How To Prevent A Cold While At Work

Knowing how to prevent a cold is the first step to winning the fight against bacteria and viruses that are spreading around the office. From cleaning your workspace to taking care of your body, you can ensure that you come out of the cold season bright-eyed and energetic. With our extensive knowledge and years of experience in office cleaning in Milton Keynes, we have decided to give you some tips and hints on how to avoid catching a cold even when everyone else falls ill.

How To Prevent A Cold & Ways To Improve Hygiene

On average, an adult will suffer from a common cold around 2-3 times a year, most of these being in the winter. As we are all aware, these colds can make you feel weak, sore and extremely tired, making most people dread the winter months. Not only do we know have the common cold to worry about, but also Covid, making personal hygiene a priority when heading out of the house. However, there are many ways that you can try and avoid colds and the flu with simple everyday routines. To give you a hand in fighting colds at work, here is all you need to know about the following:

• How To Prevent A Cold When You Feel It Coming
• Should You Exercise With A Cold?
• What To Eat When You Have A Cold
• Benefits Of The Flu Jab
• Maintain Good Personal Hygeine
• Importance Of Being Organised
• Does Vitamin C Prevent Colds?
• What Materials Harbour Bacteria?

How To Prevent A Cold When You Feel It Coming

If you have a runny nose, congestion or a sore throat, then it could be a sign that a cold is on its way. While we will discuss how to prevent a cold in the first place, we thought it might be handy to help you understand how to prevent a cold when you feel it coming. It is important to note that not all of these remedies will work for you, making it important to find a solution that works best for your body and symptoms. Here some handy ways to prevent a cold from getting worse:

• Drink lots of water
• Rest as much as possible
• Reduce stress through meditation
• Eat healthy foods and avoid junk food
• Include honey in your meals
• Increase vitamin D intake
• Take zinc tablets

Should You Exercise With A Cold?

If you are wondering whether you should exercise with a cold, then you may be happy to know that heading down to your gym or doing a home workout can still be complete as long as you stick to mild physical activity. It is also important to ensure that you clean all equipment after use to avoid passing bacteria around.

Exercising can also help to prevent colds and other illnesses, making it a great solution for keeping fit and healthy throughout the year. While indoor activities will still help you to stay fit, outdoor sports may be a better solution for keeping your distance and avoiding contact with harmful bacteria. CNN Health has developed the perfect guide on which sports can help you during the flu season, and which ones you should try and avoid.

Outside of the benefits that exercising can have on your body in fighting off colds and the flu, there are also a number of other health benefits. Exercising can help you with the following:

• Increases energy
• Improves muscle strength
• Improves productivity
• Reduces cholesterol
• Reduces development of type 2 diabetes
• Improves your immune system
• Improves sleep

What To Eat When You Have A Cold

As much as you may hate your veg, it is important to make sure that you add some healthy produce to your diet. According to the Better Health Channel, fruit and veg are vital not only to maintain a healthy weight but also to fight off bacteria and other diseases. By eating fruit and vegetables, you can reduce the risk of:

• Type 2 diabetes
• Stroke
• Heart diseases
• High blood pressure

To find out more about some of the healthiest fruit that you can enjoy as a snack while working at your desk, take a look at Healthline’s blog. Alternatively, you could decide to have a veggie night, where you cook up a lovely batch of perfectly roasted carrots, a rainbow salad or even a vegetable curry. The BBC has some delicious and heartwarming healthy dishes, and we would highly recommend giving a few ago!

If you already have a cold and attempting to get rid of it, there are certain foods that can make you feel significantly better. Here is what to eat when you have a cold:

• Chicken Soup
• Broths
• Garlic
• Coconut Water
• Hot Tea
• Honey
• Ginger
• Spicy Foods
• Bananas
• Oatmeal

Benefits Of The Flu Jab

We know it can be a little scary heading to the doctors to get your flu jab, but it is important to make sure that you have it done regularly to avoid catching something that could take weeks to recover from. There are an abundance of benefits of the flu jab, and it is usually over within a matter of seconds, protecting you against what is known as ‘influenza viruses’, which can be found in public spaces as well as in the office. The flu jab can cost anything between £6 and £13, all depending on where you live and where you decided to get your flu vaccine from. Love Money has put together a range of places you can get your flu vaccine and how much it will cost you. However, this service is free to some individuals. Those that can benefit from a free flu jab include:

• Those over the age of 65
• Pregnant women
• Children aged between 2 and 17
• Social care workers
• Certain medical conditions such as asthma

For more information about the flu jab, including who should consider having the vaccine and what type of flu jabs are available, have a look at the NHS website.

Maintain Good Personal Hygiene

One of the easiest ways to avoid catching a cold, or even worse, the flu, is to make sure that you keep up with good personal hygiene. Constantly washing your hands, applying hand sanitiser and cleaning your desk, will ensure that you are wiping away any bacteria that could cause you to catch the flu. Even if you are the only one that has been at your desk all day, you can still pick up bacteria on your hands when opening doors and walking around the office, so purchasing some hand sanitiser to pop into your draw is a good idea.

When heading to the toilets to wash your hands, make sure that you are thoroughly washing them by using a specific technique that ensures you have washed away all the bad bacteria. You can achieve this by following our simple and easy to remember method:

• Wet your hands with some water
• Apply a fairly generous amount of soap
• Rub your hands together and make sure that you rub the back of your hands and through your fingers
• Rub the back of both of your fingers on the palm of your hands
• Rub your thumbs
• Rinse your hands with water and completely dry

Washing your hands thoroughly should take you around 20 seconds, which is roughly the same amount of time it takes to sing happy birthday. Below is a helpful video on how to wash your hands, minimising the chances of catching a cold.

Importance Of Being Organised

Along with cleaning your hands regularly, you should also be wiping down your desk, mouse, keyboard and anything else that you may be using on a regular basis. The importance of being organised is even more prevalent now that we have Covid to worry about, and by staying organised, you can keep on top of your workload as well as personal hygiene. We would advise to complete desk cleaning in the morning before you start your day, and after lunch; this eliminates the bacteria and risk of catching a cold. When wiping down your desk, make sure that you are using products that will cut through the dirt and germs, such as those found on Set Your Office’s blog about the best cleaners for your office desk.

However, you don’t have to waste time in the morning, and instead, you can get straight onto completing your daily tasks when opting for our commercial cleaning in Milton Keynes or in the surrounding areas. Our trusted, reliable and friendly team will complete daily cleaning tasks for your office space, which can include the cleaning of desks. Facilities Company uses only the highest-quality products that can help to rid your workspace of harmful bacterias. So feel free to contact the team today for more information about our commercial cleaning services.

Does Vitamin C Prevent Colds?

One of the reasons that you may find that catching a cold feels inevitable is because your body lacks all of the necessary vitamins that it needs to stay healthy. Depending on your diet, how much sun you get and even whether your body produces it or not, you may need to take vitamin supplements to make up for it. A popular question is, ‘does vitamin C prevent colds?’, and while it will not be the sole factor for preventing a cold, it can largely contribute to strengthening your immune system. As well as vitamin C, you should also consider taking the following:

• Zinc
• Vitamin D
• Omega-3

If you find that your diet requires a little more help in providing the essential vitamins for your body, then take a look at Harvard Health Publishing’s helpful guide to food and minerals. For those of you that have already caught a cold or can feel the symptoms brewing, why not take the Boots vitamin quiz to see what vitamins and brands will best suit your symptoms.

What Materials Harbour Bacteria?

A lot of clothing, bags, purses and other fashion items are often made from soft cloth-like fabrics that allow bacteria, illness and even smells to cling to them. This can have a detrimental effect on your health during the colder months and makes you a carrier of bacteria that can cause the whole office to catch a cold, increasing your chances of falling ill.

As soon as you hear someone blowing their nose in the office, try to ditch the cloth bag and replace it with a smart acrylic rucksack, leather side bag or even a briefcase. Materials that do not allow germs to attach themselves are ideal when colds are being spread around the office, making you less likely to catch one. Washing your clothing regularly is also a good way of killing bacteria; however, it is important to make sure that you wash your clothing at the correct temperature to avoid spreading the bacteria further. The Spruce has an easy step by step guide on how you can wash your laundry to rid your clothes of viral infections.

Stay Healthy & Fight The Cold

When you’re suffering from a cold, you can find that working becomes increasingly harder and can even cause you to take days off work. Not only will this impact your work, but it can also leave you feeling a little under the weather. By ensuring that your stationery, desk and hands are thoroughly cleaned along with looking after your body, you can fight off the cold even when the person on the desk next to you has the sniffles.

To ensure that your office and workspace is sparkling clean, especially during the cold season, contact the Facilities Company for office cleaning, commercial cleaning and window cleaning in Milton Keynes and the surrounding areas. Our reputable team have years of experience under their belt in maintaining clean environments for staff to stay healthy.