Staying Healthy: Become a Lousy Host

January 5, 2007 by Larry.

It is cold and flu season and with infectious disease, getting sick is like a really bad date – it takes two – a germ and a host. You’re the host. If you want to avoid getting sick – become a lousy host. (Don’t worry, your mother would approve.)

Here are five simple ways to be a lousy host and avoid getting sick:

• Be unavailable. Personal hygiene and avoiding high risk environments and behaviors. So what are high risk environments? If it is the height of the flu season, or there is a lot of coughing and sneezing around you, or you have a lot of contact with the public, you are probably in a high risk environment and you should respond accordingly. Wash your hands more frequently, ramp up your use of a hand sanitizer, avoid touching your face, and whenever possible keep your distance from anyone who looks like they have something you don’t want to catch.
• Be uninviting. By keeping your defenses up, you raise the bar for infection. No surprise here - getting enough sleep, exercise, and avoiding overindulgence and stress when possible. All of these things contribute to a healthy and active immune system.
• Shoot first. Take defensive action – get vaccinated. Vaccination for influenza is inexpensive, readily available, and on any given year does a pretty good job of protecting both the person who get the vaccine and the people around them. Although the topic vaccination is not without controversy, it is really a matter of public health and as flawed as our public health system may be, vaccines are a very effective tool to prevent illness and save lives. Most of the population understands and accepts that the benefits of vaccination more than offset the extremely rare risks. In fact, we all take much greater risks every time we get in a car.
• Eat well and don’t share. Eat good food and eat reasonably, take a good balanced multivitamin, and drink plenty of hot fluids. There is ample evidence for the benefits of good nutrition and green tea is a great source of antioxidants. Make a thermos of green tea and sip on it throughout the day or keep an insulated mug on your disk. And in case it wasn’t obvious don’t share drinks, utensils, lip balm, or cosmetics.
• Be selfish. This is one of these times when being selfish is good manners and it is better to neither give nor receive. Don’t introduce your germs to your friends. If you do get sick, stay home. If you are a manager, make it clear that you have a zero tolerance for any visibly sick employee in the workplace. Sent them home unless you want a whole lot more of them.

We all know that as simple as these may appear, it is never simple to follow through with our good intentions. This is especially true during the holidays and when winter makes everything harder. Find the middle ground, do what you can, and try not to beat yourself up over the rest. Remember, just because you can’t do everything doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do anything.

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