his time of the year is back to reality. The magical season of blissful partying, giving and receiving is over. When the dust of holiday glitters has settled down, all of us now feel the fatigue, the toll of lack of sleep, the extra servings we have eaten and extra two-for-the-roads we have drunk and everything not exactly healthy from the happy festivities that all cluster into one season.
After the holidays, we just feel we need to take a break and really enjoy a peaceful, healthful holiday wherein you can rest and recover from the holiday burnout.
A good number of my patients who came back for follow-up last week also had respiratory tract and other infections during the holiday extending up to that time. Is it due to the change in weather? Probably, but personally, I don’t think so. I think it’s more part of the holiday strain on the health, specifically on the immune system, reducing one’s resistance to fight off bacteria and other hazards to wellness.
Dr. Howard Heller, an infectious disease specialist, puts it nicely: “With holiday-related parties and travel, we are exposed to more people than usual, and larger numbers of germs. This increases our odds of picking up a respiratory viral infection like influenza.”
Tips for staying healthy
Dr. Heller offers these tips for staying healthy in the next holiday rush of partying:
• Wash your hands frequently. You just can’t overdo this simple but most effective way to prevent catching an infection. The more parties we attend and more hands we shake, the more we have to do it. Our most frequent source of viruses and bacteria are the contaminated objects which we hold, and then touching our nose or mouth. We should avoid touching our face unless we have washed them first, especially when traveling.
• Be ambidextrous. This may sound odd but wise. In parties wherein we need to shake a lot of hands, we should handle food only with our left hand. “It will keep that right hand, which is full of other people’s germs, away from your nose and mouth,” Dr. Heller says.
• Get a flu shot once a year. This is best done before the flu season, so toward the end of the first quarter. Vaccination against influenza is one way to reduce our chances of getting a bad strain of flu during the holidays.
Go a long way
The good old advice of sleeping well, eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly despite the hectic holiday schedule will also go a long way to keep our immune system healthier.
The funny thing about the holiday season is that when it’s over—beyond the fond recollections and peaceful reflections—the disappointment creeps that despite all attention to details, we realize there were a few friends and relatives we’ve not given gifts or send greetings to or reunited with. We already have probably the longest Christmas season in the world, yet, somehow we wish it were longer to give us more time to fit family and social obligations into an already crazily hectic schedule.
The holiday phenomenon is that there’s always too much to do and not enough time to do all the shopping, card-sending, baking, partying and you fill in the blanks of all else that you wish you had more time to do.
But despite all the hassles of the holiday season, thank God we have such a season to celebrate.
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