Is it just the sniffles or do you have the flu?

This article explains how to tell the difference between a common cold and the flu, which often have similar symptoms.

You come from work exhausted, your head heavy and your nose feeling ticklish. You feel a cold coming on, and you feel really miserable. In a few hours, your nose begins to run and your eyes water as well. So you have some warm soup and go to bed, giving your body time to rest and recuperate from the cold.

Except – how do you know it’s a cold? It could even be influenza! Influenza, or ‘flu’ as it is commonly called, exhibits similar symptoms to a common cold. You feel a tickly nose, your eyes become watery and start running, your nose starts running then you start sneezing. These are all the symptoms of a common cold. The difference between cold and flu is that the latter has all these symptoms, and some more progressive ones. After a day, you begin to experience fever and your runny nose becomes so clogged that you find it difficult to breathe.

Since they exhibit similar symptoms, it is easy to misdiagnose the flu for a cold. It is easy enough to know the differencebetween cold and flu – by which time, you are in the grip of the flu quite badly! After a day, the flu shows symptoms like body ache, nausea, exhaustion, sore throat and difficulty in swallowing. When the body temperature rises (sometimes as high as 104°) it can also cause splitting headaches.

The flu normally strikes in the cold winter months, and you take longer to recover from it than the common cold. Persons with reduced immunity, senior citizens, young children and pregnant women are particularly at risk of contracting it. Those with chronic breathing issues may need to visit a doctor to remove the thickened mucus in their nasal cavity.

The simple safety guide against flu

·         If you realise that a person in your immediate vicinity is sneezing constantly and looking flushed and weak, remove yourself from the environment.

·         There may be a person around you that has the flu and who is using common facilities like everyone else. Take care to wash your hands with a good antibacterial soap after you touch any surfaces, especially taps, door knobs, elevator buttons and computer keyboards.

·         Take care to sneeze into a tissue or in your hands. Wash your hands with antibacterial soap immediately.

·         Keep a hand sanitizer in your bag when you are outside your home. It is useful when you have restricted access to soap and water.

·         You can also keep a packet of disinfectant wipes in your bag, and wipe down the surfaces that you are about to use.

·         Spray an air disinfectant spray around your work desk to kill any lurking infectious germs.

Office cleaning 101: A simple plan

Here’s a simple way to reduce costs and labour involved in daily office cleaning.

Everybody loves to walk into a freshly cleaned office every morning. But most people don’t realise how much cleaning goes into keeping the office clean. There is dusting, vacuuming, mopping, washing, scrubbing, wiping and spraying to be done on different surfaces and in corners. It is a mammoth task that requires several people and a lot of cleaning material.

As the owner of a business, your office building or floor must be clean, hygienic and germ-free at all times. Unclean office environments, brought on by lack of daily cleaning, or presence of mould and pests, often cause illnesses and allergies at the workplace. However, the gigantic effort of everyday cleaning is costly and huge in scope. If you are concerned about a less than clean office environment, here’s a simple guide to get it done:

→ Get a professional cleaning team on the weekend to give the building a thorough scrub.

Despite daily cleaning, dirt and dust can accumulate in the office. Also, loose plasters, holes in the walls, leaking roofs and other problems might go unnoticed. A professional cleaning team can clean and scrub the entire building from top to bottom, and point out any problem areas that need urgent investigation.

→ Get pest control done

Hire a pest control firm to spray and zap every inch of the building, so that all pests are pulled out of their hiding places. Rats and mice are the worst pests, since they chew the computer cables and eat up the food supplies. Other troublesome pests like roaches and ants are found in the wet areas and pantry. Removing pests reduces the chances of food contamination and illnesses caused by it.

→ Use all-purpose cleaners instead of a battery of products

When it comes to cleaning, you can try one of two approaches: Either get task-specific products, or get all purpose cleaners. The advantage of using all-purpose cleaners is that you can replace several cleaning products with a single one, thus making it an economical and labour-saving option. A product like Dettol Power & Pure Multipurpose Cleaner can do the job of several cleaning products at once. It is a pourable liquid that tackles the toughest cleaning tasks in the washrooms, kitchen, eating areas and the seating areas of your office. It saves labour and water because there is no need to rinse the surfaces afterward.

→ Supply the office with paper towels, hand sanitizers and antibacterial soaps

Infectious illnesses spread in closed office environments. Often, unclean hands rife with germs are responsible for spreading diseases. Keep the washrooms well stocked with paper towels and antibacterial soaps, and have a hand sanitizer placed on each work desk so that your staff can exercise hand hygiene during flu and cold season.

We hope this guide has been helpful to you. You can now enjoy a germ-free office.

The 5 ways in which you spread germs …and your hands are the culprit.

Would you believe it if anyone told you that you were responsible for spreading germs? Most likely not, but if you have been doing so, it is an inadvertent mistake. Wily germs pass from people to people in the most innocuous ways. Knowing how germs spread can help you break the cycle of transmission.

This is how germs spread:

1 From hands to yourself: If your hands harbour infectious germs, they have the potential to enter your system in a fair few ways. The most common way of germ transmission is touching your face with unclean hands. Germs can enter your body on contact with your eyes, nose or mouth. This is how most infectious germs that cause gastric upsets, or cough, cold and flu are passed on from the environment to you.

2 From hands to surfaces: Just like unclean surfaces can make your hands dirty, so can dirty hands infect clean surfaces. An infected surface can transfer the germs to others. Surfaces can also get dirty when someone coughs or sneezes nearby, or leaves used tissues lying around, or does not wipe up spilled food or drinks immediately. Unclean surfaces such as elevator buttons, handrails, telephone buttons, computer keyboards, door knobs, faucets etc. can spread germs to hands touching them.

3 From persons to your hands: Some people are guilty of spreading germs through sheer carelessness. They may cough or sneeze without covering their faces. Or they may sneeze into tissues and leave them lying about instead of disposing them in the trash. At other times, some people who are ill with infectious diseases like flu, chicken pox, conjunctivitis and cold may show up for work or attend school. Being in close contact with sick persons dramatically increases the chances of contracting the infection.

4 From hands to food: You may forget to wash your hands after eating or going to the restroom. Or you may handle a sick baby’s diaper and not wash your hands thereafter. Imagine if your hands are rife with germs, and you start cooking food. The germs are transferred from your hands to plates, spoons and raw food. Eating food contaminated with your germs, or germs picked up from unclean chopping boards or cutlery, can cause digestive disorders and allergies.

5 From pets to people: Playing with your pet gives you immense joy. But pets pick up fleas, ticks and dirt in their fur. They might go out and roll about in the mud, or suffer from a skin rash, or even eat something that makes them fall sick. Handling your pet is important, but exercising caution is even more vital. If you forget to wash your hands with soap after playing or cleaning your pet, your hands can carry and transfer germs to other surfaces and people.

Now that you know how germs spread, you can keep yourself and your loved ones safe by maintaining good hand and home hygiene. 

How to Overcome the Constant Problem of Bladder?

Incontinence, overactive bladder, frequent urination, is some of the common bladder problems that occur when your bladder weakens. These bladder related issues can occur because of your age, pregnancy, any sort of disability, medical issues, or any other health problem. If you feel that you are suffering from any bladder-related problem, then the very first thing is to get yourself diagnosed by an expert doctor. While the doctor would definitely suggest you with an adequate treatment option based on your condition, still there are other ways that you can adopt in order to overcome various bladder-related problems.

Bladder Training–This is a simple yet intense training that involves scheduling the frequency to urinate at regular intervals. The training might extend from a month to 3 months, which can help retain the bladder to hold urine for the much longer time. This is slow, but a safe and hassle-free treatment that gradually helps the patient to urinate less frequently.

Managing fluid intake–Patients suffering from bladder related troubles must manage their fluid intake and must drink enough that prevents constipation and over storing of urine. Such people must avoid drinking fluids containing caffeine, chocolates, and artificial juices and must even avoid drinking right before the bedtime that can lead to increase in night time urination.

Kegel exercises–These are special exercises that intend to strengthen the bladder muscles and urethra muscles. The main aim of these exercises is to enhance the bladder control and increase its strength so that it can hold urine for longer period. With regularly carrying the Kegel exercises it is possible to create drastic control over the pelvic muscles and hence reduce urinary frequency and urgency.

Using Catheter – This treatment is specific to those who experience the problem of overflow incontinence. While it is essential to take proper medications, but if the medication does not reap adequate results, then you need to carry a catheter, which is a very sleek tube that you can place in the urethra by yourself. The training for the same can be taken by your nurse or doctor. The process is simple, and you may use single use catheters that are compact enough to carry in the pocket and can be conveniently disposed.

Making Lifestyle Changes – If you are suffering from the problem of overactive bladder, then you can make some simple lifestyle changes in order to remain stress-free from the symptoms related to this bladder problem. Keeping the bathroom door close, having a bathroom attached to the bedroom, wearing loose clothes, managing fluid intake, and ensuring to go to the bathroom before sleeping are some of the simple changes that you may adopt.

Bladder-related problems occur when your bladder weakens. Besides consulting your doctor, you can adopt these ways in order to combat the problems related to losing bladder. If despite following these measures you are not able to avail satisfactory results, then you must seek expert advice from a specialist. 

How is Menopause Related with Overactive Bladder?

When a woman’s ovaries stop releasing eggs, and her menstruation ends, then this phase of her life is known as menopause. Most of the women experience menopause during later forties or early fifties. When a woman is expected to reach menopause or has already met with it, then it might experience a medical situation known as overactive bladder or OAB. Overactive bladder can be witnessed with following symptoms:

·         Increased frequency of urination

·         An instant urge to urinate

·         Frequent urination during the night time

·         Difficulty controlling urination

As per a study conducted by the Urology Care Foundation, women after menopause are at a great risk of experiencing this problem.

Relation between Menopause and Overactive Bladder

Pre-menopause or the phase just before the actual menopause women experience a fall in the level of estrogen, which is an important hormone essential for female sexual development. This hormone is released by the ovaries, and besides playing a crucial role in thedevelopment of reproductive and sexual systems, this hormone affects the well-being of other body organs, such as pelvic muscles, urinary tract, and more.

Once a woman reaches menopause her body stops producing estrogen, which further reduces the strength of the bladder and pelvic tissues. Low levels of estrogenresult in lost strength of the pelvic muscles and even cause intense pressure around the urethra muscle. There are various types of bladder related problems that a woman might experience due to menopause, and one of them is anoveractive bladder.During this ailment, a woman feels like urinating very often and wish to go to the bathroom even when there is no need. Sometimes the problem is so severe that a woman experiences aleak of urine during a cough, sneeze, or laugh.

Diagnosing Bladder Control Problem

In order to diagnose the problem, an experienced doctor would perform a proper physical exam of the body and even the pelvic muscles. You even have to undergo some laboratory tests to identify signs of urinary tract infection. Once the examination process is completed, you would be then asked to maintain a schedule of your urination frequency and timing. You even have to maintain a record of your diet in the diary or any overwhelming desires you could recall.

Treatment for Menopause Related Overactive Bladder

If you are diagnosed with this problem, then the very first thing you need to do is to change your diet and include drinking fluids like water, almond milk, soy milk, and avoid drinking coffee, tea, and juices. You even need to stop eating chocolates, tomatoes, spicy food, alcohol, and artificial sweeteners. In addition to this, you need to perform Kegel exercise ideal to strengthen your pelvic muscle. If there is aneed, then you need to take estrogen supplements in order to strengthen urethra muscle and enhance blood flow. If anything else does not work, then you need to go through surgery.

The symptoms of overactive bladder are irritating and can make it difficult for you to enjoy your everyday activities. But the good thing is that a correct treatment can combat this problem with ease. So, if you are experiencing any such troubles, then it is essential that you consult an experienced doctor instantly. 

Are your hands totally germ free?

You can never be sure if your hands are carrying germs or not. Take the guesswork out of the equation and be germ-free by using a hand sanitizer.

The human hands are carriers of many germs, and they are inadvertently passed from one person to another. Keeping them germ-free at all times is not as tough as you think – simply use an antibacterial hand sanitizer that kills up to 99.9% germs on your hands.

When should you use hand sanitizer?

After eating. Whether you eat using your hands or using spoons and forks, you must get rid of germs you may have picked up. Germs can lurk on unclean spoons and plates, and they may also be ingested. After you have had your meal, err on the side of caution and clean your hands with antibacterial hand sanitizer. This is helpful for those at work and school.

After visiting the restroom. You would think people who visited the restroom would wash their hands with soap, but you would think wrong! Most people just rinse their hands with plain water. This is risky behaviour, especially at the workplace, where germs may spread rapidly from one person to another. But you can be responsible – use antibacterial hand sanitizer after visiting the restroom, especially if you are not certain that the soap provided by the office is an antibacterial one.

Before handling a baby. Babies are delicate and easily prone to infections. You cannot touch your baby with germs lurking on your hands. But keeping a baby unattended while you nip to the bathroom to wash your hands with soap is also not an option. Take the easier route out – keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in the baby’s wardrobe or near the diaper changing station. That way, you can quickly clean your hands prior to changing your baby or picking them up. It is a good idea to use sanitizer afterward, too.

After cleaning a pet’s bowls and litter box. Your pets are precious, but they also trail a lot of infectious germs and mud all over the house. They pass germs on to you and your family members. Often, the pet’s feeding bowls and trays can get neglected – merely giving them a rinse with water will not clean them completely. Add disinfecting liquid to the detergent when washing their plates, bowls and trays, or use a kitchen disinfectant spray. Clean out the litter box diligently and spray it liberally with air disinfectant so as to kill all germs.

After reaching work. Your car harbours many germs that you are unaware of. The steering wheel, car phone, entertainment system buttons and the door handle are all hotbeds of germs. Once you park your car and reach your desk, just reach out for hand sanitizer and clean your hands before you touch other surfaces. 

Face flu season with confidence

Good personal hygiene and maintaining cleanliness in your work space can go a long way in preventing flu.

Flu season is awful! Apart from a temperature, you suffer from a runny nose, headaches and nausea. But if you think getting flu is inevitable, think again. Preventing flu may be easier than you think!

Consider the following tips that show how to prevent the flu:

* Get a flu vaccine. Ask your doctor about taking an annual flu vaccine, making special mention of any other medication you may be on. During flu season, doctors recommend a preventive dose of antiviral medication such as Tamiflu (Oseltamivir) and/or Relenza (Zanamivir).

* Wash your hands frequently. The easiest route for the flu virus to reach you is through your hands. You are less likely to contract the virus by inhaling its germs directly through the air. In fact, the germs are more likely to implant on your hands after you touch surfaces contaminated by them. Once they are on the hands, they enter the system when you accidentally touch your eyes or nose. So if you want to know how to prevent the flu, start by washing your hands every hour with antibacterial soap.

* Keep a hand sanitiser in your bag. You may not always have access to soap and water, especially when you are out of doors or on a commute to work. No matter – let a hand sanitiser ‘wash’ your hands for you. Just take some sanitiser on your hands and rub them together till the liquid is completely absorbed. It kills the harmful germs lurking on the skin, and you can use it after you have inadvertently shaken somebody’s hand, or turned a door handle or even handled a common telephone receiver at work.

* Keep the house and work spaces clean. It is a myth that contaminated surfaces are only found in the workplace. They are found even in homes that are less than careful about hygiene, especially during flu season. Flu germs can easily be transmitted from hands to surfaces. They can affect you and your loved ones, especially if the person handling the food and cooking duties has them. The best way to ensure that the home is free of flu germs is to use an air disinfectant spray. Spray it on the surfaces of contamination and let it dry.

* Eat healthy, light food. Lowered immunity can invite flu germs into the system. It is up to you to build your family’s immunity during this trying time. Prepare hot, nutritious meals that are easy to digest. Include a lot of fruit and vegetables in the daily diet, preferably in raw or pureed form. It is also important to rest adequately and take light exercise to build resistance to disease.