cheese are rich in vitamin D too.
10. Clean your room properly
In the winter season, you spend a lot more time at home. There are also many opportunities to invite friends and relatives to your home for seasonal events.
In preparation for such occasions, it is recommended to keep your home cleaner than usual. This is not only to keep the room clean, but also to prevent the infection or disease from spreading as people come and go.
In addition to regular cleaning, it is recommended to add sanitizing with disinfectants.
Germs are everywhere in the room, from doorknobs to light switches. While wiping down these surfaces individually with a spray bottle is fine, we recommend using a special disinfectant sprayer for better efficiency.
The disinfectant to be used for spraying should be HOCl, which is a low-concentration disinfectant that is sufficiently effective. Even when sprayed at a low concentration of 80ppm, it has been shown to reduce 99.99% of bacteria and annoying odors in a reasonable time.
If you are interested in this system, please contact us using the form below.
11. Get the Flu Jab
The final safety tip for the winter season is to make sure you get the yearly flu vaccine and be protected against the influenza virus. This is especially important for people who go out often during winter and meet a lot of people. These vaccines are enhanced every year to ensure you’re protected against new strains of the flu virus.
Conclusion
To enjoy many events in the winter season, do not forget to continue to take care of your health. Try to start with these 11 tips here.
