Monday, February 16, 2009

Rules for Staying Healthy in a Flu-infested House

Note: Mind you, I am not saying I'm out of the woods yet; I could very well wake up sick tomorrow. But so far I've stayed well, and I think that - aside from the fact that God has protected me - following these rules has greatly helped my resistance.

Note #2: Some of these rules are to be taken with a grain of salt. *grin*

Rules:

~ Keep your hands out of your eyes, ears, and mouth. Even when your ear is itchy. Even when you need to floss your teeth. If you absolutely must get that eyelash out of your eye, do it with your pinkies. Less germs there.

~ Refuse to sit where any sick family member has sat. Even when they, one by one, have sat on every couch in the living room. There's always the piano bench.

~ Boil water while washing dishes, and pour it over the silverware when you have finished washing it. (Seriously, this is a wise practice when there's sickness in the house.)

~ Don't let sick folks touch anything in the kitchen. If they're really sick, don't let them eat at the table with everyone else.

~ When in the bathroom, dry your hands on a towel that is separate from the one the rest of the family uses.

~ If you have more than one phone, keep at least one for "healthy-people-only" use.

~ Wipe off the family computer keys when sick folks have used it. Also, place a tissue over the mouse while you are using it, to prevent your hand from coming in contact with the germ-y mouse. (I have yet to find a way to type on the keyboard while it is covered with a tissue.)

~ Stay cheerful. Laughter truly is good like a medicine. Happy folks are less likely to get sick. Sing.

~ If you sleep with a sick sister next to you, sleep with your back to her, not your face.

~ Take a really hot shower every morning, to wash the germs off. Stay clean.

~ Wash your bedding.

~ Don't eat sugar. A few tablespoons of sugar is enough to cut your immune system off for 3 hours. Can't spare the down time!

~ Get out of the house and get some fresh air at least once every day.

~ Let sunshine into the house whenever possible. Sunlight kills germs. (...I think I read that somewhere. It's cheerful, anyway.)

~ Drink a LOT of water.

~ Hold your breath if a sick little sibling wants to talk to you, and gets right in your face.

~ Get to bed early every night.

~ Pray.

~ Laugh a lot.

And thank the Lord for every new day He gives you.

2 comments:

Kristen Michelle said...

I like the keyboard thing.... =P

Anonymous said...

Thanks for these tips, Amber. I hadn't heard of some of them, and they do sound really useful :)