How to Prepare for Flu Season: 10 Tips From My Family to Yours
Coming up with a way to get ready for the flu season is like cramming for an exam, and if you study the right stuff, including 10 tips to help, you'll ace this thing.
Let's be honest. Getting sick is a hassle, and it's advisable to stay home if you experience symptoms like a sneeze or cough.
Not to mention, there is no room for downtime in our lives. But a few sniffling, coughing, and struggling to take care of mundane tasks and work for 3 to 4 days?
No, thanks, but I will consider the flu vaccinations each year as a precaution.
How come flu season arrives, though? We enjoy thinking of September.
It is when kids go back to classrooms and we start to see less sun, increasing the risk of getting the flu during the cold and flu season.
Inquiring about when the cold season is, therefore, tantamount to asking about when colder temperatures would begin creeping in and people begin congregating more within (to spread viruses), emphasizing the importance of getting a flu shot.
10 Tips on How to Get Ready for Flu Season
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Take time out and go get some sun if it is around.
Were your parents or P.E. coaches telling you to avoid sunlight like the plague when growing up, despite its importance in helping you stay healthy and preventing flu complications?
Yeah, then forget all that stuff, but remember to get the flu vaccine each year to stay healthy.
The sun provides materials for the formation of vitamin D, the maintenance of our sleep-wake cycles, and the reinforcement of our immunity.
We recommend a minimum of 15 minutes of direct sun exposure daily to help prevent illness (1).
Extra credit if you catch it when you are out walking in the elements and remember to wash your hands afterward to help prevent germs.
And bear in mind that we do not tell you to go and get sunburned. Sunburns are still wrong.
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Or supplement with vitamin D to help prevent illnesses and boost your immune system.
Not all of us live in a place with a lot of sunlight, making it even more important to follow the 10 tips to help avoid illness during flu season.
Those living at the northern latitude might try to take a good vitamin D supplement to boost their immunity against respiratory illnesses like the flu.
It has been thoroughly established that vitamin D is crucial for mood and immunity, particularly during the respiratory illness season when flu complications can arise (2).
The medical systems in certain countries that have fewer rays of sun are already handing the stuff out like candy, encouraging people to get the flu vaccine each year.
1000 UIs per day of vitamin D is also a decent number, especially if you are suspected of suffering from its deficiency, to help prevent illness and reduce the spread of the flu.
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Make sure that you are not running on any vitamin or mineral deficiencies to avoid coming down with a cold.
Other vitamins, similar to vitamin C, play such a massive role in the immune system, especially during the winter season. Magnesium is a gigantic must for staying bug-free.
If you are worried that you might be depleting any of the deficiencies, it wouldn't hurt to consult your doctor and get some blood work panels done to help prevent illnesses during the cold and flu season.
It is better to check what you need. It eliminates the guesswork, and it may save you some money on flu medicines.
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Keep up good lifestyle habits.
Drinking a gallon of pure water daily, exercising, eliminating the stress that may impair immunity, and embracing a whole-food, nutrient-rich diet are indispensable for bolstering immunity and obviating colds and flu.
Humans are highly adaptable creatures, which is essential for learning the best ways to help maintain health during flu season.
We can actually live even very long while we try practicing bad habits at the same time, but it's crucial to wash our hands often to prevent illnesses like the flu.
It doesn't mean that we're not going to be immune to the next invader anymore, so covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze is essential!
In order to feel better while having a common cold or flu, or simply not to get ill at all, we have to maintain the levels of hydration and physical activity, as well as stay calm, just to name a few things (3).
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Eat like your ancestors did, following tips for parents to ensure a strong immune system against flu viruses.
We believe that our ancient ancestors knew best at Wild Foods when it comes to staying healthy and preventing illnesses, especially before the advent of the flu vaccine.
They did not consume TTV dinners, packaged pastries, and the industrial world's refined grains, which are often linked to a higher risk of getting the flu.
Today, the supermarkets are full of goods that should not find their way into the human body, especially during the influenza season when people should wash their hands often and use hand sanitizer to avoid flu complications.
Sugar, canola oil, corn syrup, granola bars, soda, etc., are all poisonous foods; it's a shame that big food corporations are even able to use them, especially when people need to stay home to recover from the flu.
Then what should one eat in this crap-food-rich world to stay healthy and help prevent illness during the winter season?
Besides being cleanly and responsibly sourced, meats, vegetables, and fruits are essential to help prevent illnesses during the cold and flu season, complementing the benefits of the flu vaccine.
Start there, especially by getting a flu shot to protect yourself and others.
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Have the wild oregano oil in the house.
There has been a long-lived idea of using wild oregano oil for colds and flu cases, which can be part of the best ways to help combat illness.
Now, we have science to prove it, though more research on flu medicines can do no harm.
A study, which was conducted in 2011 and is published in the Brazilian Journal of Microbiology, reveals that the compound referred to as carvacrol in oregano oil prevents viruses in humans and animals.
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Take medicinal mushroom supplements to enhance your immune system, particularly during the influenza season.
Since ancient times, medicinal mushrooms have been used in various forms of traditional Chinese medicine.
These are not run-of-the-mill cremini or white mushrooms but rather a family of mushrooms that have much greater healing qualities.
They include some of the reishi, chaga, and turkey tail mushrooms, which can help support the immune system during the influenza season and are recommended as part of regular exercise routines.
Research is currently being carried out to isolate the antiviral properties of the chaga mushroom, which may help you stay healthy during flu virus outbreaks and is one of the 10 tips to help prevent illness.
In one study, chaga was found to be beneficial in treating COVID-19, highlighting the importance of natural remedies alongside flu shots.
The research, which was published in the International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, found that chaga's terpenoids may weaken the spike-protein bond with the host cell (for the better).
Even though many know that we are big proponents of chaga for immune health, we even sell our own responsibly sourced Chaga Mushroom Powder Extract as part of a healthy lifestyle that includes regular exercise and the flu vaccine each year.
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Take other immune support herbs.
Other herbs that can boost the immune system, like ginger and turmeric, can be promising during the flu season.
Our Wild 7-in-1 Immune Support is another favorite concoction that we sell to help protect yourself and your family.
It has elderberry, zinc, vitamin C, goldenseal, and Vitamin D, all of which are tips for parents to help combat the flu.
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Don't over-sanitize, and remember to cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze.
In particular, nowadays, we witness people washing and sanitizing their hands with hand sanitizer after touching every turn of the faucet, surface, and park bench to help prevent illness during the cold and flu season!
Excessive sanitation is horrendous since most of the sanitization products do not separate harmful microbes; they kill good bacteria, too, making it essential to wash their hands with soap and water instead. Did you not know we have a microbiome on our skin?
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Play in the dirt to build your immunity against germs.
This comes with our previous tip. Rather than over-sanitizing, try to do the opposite, and remember to wash your hands regularly to help prevent the spread of germs.
Go outside, touch the dirt with your hands, hug trees, walk barefoot, sit on park benches, play with pets, hang out in the grass, and perform other such activities that can bring you close to the earth and all her wonderfully useful microbes.
Here is how to boost immunity by returning to your roots!
To Finish
Preparations in advance, including getting a flu vaccine, eliminate the chances of the flu season!
Having the right immune support, sun exposure, healthy lifestyle, and the right foods, along with getting vaccinated, you'll head into the cold and flu season with full force, ready to tackle it.
🌞 Take charge of your health today with Wild Foods—shop now and prepare for flu season! ✨
