Showing posts with label Viruses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Viruses. Show all posts

Friday, November 20, 2009

Five Tips to Prevent Disease at Home



















5 Tips to Prevent Disease at Home

Protecting our health and that of our children is becoming even more important these days, what with the fear of swine flu and other illnesses disrupting and even taking lives. Good health begins at home; it depends on our lifestyles and our sense of hygiene. And if you don’t realize this, your family could be prone to various ailments, all of which could have easily been prevented. Help your loved ones maintain their health by:


  • Adhering to hygiene: The most important part of maintaining hygiene is to wash your hands as often as you can. Our hands are magnets for germs, and when we fail to wash them before we cook, eat or touch our children, we pass on the risk of infection to them and also fall prey to it ourselves. When we emphasize cleanliness at home and make our children realize its value, we are doing all we can to keep disease at bay.


  • Realizing the value of exercise: Regular exercise is a boon to those who are prone to diseases because it not only helps you reduce weight but also boosts your immune system and makes you stronger and fitter. So set an example for your children by working out at least four times a week. Get them to play a sport too as they need to be active and alert instead of spending all their free time in front of the television or with their video and computer games.


  • Emphasizing on fresh air: Very often, we tend to keep all our doors and windows closed because the thermostat is on and because we don’t want our homes to become dusty. But when we do this, we lose out on the fresh air that Mother Nature provides us with every morning. If you cannot throw open the windows to your home, take a walk in the fresh air every morning to inhale the breath of health and energy.


  • Cooking healthy food: When you pay attention to the nutrition value of food, you know you’re giving your children good health as a gift. We eat to live, and live healthily we must. So plan your meals and reduce the amount of processed food, snacks and junk food allowed at home. Emphasize on fresh fruits and lots of vegetables in every meal and steer clear of aerated sodas that have tons of sugar and only serve to increase your weight.


  • Knowing basic first aid: If you are prepared to administer basic first aid at home, you could save yourself the trouble of an extended visit to the ER. Small cuts, burns and other minor injuries don’t become serious if you’re able to stop the flow of blood or minimize the symptoms before you’re able to get your loved one to the hospital. Also, if you know how to provide basic first aid when someone is choking or experiencing a heart attack, you could end up saving their lives.


By-line:
This guest article was written by Jennifer Johnson, who regularly writes on the topic of
nurse practitioner schools . Jennifer welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: jennifer.johnson1@rediffmail.com

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

H1N1


Schools in session & that means one thing, cold & flu season.

This new virus was first detected in people in the United States in April 2009. H1N1, also know as the Swine flu, is a respiratory infection caused by the influenza A virus. The Swine flu is spread from person-to-person much like the any seasonal flu. The influenza viruses infect the lining of the nose, throat and lungs. The virus enters your body when you inhale contaminated droplets or transfer live virus from a contaminated surface. The virus is then transferred to your eyes, nose or mouth hand via hand contact.

The Swine flu is a new strain with a genetic make up of the combination of the swine, avian & human influenza viruses.

Swine flu symptoms in humans are similar to those of infection with other flu strains:

Fever
Cough
Sore throat
Body aches
Headache
Chills
Fatigue
Diarrhea
Vomiting

Swine flu symptoms develop three to five days after you're exposed to the virus and continue for about eight days, starting one day before you get sick and continuing until you've recovered.

Usually there is no need for treatment other than the symptoms. However, in some cases a physician may prescribe medication to reduce sever symptoms.

Common sense play a VERY important role in prevention of any flu.

Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently with soap & water. A good 20-30 second of hand washing with warm water is best. School aged children are often taught to sing the ABC song or Happy Birthday, to know how long to wash. If facilities are unavailable to wash, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Flu viruses can survive for two hours or longer on surfaces, such as doorknobs and countertops.

Avoid contact. Stay away from crowds if possible.

Stay home if you're sick. If you do have swine flu, you can give it to others starting about 24 hours before you develop symptoms and ending about seven days later.