Taking Care of Your Health Pays

Lenten thanks, Day 32

Sure is nice to have the house clean…at last!

Staying healthy pays in the obvious way—lower healthcare premiums and fewer sick days—and it returns cash in less self-evident ways, too. It’s not just that you save you, your employer, and your health insurer money on doctor bills and absences. When you’re feeling even the slightest bit off, as a small entrepreneur you’re less able to function profitably. This is true of anyone who earns money through several income streams, from IT consulting to yard-saling. When you don’t feel like working, you don’t; and when you’re not working, you’re not earning.

Yesterday was the first full day that I’ve felt pretty good since I caught the cold that’s been going around town. After a decent night’s sleep, the energy levels were almost back to normal, and I got a lot done, from housecleaning to paying work.

Even a minor ailment can leave you so wrung out you just don’t feel like doing anything: not cleaning, not cooking food for yourself, not shopping for food, and most certainly not actually working. I’ve managed to hold my own in the work arena only in the most tenuous way. A newsletter that I do on a volunteer basis didn’t get published at all (and in fact, now a new month’s issue needs to be done tomorrow!), student papers didn’t get graded on time, and some papers classmates claim to have submitted got lost in the shuffle. A woman I would like to interview for Funny’s “Entrpreneurs” series has never been called (gotta do that today, when I get home from class!).

I should have been more careful about protecting myself from a severe cold that everyone knew was making the rounds. Of course, it’s hard to avoid these bugs, especially when you’re in the classroom with hordes of people carrying hordes of germs. But I did run out of the hand wipes I like to carry in the car, which meant that every time I walked out of a grocery store, climbed behind the steering wheel, and rubbed my itchy nose, I dosed myself with whatever viruses were on the shopping cart handle. And rubbed them all over the steering wheel.

You can’t walk around in a bubble all the time. But you can do a few things to protect yourself:

• Eat well. That means plenty of veggies and fresh fruit, as well as those fine greasy hamburgers we all secretly love.

• During the cold and flu season, when you dine in restaurants, eat only hot foods. Because restaurant workers may not get sick leave, the person preparing your salad in the kitchen could be shedding viruses into it. Heat kills germs, and so it makes sense to stick to hot foods and drinks.

• Drink plenty of water. You can be a little dehydrated even if you’re not thirsty, and dehydration can leave you open to any number of ailments.

• Get some exercise every day—outdoors if it’s not snowing and blustering, indoors if the weather is inclement.

• Try not to hang around people who are coughing and snorting.

• But if you have to, wash your hands frequently and be careful not to eat or drink out of utensils the sick person has handled.

• Keep your hands away from your face! Cold and flu viruses are commonly transmitted when people rub their eyes, scratch their nose, or put their hands in or near their mouths.

• Away from home, carry a package of antiseptic hand wipes in your car and in your purse. As soon as you leave a public place, immediately wipe your hands with one of these.

• Wash produce well. This not only will help to remove chemicals and microbes picked up in the field and at packing plants, it also will eliminate viruses that land on food while it’s sitting in grocery bins.

• Get a flu shot every year. I used to get sick as a dog every winter. Since I started taking flu shots, I haven’t been seriously ill with a respiratory virus once, and I rarely even catch colds.

If you do get sick, stay home as much as possible. Please don’t spread the misery. Drink plenty of liquids, try to eat something, and go to bed.