Aventine Hill Bath Emporium Wellness Blog

People say ‘it’s that time of year again’ referring to cold and flu season.  Actually every time of year is germ season, lol.  It’s not like they go away for a period of time.  They’re always there, lurking, waiting to get into your body and create havoc.    If you have kids you know that as soon as school starts for the year, they bring home a lot more than homework.  There’s little Bobby’s strep throat, little Suzie’s cold.  What can you do to lessen the chances that everyone in your home will be infected?

I’ve got a few ideas that I started practicing years ago.  Here goes:

1. Buy a big bottle of Lysol.  Spray light switches, door handles, toilet flushes, toilet lid/seat, refrigerator and freezer handles, microwave buttons, faucet handles, drawer pulls, remote controls, computer keyboard, the mouse, telephones… (everything that’s touched with germy hands).
2. Open your windows for an hour or two each day for as long as you can weather permitting.   Let the stale air out and the fresh air in.
3. If you’ve got people spewing germs into the air, spray some Lysol by holding the can up to the ceiling area and letting the spray fall naturally down.
4. Change pillow cases daily and wash.
5. Change your furnace filter.
6. Change common towels.
7. When emptying the dishwasher, infected people shouldn’t be handling the CLEAN dishes.  If there are chores to be done, the sick person can FILL the washer with dirty dishes, but shouldn’t touch the clean ones.
8. Toothbrushes should not be kept all together in one place.  Especially not on the counter where they are exposed directly to germs (i.e. sneezes, the toilet, coughs).  Keep them in separate cases or in separate cups in a cabinet so they are not out in the open.
9. Keep a few of those trial size toothpastes on hand.  When someone gets sick, they can use their own little tube.  Consider that a toothbrush harbors germs.  And most people when applying toothpaste to their brush let the rim of the tube touch their brush.  This spreads germs.
10. Toothbrushes should be cleaned weekly regardless if you are sick or not.  Same goes for retainers.  You can clean both by putting them in a cup (long enough to cover the handle of the toothbrush) and dropping in a denture cleaning tablet.  Let sit for 30 minutes, rinse and let air dry in your cabinet.
11. Sneeze and cough into the bend of your arm or lift the neck of your shirt and sneeze / cough into it.
12. Use elbows to turn lights on and off.
13. Some of these things are hard for small children to learn, but not impossible.  Teachers, parents, caregivers should try and instill these practices early on.  And adults would serve everyone well if they practiced this as well.
14. If you have small children, before they go to bed give the toys a wash with a mixture of water with a little bleach.   Or, spray the toys a bit with Lysol.   Some toys can be tossed into the dishwasher.
15. Use an instant hand sanitizer like Purell or even a generic brand.  (Simply compare the alcohol content to make sure you’re getting a worthy product).  Put a couple bottles of it out.  Put one by the computer.  The kitchen.  Near a door.
16. Don’t touch your face with your hands.  Especially your eyes or nose.  Use a tissue or your sleeve.
17. After going into a public place such as the bank or a store, use hand sanitizer.  Sanitize your steering wheel.

Have an uneventful cold and flu season….and all throughout the year!

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