How to Stay Healthy: Rec. Reading v19
We recognize that habit-building and good mental health can’t be isolated to just one corner of the internet. Myrth is our favorite tool, but it’s not our only tool. In our regular Recommended Reading series, we’ll share links to articles, books, and other tools that we think you’ll find helpful in your journey.
The news has been abuzz for what feels like forever now with stories about the spreading coronavirus (covid-19) outbreak. People are rightly worried about a disease that is still relatively unknown, but there are some simple habits you can start practicing now to protect yourself against not only this illness, but more common ones like the cold and flu.
In this week’s installment of the Recommended Reading series, we’ll be talking about easy habits you can implement today that will reduce your risk of getting sick when there’s a bug going around and stay healthy.
1. Wash Your Hands--The Right Way
Regular hand-washing is one of the best ways to control the spread of illness and stay healthy, but most people (97% of them, according to one recent study!) either don’t wash their hands thoroughly or, even worse, don’t wash them at all. Here is some guidance from the CDC on how to wash your hands so that you’re really, truly getting them clean.
2. Sneeze and Cough Into Your Elbow, Not Your Hand
It’s good to cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough, because it prevents tiny droplets of saliva or mucus from spreading germs around you. For years, people were taught to cough and sneeze into their hands to prevent germ spread. There’s just one problem with that, as the New York Times reports:
Germs are most commonly spread by the respiratory droplets emitted from sneezing and coughing. When they land on your hands, they’re transmitted to things like door knobs, elevator buttons and other surfaces the people around you are likely to also touch. ... Sneezing and coughing into your arm has become the standard suggestion of not just the C.D.C., but also organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association.
Protect your loved ones, friends, neighbors, and coworkers by practicing safe sneezing behavior. Use your elbow, not your hand to stay healthy.
3. Disinfect Your Phone
Think about how many times you touch your phone each day and for how long you hold it each time. Now think about all the other things your hands touch each day--all the common surfaces touched by other people, the doorknobs, keypads, shared pens, etc. Now think about the last time you cleaned your phone.
Feeling grossed out yet?
Here’s a guide from the tech pros at Mashable for how to clean your phone without damaging it. The process uses basic household objects and will help get the grime, dirt, and germs off of an item that you touch all day long in order to stay healthy.
4. Make Sure You Get Enough Sleep
Sick of hearing us rant about sleep yet? But it turns out that sleep affects everything, even your immune system. The Mayo Clinic explains why:
Studies show that people who don't get quality sleep or enough sleep are more likely to get sick after being exposed to a virus, such as a common cold virus. Lack of sleep can also affect how fast you recover if you do get sick.
Protect yourself by making sure you’re getting a good, solid night’s sleep, every night, and don’t tell yourself you’ll just make up for lost sleep on the weekends.
Following these four steps and making them part of your self-care habits will greatly improve your odds of staying healthy during many disease outbreaks, and what’s more, they’ll also help protect those around you, too. Stay safe out there!
Have you implemented self-care habits to keep yourself and those around you healthy? We’d love to hear more ideas from you in the comments.
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