Winter Is Here: How To Get Sick… or Avoid It

Now, you may be wondering to yourself, “Why would I want to get sick, Doc?”

And that’s an interesting question. Thanks for asking, let me answer it by posing another question, did you actually read the title or are you one of those selective readers/listeners? Anyway, you can count on me and the rest of the Shockuation crew to keep you up to date with all breaking news as well as health updates. Basically, don’t go to any website besides this one.

I will know!  And it will not end well.

A Few Easy Ways To Prevent The Whole Winter Sickness Thing:

1. Just because it’s dark out and cold doesn’t mean that you actually need to start behaving like you’re going into hibernation. We are not bears. We are humans! Right?

In a recent study conducted by Dr. Sanksrit Grumpay, a vast majority of people stop doing regular activities and start laying on the couch continuously: creating a cycle of sleep-eat-work(if you’re lucky enough to have a job)-eat-lay on couch-eat again- lay on couch- eat ice cream-sleep on couch-go to bed- repeat. You may think, oh boy I’m going to get huge. That’s actually not true. Weight gain in the winter months is normally a natural thing. However, there are some contributing factors that that makeweight gain, sickness and depression worse than normal.

I am aware that I am jumping all over the place. But, all of this is important for your mental and physical wellness.

Here are some of my suggestions for maintaining wellness.

Sleep!

Remember when parents, babysitters, rappers, random people that were just annoyed with you told you to G0 TO SLEEP or take a nap for cryin’ out loud?Those people have a point. Many people take sleep for granted. I know how great the urge is to stay awake, knowing that tomorrow morning comes soon and with it work, but continuing to hold on in a futile effort to glimpse one final good thing on TV. The recommended amount of sleep varies for the different age groups, but a lack of sleep contributes to many illnesses. It raises the risk factors greatly for diseases like: diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and depression.

Recommended hours of sleep:

Drink fluids!

If you do end up getting sick or feel a cold/flu sneaking up on you it is very important to get a lot of water into your system. This causes your body to flush possible toxins out of your body, as well as carries important nutrients to places in your body, Plus, it quite possibly may be able to ward off virus/bacteria before it really starts reeking horror on your body.

The supposed rule for keeping your body hydrated is 8, 8oz. glasses of water. That equals 64 oz. That’s not a bad amount of water to drink, but really the goal should be more than the 64oz. The amount necessary depends on a few more factors: the size of the person, the gender of the person and if the person has any chronic illness or problems with certain vital organs.

Wash Your Hands!

Think of everything we touch per day. EW. Hand sanitizer is a good alternative to the ole, soap and water, soap, soap and water, however it can cause skin irritation, depending on the individual’s sensitivity to certain chemicals. Seriously, just wash your hands!

Dress Appropriately!

If it’s cold out, put on a coat, a hat and some gloves! Seriously, it’s not that hard.

Lastly-

If you are sick, take a day off and get better before going back into your routine. There is no need to punish the people you work with.

So there were a few tips… If you need more send me an email or leave a comment….

Stay healthy! Till next time I’m Sanskrit Grumpay, MD and you’re in the Shockuation Room.

Dr. Sanskrit Grumpay is one of the foremost intellectual leaders on everything.

-James Dust