Flu – Weight Loss Diet Solutions

Early Flu Season Already Started

Flu season in the U.S. is off to its earliest start in nearly a decade — and it could be a bad one. Health officials on Monday said suspected flu cases have jumped in five Southern states, and the primary strain circulating tends to make people sicker than other types. It is particularly hard on the elderly.

“It looks like it’s shaping up to be a bad flu season, but only time will tell,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The good news is that the nation seems fairly well prepared, Frieden said. More than a third of Americans have been vaccinated, and the vaccine formulated for this year is well-matched to the strains of the virus seen so far, CDC officials said.

Early Flu Season 2012 Started

Higher-than-normal reports of flu have come in from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. An uptick like this usually doesn’t happen until after Christmas. Flu-related hospitalizations are also rising earlier than usual, and there have already been two deaths in children.

It’s not clear why the flu is showing up so early.

The last time a conventional flu season started this early was the winter of 2003-04, which proved to be one of the most lethal seasons in the past 35 years, with more than 48,000 deaths. The dominant type of flu back then was the same one seen this year.

One key difference between then and now: In 2003-04, the vaccine was poorly matched to the predominant flu strain. Also, there’s more vaccine now, and vaccination rates have risen for the general public and for key groups such as pregnant women and health care workers.

Many Vaccinated for Flu But Many Die Every Year

An estimated 112 million Americans have been vaccinated so far, the CDC said. Flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone 6 months or older.

On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.

Flu usually peaks in midwinter. Symptoms can include fever, cough, runny nose, head and body aches and fatigue. Some people also suffer vomiting and diarrhea, and some develop pneumonia or other severe complications.

A strain of swine flu that hit in 2009 caused a wave of cases in the spring and then again in the early fall. But that was considered a unique type of flu, distinct from the conventional strains that circulate every year.

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Do I stay in better health with exercise?

I was off sick yesterday. Sometimes there will be a bug in the office and everyone seems to eventually catch it over a couple of month span. Over the last few years I have been able to stay away from getting sick very often at all using a couple rules:

Rule one is that I always try to exercise well. I have some really tough workouts and some not so tough workouts but I never try to push myself to hard over an extended period of days, the way that I look at it is that I can’t heal fast enough to get away with that and I know because I will get more and more tired as the week goes on.

Rule two is that I make sure that I sleep well so that I do not get tired during the day. I make sure that I get 7-8 hours sleep every night and as we all know that is not always possible. I make sure that after a few bad nights of sleep that I will cut back my exercise and get tow great nights sleep and start ramping up my exercise schedule again.

Sometimes you will not avoid a flu but over time I believe that I have caught fewer flues and recovered faster. Most of my sick days are more the mental health variety where I take a day off to recharge and make sure that I am doing all of the things that I write here about, exercise, vitamins, relaxation, sleep, meditation, and of course reflecting on all of these together with my exercise to make sure that I am not deficient in one or to strong in one at the determent of the others.

So this weekend as you are going through the paces of your regular off work week time eating and exercising try to take a few minutes to reflect how you are doing these things both during the week and during the weekend.