Can you believe that the 2021 holiday season is nearly upon us? From Halloween to Thanksgiving, Hannukah and Christmas, the next few months are sure to be full of celebrations and gatherings with family and friends. Along with the fun and excitement, the holiday season can also be one of the most stressful times of year for many. High levels of stress can weaken our immune systems, making us more susceptible to germs and potentially causing us to miss out on the fun and heartwarming highlights from this fast-paced period. While we can’t plan for everything, we can take steps to foster our well-being. Gain some peace of mind by incorporating these tips for healthy living while spending time with family and friends this holiday season.
Keep Your Holiday Gatherings Full of Cheer
Make sure you can enjoy the holidays by taking steps to minimize holiday stress and potential illness by prioritizing your well-being with healthy practices. That way, should disease-causing germs make it in, your immune system will be better equipped to fight them off. These five best practices can help:
1. Get Enough Rest
Getting enough rest during the holiday season can be a challenge, thanks to late nights spent catching up with friends and family you haven’t seen since last year or longer.
Don’t forget that sleep is essential to our health and well-being. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), adults need at least seven hours of sleep per night, and those under 18 need even more. Not only does getting enough rest impact our energy levels, but it also keeps our immune systems fully charged and helps us think clearly.
2. Eat Nutritious Foods
Our bodies are complex machines, and how well they function depends entirely on how we treat them. Getting enough rest is essential but only part of the equation. Another critical factor is how well we fuel them.
While the holidays are a time to enjoy delicious treats, foods and drinks that aren’t typically part of our diet, don’t forget to keep eating the good stuff. Fresh fruits and vegetables nourish us with many of the vitamins and minerals we need to stay healthy. If all else fails and you can’t improve your eating habits, ask your doctor about adding a multivitamin to your daily routine.
3. Fight the Tendency to Overcommit
With so much going on around the holidays, it’s easy to feel overburdened. This is especially true for those of us with a tendency to overcommit. While staying involved and helping to plan fun holiday events can be incredibly enticing, we can’t forget that there are only so many hours in a day.
Once we overcommit, these fun and uplifting engagements can become intense sources of stress. When in doubt and feeling pressured to take on additional responsibility, simply say, “Let me think about it.” That will give you the time and space to determine whether you can realistically add it to your to-do list.
4. Wash Hands Regularly
The holidays are full of warm greetings between friends and relatives and the passing on of gifts. Proper hand hygiene is key. Frequent handwashing with soap and water is the most effective way to wash away disease-causing germs. Remember to wash hands after being out in public, using the bathroom, or coming into contact with people or potentially contaminated objects.
The CDC offers clear guidelines on properly washing hands. You can also read this article explaining the chemistry of soap and handwashing.
5. Always Bring Along Hand Sanitizer
While washing hands with soap and water is the most effective way to remove germs, sometimes soap and water aren’t accessible or convenient. When soap and water aren’t an option (like when trick-or-treating on Halloween night or during a friendly Thanksgiving game of flag football), make sure that you and your loved ones have alcohol-based hand sanitizer handy that is at least 60% alcohol.
Germ-X Products for This Holiday Season
There is already so much to think about during the holidays. Vi-Jon has developed convenient and highly portable Germ-X hand sanitizer products to make hand sanitizing a little easier on busy families.
Depending on the needs of you and your loved ones, choose between single-use hand sanitizer wipes, hand sanitizer spray, or portable hand sanitizer dispensers that can easily attach to backpacks and purses with the gel carrying case and carabiner.
Even now, more than 20 years after first putting Germ-X hand sanitizer products on the market, Vi-Jon continues to improve its hand sanitizer formula. Its formula is derived from USP-grade alcohol combined with moisturizers and vitamin E to help leave your hands feeling fresh and hydrated.
Incorporate Germ-X products and these best practices into your family’s healthy lifestyle to get the most out of this holiday season!
