Nine Tips To Keep Your Family Healthy While At Home

Today, we live in a world of COVID-19 where we are at risk of being infected with the coronavirus, that is why we are staying more at our homes to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But, on the other hand, it made it easier for families to get out of their normal routines. We have a very relaxed schedule, unhealthy eating, more screen time, and no exercise or gym classes; this entire thing has made us unhealthy and unfit. That is why it’s more important now to prioritize your family’s physical, emotional, and mental health. 

So, what can you do to keep your family healthy and fit? There are nine important tips to keep your family healthy:

• Stay Active Together

Encourage yourself and your family to stay active the whole day. Try to spend some time together, do some exercise. Go outside whenever it is possible and safer for your family; have some walk, play any game like football or basketball, and must remember it is a world with COVID-19, so do not try to meet or hug others, wear a mask and maintain a distance of at least six feet from people.

When it is a rainy or cold day, look for other ways to keep your family active. Try some yoga, dance, or cook something special which involves everyone.

• Get Quality Sleep

Getting quality sleep is very important for a healthy routine. Lack of sleep is linked to various diseases like heart failure, high blood pressure, stroke, obesity, type II diabetes, etc. To avoid all these diseases and keeping yourself and your family healthy and active, get enough sleep. 

• For adults, it is recommended to get 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night.
• For babies, young children, and teens require even more sleep for their growth and development.

Make a routine for an early bedtime and a consistent routine of waking up is best for getting quality sleep.

• Drink Enough Water

Staying hydrated keeps you energized, more alert, and healthy. It helps you to maximize your physical performance and keep your brain more active. Experts recommended drinking 7 to 8 glasses of water or almost 2 liters. It will help in normalizing blood pressure, preventing constipation, stabilizing the heartbeat, and flushing bacteria from your bladder; which ultimately makes you fitter and healthier.

Try to make a routine of drinking water like:

• One to two glasses of water before breakfast
• One glass of water after every meal
• And the remaining glasses of water during the day

Make a schedule of water intake with some benefits of, “how important it is for their health”, and stick it on the wall where everyone in the family can easily see it. This will help them to increase their water intake throughout the day.

• Eat A Well-Balanced Diet

For a healthy lifestyle, encourage everyone to eat a well-balanced diet. It’s about a balanced food choice rather than eating the whole day the same one thing. Ellie Krieger say that the human body needs more than 40 nutrients and a single food cannot supply all of them. Therefore, it is important to make a schedule of every meal according to the nutrients needed. Here are some tips you can use for making a meal schedule for your family:

• Include at least one food in every meal which contains carbohydrates such as rice, cereals, pasta, bread, and potato. It will increase our fiber intake.
• Try to eat fish 2 to 3 times a week. It will increase our unsaturated fats.
• Include vegetables and fruits in your diet for giving your body fiber, minerals, and vitamins.

While cooking try to bake, steam, or boil food rather than frying. It will help in balancing the body fat. It is recommended by experts for a healthy diet to reduce salt and sugar intake; a high intake of salt can increase blood pressure and a high sugar intake can result in high inflammation, weight gain, higher blood pressure, heart attack, etc. That is why try to guide your all family member to reduce salt and sugar in their daily life to keep themselves fit and healthy.

• Explore New Things

In this pandemic situation, everyone has more idle time at home because most of the businesses and schools are closed and they also do not go outside for much time. Therefore, it is the best time to explore, discover, and learn new things with your family and keep their minds fresh and stimulated. By being creative, make a list of things you can do together but remember one thing try not to add those things which are difficult to learn. 

Here are some tips:

• Do gardening
• Cooking new recipes
• Learn any new art like painting
• Decorate the house

• Keeping Your Home Clean

Due to social distancing, we are spending most of our time in our homes without realizing that there is a connection between our homes and our health. As Heba Noureldine, a home cleaning specialist with Cleaning Company in Dubai, points out, If we have a clean house, we feel fresh and active all day, while an un-cleaned home makes us sick. 

Here are some tips:

• Try to divide duties among family members to clean the house. 
• If your kids and teenagers are old enough to clean their rooms, let them clean. 
• Make a schedule once a week to declutter the house by involving every member.
• Decorate the entire house together.  

Show your family that housework is not a burden and instead make it fun. Create games for your kids such as tell them to search missing for household items, see who is going to clean their room the quickest. This will helps you get things done faster.

• Stay Connected

Humans are social creatures and they feel happy and healthy while staying connected with their loved ones. Spend some time together in a healthy conversation or eat meals with your family at the dining table. For the loved ones who are staying in another area or region, connect them with virtual meetings and share your feelings.

• Limit The Screen Time

Watching too much TV or using too much social media can increase stress and anxiety level. Try to limit yourself and your family members the number of times you check the news. Your kids might need technology more than usual in this pandemic situation for distance learning, but try to keep them incorporating in other actives in between screen time.

• Take Some Precautionary Measures

In this COVID-19 epidemic, try to take some precautionary measures for staying healthy. Wash your hands more often with water and soap for at least 20 seconds especially when you come back from a public gathering to minimize the spread of viruses and germs.

Some precautionary measures are:

• Clean and disinfect high touched space in your home
• Cough or sneeze with a tissue or inside of your elbow
• Wear a mask in public
• Stay six feet away from people
• Monitor your health daily