Our Tips For Keeping Your Family Healthy This Holiday Season

Make the holidays brighter by taking the time to care for yourself and your family’s health. Taking these steps to care for your health is one of the most crucial ways of preparing for the holidays.

Tips For Ensuring Your Family’s Health During The Holiday Months 

Here are some recommendations that we can provide to ensure that your family is healthy during the holidays: 

• Wash Your Hands: Washing our hands is vital to circumvent the spread of germs. It’s flu season, after all. Washing your hands with soap and hot water for 20 seconds should do the trick.
• Layering: Bundling up is an excellent way to stay warm and dry, especially outdoors. You should always wear the appropriate outdoor attire, such as warm layers, gloves, hats, scarves, and waterproof boots.
• Manage Your Stress: Giving yourself a break is essential if you feel stressed out or overwhelmed. The best ways of managing stress are to rely on friends or family, connect socially, and get plenty of rest.
• Don’t Drink and Drive: Never drive drunk, and don’t let others drive drunk. When someone is drunk driving, they’re putting everyone on the road in danger, not just themselves. Choosing not to drink and drive and helping others do the same can make for a safer holiday.
• Avoid Smoking: Be smoke-free. Avoid smoking and second-hand smoke. Smokers have more significant health risks because of tobacco use, but nonsmokers are also prone to the risk when exposed to second-hand smoke from cigarettes and pipes.
• Wear Your Seatbelt: Fastening your seat belt while driving or riding in a motorized vehicle is one of the necessary methods to being safe. Always buckle your children up in the vehicle using infant and toddler car seats, booster seats, or seat belts regarding their height, weight, and age. Buckling up all the time, regardless of how short the trip is, and encouraging the other passengers to do the same will keep you all safe.
• Get Regular Checkups: Talk to your doctor about the necessary exams and when to get them. Updating your personal and family history is essential.
• Get Vaccinated: Getting vaccinated will help prevent catching diseases and help save lives. Everyone from a child aged six months to adults in their later years should get a flu shot every year.
• Keep Your Children Safe:  Keeping potentially dangerous items out of your children’s reach will aid in protecting them from drowning, burns falls, and other potential accidents.
• Learn Fire Safety: Most residential fires occur during the winter, so never leave wood-burning fireplaces, candles, space heaters, or food cooking on stoves unattended. Create an emergency plan with your family and rehearse it frequently.
• Safely prepare your foods by washing them, peeling them, and washing your hands.
• Healthy Diet and Exercise: Eating fruits and vegetables which pack lots of nutrients and aid in lowering the risk for certain diseases. Limiting foods high in sugar, salt, and fat will benefit your overall health. Be active for at least two and a half hours a week and help your kids and teens to be active for a minimum of an hour each day.

Visit Your Doctor Today For Your Regular Checkup!

Keep yourself inspired to stay in the spirit of good holiday health by calling Conroe Family Doctor today! Through our physicians, we can provide your family with the checkups they need to celebrate the holiday season in good health.

Receiving the Flu Shot During The Pandemic

From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been more critical than ever to take appropriate care of our health. Taking the time to get your flu vaccine each year is an excellent way of doing this. Everyone can benefit from the flu shot; those with impaired immune systems, the very young, and the elderly benefit most. Getting the flu can be life-threatening to these individuals. Even those with healthy immune systems are at increased risk of contracting COVID while fighting the flu. While the pandemic seems to be waning as time passes, protecting your health with a flu shot is still important.

Receiving the Flu Shot During The Pandemic

Getting the flu vaccine does not provide direct protection against COVID-19. However, studies show that those struggling with the flu are more likely to contract COVID. This is especially true in severe cases where flu patients must be admitted to hospitals and exposed to those battling COVID. Even when this isn’t a concern, you must avoid contracting the flu as much as possible. The flu shot protects you from influenza virus types A and B.

Common Questions About The Flu vaccine:

• When Should I Get The Flu Shot? – Every year there is a new flu vaccine released. This vaccine is calibrated to fight those strains of influenza projected to be the most common in the coming year. It’s often available in August or September and can be received through the end of the flu season.
• When Is Flu Season? – It’s possible to develop the flu at any time of year, though it occurs most frequently in December through February. However, the flu can occur any time of year, so it pays to take care.
• What If I Contract The Flu Anyway? – Those who have received the flu vaccine report reduced the seriousness of symptoms and shorter recovery times.
• Is It Possible To Be Immune To The Flu? – No evidence currently suggests that flu immunity can be developed naturally. It has a high mutation rate and appears in numerous strains each year.
• What Strains Does The Vaccine Prevent? – As new strains of the virus appear each year, the vaccine is tailored to different ones each year. Those selected are those assessed to be the most likely to produce the highest risk to the population.

The battle with the influenza virus is never-ending. While it can be life-threatening, it isn’t as dangerous as COVID-19. However, it can become life-threatening in certain situations or when the young or elderly are infected.

Work With Your Physician To Get The Flu Shot

If you’re concerned about getting the flu shot, contact your physician. They’ll be able to provide you with up-to-date information and schedule a time for you to get vaccinated. It’s vital to protect the ones you love from contracting the flu and reduce their risk of contracting COVID. Call and schedule your vaccination at Conroe Family Doctor today!

Our Tips For Handling Burnout and Chronic Stress

The most significantly stressful part of most people’s lives has been dealing with the pressures of their work day. Modern living has undoubtedly seen this source of stress expand into other areas of our lives. Today we struggle with parenting, relationships, personal identity, and politics in an increasingly violent world. Nearly 84% of people report that burnout is a severe problem in their current jobs. This experience of burnout seems to be reported more as world events impact our lives. The pandemic, global conflicts, and economic disparity lead to more people experiencing stress daily.  

What Does Being Burnt Out Look and Feel Like?

There’s more to being burnt out than experiencing simple physical exhaustion. Burnout can impact energy levels at every level. Burnout can impact our emotional well-being, mental health, and of course, our physical health as well. Burnout occurs when the difficulty of managing our circumstances becomes too much to endure. 

This feeling of being overwhelmed grinds away at our mental health, resulting in greater incidents of negative outlooks, anxiety, and depression in our day-to-day lives. Physical health concerns can result from these experiences, with depression and anxiety impacting our health significantly. Chronic stress has even been related to the onset of musculoskeletal pain, Type 2 diabetes, and migraines. All of these concerns, in turn, lead to even more concerning health concerns.

More and more patients are reporting feeling burnt out. They don’t always use the term “burnt out.” Instead, they will report symptoms such as those listed below:

• Fatigue that is not eased with sleep or rest
• Difficulty getting to sleep or remaining asleep throughout the night
• Migraines and headaches that occur more frequently
• Depression and anxiety
• Irritation or fidgetiness that becomes intrusive in their lives
• Memory loss, forgetfulness, or difficulty recalling activities or a specific event in your life
• Difficulty enjoying normal activities
• Difficulty performing tasks of self-care

These symptoms clearly indicate that you may suffer from burnout in your day-to-day life.

Managing And Preventing Burnout

The ongoing pandemic is certainly making managing our feelings of burnout difficult. While it is impossible to control the thoughts or actions of others, you can take steps to manage your own experiences. Here are some efforts you can make to help manage your burnout symptoms and help prevent them from occurring:

• Practice Self-Care: Caring for your emotional, physical, and mental well-being is essential to promoting an environment that avoids burnout. This environment should include gratitude, mindfulness, self-respect, and maintaining discipline when stress and adversity appear. You should ensure you stay hydrated, get enough sleep, and take time to spend out in nature. It’s also essential to seek psychiatric help and devote time to learning hobbies.
• Set Boundaries and Seek Help: Setting boundaries is essential in showing respect for ourselves. These steps can include only working your scheduled hours, keeping work out of the home, turning down a new project, and ensuring you take time to do things you enjoy. You can also share responsibilities with friends, family, and co-workers.

These are two steps you can take to help improve your overall well-being and avoid the risks of developing burnout. Don’t be afraid to speak to your family doctor when symptoms occur to seek advice on what steps you should take next.