Licensed practical nurses have the highest possibility of catching viral sickness from a contaminated patient during flu and cold season. Moreover, the licensed practical nurses’ work needs them to be out in the land where they could likely come in direct contact with COVID-19 or other flu (which transfer several similar symptoms with the flu and cold viruses). Fortunately, we have some simple and easy lifestyle changes that you can apply to boost their immunity or your immune system’s response. Read further to learn how licensed practical nurses can safeguard and boost their health this flu season. Today’s blog is based on how to stay healthy during flu season (Health tips for licensed practical nurses).
Eat A Balanced Diet
Around 70 percent of your immune system stays in your gastrointestinal system? No? It means your tum plays an important role in maintaining the overall health of licensed practical nurses during the flu and cold season. So, how to stay healthy as a Licensed Practical nurse? You can enhance your gastrointestinal system’s performance and overall health by taking a balanced diet—food low in sugar and fat and rich in protein & fiber.
Additionally, there is a variety of foods that you can consume to offer your body’s immune system an added enhancement. Red peppers, for example, including thrice as much vitamin C as a shellfish (for instance, oysters, lobsters, crabs, and mussels) and Florida orange are loaded with zinc.
Reduce Stress
The body of licensed practical nurses undergo stress persistently, and due to the pressure, their adrenal glands generate and release cortisol chemicals into their bloodstream. Whereas cortisol plays an essential role in activating their body’s fight or combat response (necessary for high-stress conditions), it also suppresses the effectiveness of B-cells and T-cells (critical for destroying viruses and pathogens). Moreover, high-stress levels can cause havoc on their digestive system, leading to irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers, and other undesired changes. So, you must discover ways to reduce your stress levels during flu season. However, there is no one-size-fits-all viewpoint for breathing exercises, stress lowering, practicing mindfulness, and positive self-talk are all excellent ways to help lower tension at the moment.
Exercise daily
In addition to reducing your stress levels, routine acute exercise (exercise that is basic to vigorous and gets less than an hour) has been proven to boost your immune system’s response. Typically, your immune cells rest in the organs responsible for destroying pathogens and viruses (for instance, your lymphatic system). Nevertheless, your lymph and blood flow is raised when you perform the exercise. Consequently, an increased number of immune cells flow throughout your body at a faster pace. The best part is you may not require fancy exercise equipment or costly gym membership to attain this immune-boosting advantage. Running, walking, and cycling are all kinds of acute exercises that will give you the desired outcomes.
Get Enough Sleep
Licensed Practical Nurses are supposed to work 12-hour days in their settings and meet the requirements of your home and family. It can be tough to write in an eight-hour appointment with the Sandman. While getting proper rest is necessary all year long, it is particularly crucial amid cold and flu season. When a person sleeps, their body releases cytokines that energize the immune system to combat foreign viruses and pathogens. These defensive cytokine chemicals are reduced when you crop your sleep down.
Furthermore, easy and restful sleep strengthens the building of T-cells, responsible for killing cells contaminated by pathogens and viruses. So, help your body help you. Take a restful sleep.
Take Your Vitamins
Though we often anticipate vitamin C as the “go-to vitamin” of flu season, there are a lot of other vitamins that, when consumed properly, boost your body’s immune system. For example, vitamin D works much more than just supporting your bone health. It has also been manifested to boost the performance of immune cells, such as macrophages and T-cells. Besides, vitamin B6 is responsible for building T-cells and white blood cells and strengthening the immune system’s biochemical responses. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that aids the body combat infection. These three vital vitamins are simply the point of the iceberg.
Get Outside
As the weather gets pleasantly chill, people tend to throng indoors where it is warm and nice. Though, staying out of the constituents can damage your entire health during flu season, particularly for two reasons.
- First, as people remain inside most of the time, the possibility of receiving a virus from other members escalates, particularly in buildings and apartments with bad ventilation systems.
- Second, scientists think that when licensed practical nurses are outside, they breathe in phytoncides (airborne chemicals released by plants) that escalate the number of white blood cells.
Hence, spending your most possible time in excellent outdoors can help avoid potential virus exposures and boosts our immune health. Also, it’s much more convenient to do exercise on open ground, and our bodies naturally build vitamin D when we come in direct contact with sunlight.
Related: HEALTH CARE NURSES: HOW ARE LICENSED PRACTICAL NURSES AND CERTIFIED NURSE ASSISTANTS DIFFERENT?
Frequently Wash Your Hands
No blog on staying fit and healthy amid cold and flu season would be outright without having a reminder to wash your hands frequently. However, frequent handwashing is a best practice that a lot of licensed practical nurses readily follow. Just lathering up with hand wash or soap and water is not sufficient. Given below is the basic handwashing technique for licensed practical nurses and other healthcare professionals:
- Use tepid running water to dampen your hands.
- Apply soap or pour handwash liquid and rub your hands against each other to work up a lather.
- In addition to rubbing your hands together, make sure you rub and wash the backside of your hands, between your fingers, your wrists, and under your nails too.
- Deep hand cleansing should take no below or less than 20 seconds (or the total time it takes to sing the Happy Birthday twice or one round of ABCs).
- Wash your hands beginning at your wrist. Allow the water to run off your fingertips. Make sure you cleanse off all the lather.
- Parch your hands thoroughly with a clean tissue or microfibre towel. You can also use the paper towel to turn the faucet off and open the door.
Wash Your Scrubs
Licensed practical nurses deal with patients enduring many different health conditions in their entire day. However, they undoubtedly know and embrace the necessity of better hand hygiene as part of these meetups. Have you ever anticipated the need for better scrub hygiene? Generally, viruses and bacteria can stay alive on ground surfaces for a couple of hours, days, weeks, or even months. That is why it is necessary to thoroughly wash and sterilize your scrubs amid the cold and flu season.
Receive A Flu Shot
The flu vaccine is your initial defense for warding off the persistent spreading and evolving flu virus. However, there is no guarantee that you will not catch the flu after getting a flu shot. Licensed practical nurses who have taken a flu shot experience a prominently shorter time of sickness than those who do not get the shot; post the vaccine has been regulated, it can take at least one to two weeks for your body to produce immunity. Several health experts suggest receiving the flu vaccine to make sure that your body has obtained sufficient immunity before you deal with the peak of flu season (generally December through February).
Remain Inside The Home
If you think you are sick during this cold and flu season, you better stay at home. Staying inside the house can be the best alternative for retrieving optimal health speedily. However, when you are home recuperating, be sure you receive an abundance of rest and consume lots of fluids or liquids. Though making a choice to remain inside the home is never an easy one, it is necessary to keep in mind that you will do more anguish than better by leaving for work sick. Furthermore, you can get back to work more fastly, and you’ll become more productive at the workstation if you take the proper rest and give your body a proper time to heal first.
Since licensed practical nurse requirements are increasing day by day in the United States, they must stay healthy and fit. When they are fit and healthy, they can better help patients recover faster and live a joyful life again. At I’kare Consulting Firm, we look forward to hiring a few of the most skillful and experienced licensed practical nurses and other healthcare nurses. Read our eligibility criteria to learn more. Visit us and get hired now.