New Year Vows and resolutions are ways to get a fresh start on problems that often haunt your quality of life.  We hear patients resolve to stop smoking. We encourage them when they make a New Year’s Vow to stop eating junk food.

Such health-conscious vows are always an important part of this time of year. We sometimes fail at maintaining them. But the fresh start factor of these New Year’s Resolutions is important to our mental and physical health.

 

This New Year Vows:  Not Just Another Vaccination Prod

New Year Vows Can Increase Your Chances to Stay Healthy.

Get a Fresh Start in 2022 With Our 7 New Year Vows.

Now we know you are probably thinking this blog is just another prod to get you to take your Covid-19 Vaccination. And although we highly approve of that, this New Year’s Vows blog is about the almost forgotten vaccines, the flu vaccines.

We don’t even call them vaccines most of the time.  We just say, “Please get your flu shot.” A New Year’s Vow the FLASS health providers and staff like to see you take is to avoid the flu in 2022. Of course, that means we’d like you to take your flu vaccine.

 

Number One of our 7 New Year Vows for You

Keeping Your Flu Shots up to date is Number One on our list of New Year’s Vows for 2022.   According to the CDC, “Everyone 6 months of age and older should get a flu vaccine every year.  And they should get them before flu activity begins in their community.

CDC recommends getting vaccinated by the end of October.” However, it’s not too late.  Yes, we’re worried about Covid-19, but keeping up with the flu is important to your overall health also.

Just how important are flu shots to your health?  In Sept. 2018 (before COVID-19), the CDC revealed the statistics.  And our FLASS blog of that time pointed out two of these vital facts with questions:

 

Number 2:  Fighting Flu and Covid-19 Variants:  “Handy” Disinfection

The second of the FLASS New Year’s Vows is Protection by Disinfection.  Of course, this means a little work.  However, we know you will feel it is worth it if you escape the flu of 2022, not to mention the Omicron Variant of Covid-19.

The second of our FLASS New Year’s Vow involves your hands.  Avoid both the flu and viruses of 2022 by continuing to wash your hands often.

Likewise, wash the handles and faucets of your kitchen and bathroom.  Did you know that colds and flu can ride these faucets?

Likewise, they are great nesting spots for mold, yeast, salmonella, and E. coli.  So, let’s resolve to wash more than hands at the sink.  A daily disinfectant is required as part of this second vow.

So, as simple as some of these virus prevention New Year’s Vows seem, we fear you might neglect them in your daily rush

Number 3: That Treacherous Toothbrush Holder

New Year Vows: Protect Love Ones With Fragile Health.

When the Party is Over, Make Health Conscious Vows For the New Year 2022.

As we have stated previously, toothbrush holders are invisible. We know they are sitting there on the bathroom cabinet.  However, we seldom consciously realize they are truly treacherous repositories of germs.

And sad to say, that is what they are.  Please, if someone in the family has a cold, flu, or virus, isolate his or her toothbrush in its own holder.

Keeping the toothbrush holder impeccably clean and disinfected is the point of this little, often overlooked disinfection detail.

 

Number 4:  Toxic Touch Screens

Think about the term “touch” screens; they are always being touched with fingertips full of flu virus or worse.  Swipe, tap, touch, but first, clean your devices.  Clean those Phones, computers, and tablets and avoid trading viruses between glass and fingertips.

“You can buy special wipes or check the instructions for the best way to clean the screen. There are also devices that use UV light to disinfect your gadgets.”

 

Number 5:  Beware of the Deadly Desk Surfaces

Think of all the places you go before you touch your workspace.  While colds, flu, and Covid-19 Variants are rampant, let’s make a New Year’s Vow to clean off and wipe down our workspace often and well.

How long can some viruses such as flu, live on your desk?  You’d be surprised. According to experts at Mayo Clinic, they can live on any hard surface for hours or even days.

 

Contaminated Clickers:  FLASS New Year’s Vow Number 6

Do you even think about disinfecting the television remote? We bet you thought about it last year during the height of the Pandemic.  But have you continued to keep it clean?  You see, remote controls are high tech, high touch, and yet they are low ranked on most house cleaning lists.

Flu, virus, and cold germs live the longest lives on plastic and similar hard surfaces. Experts recommend a dry, soft toothbrush for initial cleaning.

Follow that with a cotton swab dampened with disinfectant. With these tools, you will be ready to fight any virus on the battleground of the clicker.  Bonus:  This exact cleaning method will also work for computer keyboards.

 

Our Seventh and Most Important Vow:  Call Your Physician!

It’s Time to Turn New Year’s Vows Into a Real Plan For 2022: 7 Small Vows to Bring You a Healthier Year.

Perhaps this is the most critical If you or someone you love is in the high-risk category for flu-related complications.  Flu symptoms:  FLASS advises you to call your, or their physician. It’s a lot of trouble, and it might be only minor. Do not shrug it off.

However, even if you think it’s a simple cold or virus, please vow to make the phone call. You see, if you are at high risk, it means your flu or cold could lead to “pneumonia, bronchitis, sinus infections and even hospitalization or death.”

Did you know the flu can “worsen chronic health problems such as asthma and congestive heart failure?”  This Resolution Will Protect You and the Ones You Love if You Are in the High-Risk Group for Complications

 

High-Risks Groups

We have blogged previously about high-risk groups. However, we want to review them for you here. Resolve to take these groups seriously.  Invoke your FLASS New Year’s Vows.  Realize you or a loved one has an increased risk of flu-related complications if the doctor puts you in any of these risky groups:

  • The Little Ones:  Make a New Year’s Resolution to call the doctor if your child gets flu symptoms at any age younger than 5 years old.
  • Especially be aware of symptoms in children younger than two years old. For example, the flu season of 2017-2018 claimed the lives of 172 children.  And it happens fast; the CDC reported most of the children died within 7 days of contracting the flu.
  • The Elder Ones:  If people you love Are 65 years old or older, resolve to call the doctor at the first sign of flu or cold. Do not let them self-diagnose and say, “It’s just a cold.”  It might be just that, but it could be serious, even if it starts with a cold.
  • The Pregnant ones:  If you know someone who is pregnant or given birth recently, this New Year’s Resolution requires you to call their doctor.

Most importantly, the Seventh of our New Year’s Vows requires you to be vigilant.  This vow Charges Us to Look After the Chronically Sick Ones in our Lives.

 

More Signs or Symptoms to Understand

Although our New Year’s Vows include watching out for family and friends in the high-risk group of the chronically ill.  Call the doctor if you or your loved one gets the flu and already has “certain chronic medical conditions, including asthma, emphysema, heart disease, diabetes, neuromuscular disease, and kidney, liver or blood disease, or a weakened immune system due to medications.

Likewise, make a resolution to alert the physician if someone you care about is younger than 19 and receiving long-term aspirin therapy, or if your much-loved flu victim lives in a long-term care facility.

Did you know the high-risk groups for flu include you if you have a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or greater?

Once you have called the doctor, he or she prescribes an antiviral medication, “your doctor may prescribe an antiviral medication — oseltamivir (Tamiflu) or zanamivir (Relenza.) These medications will reduce the severity and length of your symptoms.

“Studies show that flu antiviral drugs work best for treatment when they are started within 2 days of getting sick.  However, starting them later can still be helpful if the sick person has a high-risk factor or is very sick from the flu.”

 

Terrific Take-Aways

Don’t Start Anew – With the Flu. Update Your Flu Shots and COVID Vaccine Too!

Even if you cannot accomplish all of our 7 New Year’s Vows, let us stress the high value of taking number one, the flu vaccine.  By the way, you can get your COVID Booster or vaccination at the same time if you have no high-risk factors.

The Florida Lung, Asthma, and Sleep Specialists invite you to do the right thing about vaccinations—all of them.  From all of us to all of you:  Have a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2022!