It’s that time of year where everywhere you turn, you’ll see someone coughing, sneezing, or looking down right miserable.  So many illnesses and infections get spread around, from the common cold to the flu.
It’s nearly impossible to make it through the fall and winter season without catching a cold.  Skip your annual flu vaccine, and you potentially set yourself up for a bout of that, too.
Here are a few ways to make this cold and flu season your healthiest one yet.

1. Regularly wash your hands: Hard surfaces can host germs and bacteria for up to days at a time. Touching those surfaces can cause respiratory illnesses. Practicing proper hand-washing is a vital behavior to reduce the transfer of germs and bacteria that can make you sick.
2. Quit touching your face: It’s surprising the amount of times we put our hands on our mouth or nose throughout the day.  Even with regular hand washing, touching your face is the most common way germs enter the body.  Be sure to try to keep your hands away from your face.
3. Clean house: Spring isn’t the only time of year you should practice good housekeeping. Wiping down frequently touched surfaces such as your cell phone, doorknobs, laptop keyboards, and countertops on a daily basis can stop germs in their tracks.
4. Get a full night’s rest: Have you ever noticed that when you don’t get enough sleep, you always end up sick? Take advantage of the longer days to get more sleep.
5. Call in sick: Although you may feel temped to push through the work day, the truth is no one in your office wants to be exposed to your coughing and sneezing. More than likely, they want to avoid catching your illness.  Take the day off to relax and recuperate so you can be ready to tackle on the work day without your cold interfering with your productivity.

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If you’ve been battling that cough that just won’t quit, be sure to visit AFC Urgent Care South Plainfield.  Our walk-in urgent care center treats a number of upper respiratory illnesses and symptoms such as:

• Bronchitis
• Colds
• Fall Allergies
• Cough
• Dehydration
• Fever
• Flu/Influenza
• Headache
• Nausea
• Pneumonia
• Sinus Pain/Sinusitis
• Sore Throat
• Staph Infection
• Strep Throat

We provide preventative care services such as seasonal flu shots so you can protect yourself and peers by getting vaccinated for influenza.  Open seven days a week, we are here to treat your seasonal ailments.
For more information about our walk-in urgent care services, please call us at 908-222-3500.