Seniors - Time to Roll Up Your Sleeves!
With the nights beginning to get a little cooler and the days a little shorter, we begin to anticipate the delights that a colorful Autumn will soon offer. We watch the gradual color change of the leaves, squirrels busy about collecting their winter’s store of nuts, and we spend evenings on the porch sipping warm tea, draped with a cozy wrap, enamored by the quiet where our outdoor summer friends recently played.
Aside from all of the marvelling at what is taking place outdoors, there are certain fall rituals we perform annually in readying ourselves for the oncoming months of Winter. We need to make appointments to have our furnaces checked, put antifreeze in our cars, rotate out our lightweight wardrobe for those heavier pieces we stored earlier in the year, and get into the ground those bulbs that will wake up and color our world yet again come Spring.
Along with caring for our homes and yards, we also need to do all that we can for ourselves, so that we can remain healthy throughout the winter, when the weather may make it more difficult to get out and exercise, and when it seems more illnesses are being passed around.
One simple thing that seniors can do to remain healthy during the winter months is to get a flu shot. In the last several years, there wasn’t an adequate supply of flu shots and many people, including seniors, were forced to do without. But we learned from our mistakes and, according to the CDC, the 2006 flu season will not face this same problem. This year there are one hundred million vaccines available, nineteen million more than last year. This is great news!
If you are a senior and you think that since you hardly ever get sick during the winter months you might just not bother with the vaccine this year, let me share some statistics I recently learned from the CDC. Did you know:
- 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu (that’s up to 1 in 5 people);
- more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from complications with the flu each year, and;
- about 36,000 people die from flu annually. (36,000!!)
People 50 years of age and older are considered high risk for complications from the flu and are urged to get a flu vaccine. Some of the complications that could occur from the flu include bacterial pneumonia, ear infections, sinus infections, dehydration, and worsening of chronic medical conditions such as congestive heart failure, asthma, or diabetes.
The flu season varies, but could possibly last up until May. Flu is transmitted between people through coughing or sneezing and sometimes even by touching something with the flu virus on it and then touching their mouth or nose. It is possible to infect others one day prior to having any flu symptoms and up to five days after becoming sick. That means the flu is contagious for quite a long time.
Though you can still get a flu shot in December and still receive some benefit, it is recommended that you get your shot in October or November. Shots should be available soon at your doctor’s office, pharmacy, health departments and various other centers that have scheduled dates to give the vaccine.
