Washing your hands is the best way to prevent the spreading of illness. Frequent hand washing especially before eating and after going to the bathroom is essential.
Flu and Colds Are Going Around
Flu and cold viruses are going around, as is often the case during the cooler months. Keep your kids, school and family healthy this winter. Over the next several days we will help your family avoid getting sick by sharing with you health tips. Please pass them along to your kids! Check back tomorrow.
Fight Colds? Sleep!
People who averaged less than 7 hours of sleep a night were about 3 times more likely to develop cold symptoms than those who got 8 or more hours of sleep when exposed to the virus that causes colds.
Keep Your Child Home From School When Sick
If your child unfortunately does get sick, you must keep them home from school if s/he has:
A fever over 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the past 24 hours (or has taken a fever reducing medication within the past 24 hours).
A cold in the active stages: coughing, running nose, sneezing.
A sore throat and/or swollen neck glands.
An undiagnosed rash or skin eruption.
Vomiting or diarrhea during the past 24 hours.
Head lice that have not been treated.
If you are uncertain if your child might make the other children sick, you should contact the school nurse or your doctor before sending to school. It would be wrong to infect the rest of the students and teachers with your child’s illness.
Preventing Colds and Flu
As you have probably heard, there are a lot of colds and flu around this year. Both respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses have been especially circulating within the schools. This is due to the fact that children tend to spread germs easily and lack of fresh outdoor air. Remember all of these stay healthy tips:
1. Hand washing is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of illness. Wash your hands often — when they are dirty, before eating, after using the restroom, and after sneezing into a tissue.
2. Cough Etiquette. Avoid coughing or sneezing into your hands – use a tissue or your elbow. After sneezing, try and wash your hands as soon as possible. This will ensure that any bacteria or germs from your sneeze don’t remain on your hands all day, preventing you from spreading any germs.
3. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth. Germs spread this way. If you do have to touch these areas, try and clean your hands before and after to ensure no germs are being spread around your body.
4. MOST IMPORTANTLY stay away from people who are sick and stay home when you are sick to avoid spreading the flu around.
Cold vs Flu
Here is how to tell the difference between a cold and the flu:
Cold
Gradual onset of symptoms
No fever
Slight body aches
Headache uncommon
Runny nose, sneezing
Sore throat common
Hacking cough
Flu
Sudden onset of symptoms
High fever
Often severe body aches
Headache common
Sometimes runny nose, no sneezing
Sore throat uncommon
Dry cough
Cold and Flu Prevention: Remote Controls
To prevent colds and flu, clean all remote controls often. They end up containing as much bacteria as a toilet flush handle.
Cold / Flu Tip
To avoid re-infecting yourself DURING and after a cold/flu, soak your toothbrush in rubbing alcohol to kill the germs.
Cold / Flu Re-Infection
Toothbrushes can re-infect people with the same cold/flu they have just gotten over. Wash toothbrushes in the dishwasher after being sick.
Cold / Flu Prevention
To prevent colds and flu, parents and kids should not share tubes of toothpaste. Each family member should have their own tube of toothpaste.