The holiday season may be the jolliest time of year, but it can also be the most draining. On top of your normal busy schedule, you’re shopping, cooking, decorating, entertaining, and celebrating. In short, you need to be at the top of your game, but everything is conspiring to throw you off balance.
Here are five ways to maintain your strength and stamina and avoid getting sick during this festive and demanding season.
1) Stay active
Regular physical activity is, as we all know, essential to good health. Dress in layers for daily winter walks. When it’s too cold to venture outside, search for free or low-cost workout videos online.
2) Indulge in holiday treats judiciously
Take a bite out of the holiday season – but in moderation. Keep portions small and choose the foods you really love – pumpkin pie or peppermint bark. Eat a healthy snack before heading to parties and stick to balanced meals at home.
3) Rest and relax
Take a break during the day. Put your feet up, meditate, or listen to a little music to give yourself time to reset. At night, practice the basics of good sleep hygiene. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Keep your bedroom quiet, dark, and cool. And unplug electronics 30 to 60 minutes before you hit the hay.
4) Ward off illness
Viruses thrive in winter’s dry, indoor environments, so it's important to stay out of crowds and out of public spaces that are not well-ventilated. Wearing a mask, and keeping visits inside public places short, can also help you avoid infection. Stay away from people who have flu or COVID symptoms and stay at home if you're sick.
5) Get this season’s vaccines now
The best protection against illness this winter is getting an updated flu shot and COVID-19 vaccine. Even if you do become infected, being vaccinated helps keep your symptoms milder and your illness shorter. In the 2023-2024 season, flu vaccines prevented more than seven million cases of the flu, nearly four million medical visits, over 100,000 hospitalizations, and 3,500 flu-related deaths1.
And COVID-19 vaccines continue to provide strong protection against serious illness. Of the 900,000 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in the United States last year, nearly nine of every ten did not get the latest COVID-19 vaccine.
Staying active, scheduling downtime, keeping a regular sleep routine, germ-prevention habits, and getting the season’s vaccines are all effective steps you can take to make this winter merry and healthy. And getting flu and COVID-19 vaccines is easy. They’re available at most pharmacies and many doctors’ offices, and you can get both vaccines in the same appointment.
Risk less. Do more. Get this season’s vaccines.
Click here to find out where to get vaccinated.
Source:
1. CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/whats-new/flu-summary-2023-2024.html.
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