Advise For Dealing With COVID-19
If you are sheltering at home and you feel like you are being bombarded with conflicting information, here’s a guide to the best practices for minimizing your exposure to COVID-19.
WASH YOUR HANDS!
I know you wash your hands now because you are not a disgusting person but wash them more. Set up cues and routines to remind you to wash them more. Think about and list your daily routines, the ones that bring you into contact with other people, places that other people have been, and/or things that other people have touched. Now plan out how you can wash your hands both before and after interacting with those people, places and things. My list for example: when I enter or leave a building, when I go out to get the mail, when I go to pick up dinner at a drive thru, etc.
Don’t Touch Your Face
The way we get this virus is by touch transmission to mucus membranes (the lining of your eyelids, nose and mouth). So keep your hands away from your face. So don’t bite your nails, rub/pick your nose, rub your eyes, or wipe, scratch or rub your face. Style your hair back or keep it short so you don’t need to constantly sweep parts of it out of your face.
Sanitize Your Phone
Researchers say we touch our phones with our dirty unwashed hands between 2,000 to 5,000 times per day and then place it against our face. Normally this isn’t to big of a problem if you routinely wash your hands before you eat AND you don’t touch your phone during your meals. However, I see people using their phones non-stop (and I know they are being taken into the bathroom) so we need to start sanitizing them more. First find out the best way to sanitize your phone from the manufacturer and do it before every meal. Also consider not using your phones as often when you’re out in public. If you do need to use it in public, use it in ways that don’t need you to touch your face, like texting for instance.
If You’re A Smoker, Now Is The Best Time To Quit
If you are a smoker, now is always the best time to quit but if you have been needing a more concrete reason, COVID-19 is smacking you in the face. This virus attacks through the lungs and inflamed or damaged lungs are much easier for the virus to infect than healthy ones. But more importantly, the chance of dangerous complications, requiring hospitalization, are higher in smokers than non-smokers. I couldn’t find information on vaping but my logic would lead me to believe that it is also irritating to the lungs and therefore puts you at higher risk for infection and complications. Do what you can to quit, right now.
Make Healthy Lifestyle Choices
Sleep 7 – 8 hours a night, eat whole unprocessed foods, exercise and, because we are a social species, find ways to be social with your friends without having to be physically with them. Try not to become stressed and toward this goal I would recommend not watching the news, don’t hang out on social media for hours at a time, and limit your binge watching cable or streaming shows. Those activities don’t increase your mental peace. If you are sheltering at home, look at your “things to learn and do” bucket list and get started. I have signed up on Rosetta stone to see if I can get a good start on learning Spanish and I’ve decided to clear out my hobby room so I actually want to go in there and make stuff.
These are the best things you can do to protect yourself from the impacts of COVID-19 and all of you have my sincerest wish that you are able to stay healthy through this crises. Visit TLC Dental Care today!