Being ill is bad enough without your whole family getting ill. But when one of you starts to cough, sniffle or feel sick, it seems inevitable that everyone else in the house is going to get sick too. Of course, you don’t want that to happen, but sometimes you just resign yourself to it happening because you can’t see how it won’t. However, if you take the right steps, you could prevent an illness spreading through your family. There’s no guarantee that you can avoid it, but there are still things that you can do to improve your chances of keeping at least some of you healthy.
Make Sure You Get Important Vaccinations
A cold or a stomach bug might not be too big of a deal, and you could be well again in a couple of days or a couple of weeks. But when it comes to the flu, the effects can be much worse. For certain vulnerable groups in particular, like older adults or people who are immunosuppressed, flu can even be dangerous. The whole family getting flu shots each year helps to prevent the spread of flu and keep you healthy. Other vaccines protect everyone too, although you would usually have most of them as a child.
Wash Your Hands and Keep Things Clean
Germs can spread pretty easily, especially if you live in close proximity with other people. When you’re spending a lot of time in each other’s company, and even hugging, kissing and cuddling up together, it can be hard not to pass on infections. However, two things can help you. If you wash your hands frequently, you can avoid passing on your own germs to others and try to prevent picking up germs from your family too. Disinfecting surfaces around your home is smart too.
Nurture Strong Immune Systems
Your immune system does a pretty good job of looking after itself, but there are some lifestyle choices you can make to help it out. Rather than reaching for the vitamin C supplements when you want to avoid getting ill, it’s best to maintain a healthy diet to ensure you’re getting all the vitamins and minerals you need. Getting plenty of rest and exercising regularly will also help you to stay healthy so that your body can fight off germs. Even if you do get ill, a healthy immune system should work to fight off an infection as quickly as possible.
Keep Your Germs to Yourself
Whether you’re ill or not, try to keep your germs to yourself so that you can minimize your chances of making others ill. Of course, encourage the rest of your family to do the same to avoid getting you sick. You should throw away any used tissues and try to cough into your elbow rather than your hands. Avoid sharing food and drink if you think one of you is getting ill or someone is already feeling unwell.
Just because one person is ill, it doesn’t mean the whole family has to get ill. With the right steps, you might be able to stop the germs spreading.
