At Reynolds and Reynolds, we encourage our associates to make their wellness a top priority, but the winter months prove to challenge that mindset. Stuffiness, runniness, and the general pain that comes with winter illnesses are what we constantly fight to avoid. There are certainly everyday ways to avoid getting sick: wash your hands continuously throughout the day, don’t eat or drink after anyone else, and cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough. After all of your hard work, sadly, sometimes these are just not enough. Because of this, I’ve compiled a few lesser known ways to keep the cold away during the winter months.

1. Protect your nose. Remember when you were a child and adults always made you wear three layers of clothes before playing in the snow? It wasn’t just to prevent you from being cold, but it also prevented you from getting a cold. Scarves and hats keep the head warm and can offer protection against illness, especially if the nose is covered. Viruses can enter the body through the thin membrane of the nasal passage. When the temperature drops, the cold virus breeds at a more rapid rate than in higher temperatures, making it more likely for the virus to penetrate the body’s defenses. When you venture into the cold, make sure you always wear something to cover your nose to lessen your chances of catching a cold.
2. Moisturize after washing your hands. Dry skin is a common ailment in the winter months, many combat with moisturizing cream. Even if you don’t mind the feeling of cracked skin, there is another reason for smoothing out your skin. Dry, flaky skin can let viruses seep through the cracks just as they would a cut or an abrasion. Do your best to keep that from happening by taking care of your hands.
3. Clean your phone. Almost everyone carries a phone when leaving the house. Most of the time, it’s in your hand or sitting next to you. Even if you carefully wash your hands, avoid shopping cart handles, handrails, doorknobs, and sneeze into your elbow, you can still pick up a cold from your phone. If you set your phone on an unwashed counter, for example, it attracts germs and viruses. You’ll attract those germs too once you pick up your phone. Run a sanitizing wipe over your phone case to disinfect it before picking it up.

Although it’s no guarantee you will not get sick, these tips can help prevent you in these colder months from an illness.