(Family Features) As people prepare to gather with family and friends this holiday season, it’s important to think about health and safety.

“With the holidays just around the corner, now is the perfect time to think about how you can help protect yourself from serious illness from flu, COVID-19 and RSV – and support your loved ones in doing the same,” said Dr. Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). “Vaccination is an important step in having a happy and healthy celebration.”

While preparing for holiday festivities, keep these recommendations in mind to help protect yourself from severe flu, COVID-19 and RSV.

Flu: Flu season usually peaks during the winter months, so now is a great time to get the 2024-25 flu vaccine. It’s recommended for people 6 months and older to lower their risk of infection or serious illness from the flu. In fact, people who skipped their flu shot last year were twice as likely to need medical help for the flu. The best time to get vaccinated is at least a couple of weeks before a holiday gathering. But getting vaccinated later in the season can still help. Encourage your family and friends to get the flu vaccine, too. Together you can create safer holiday celebrations.

COVID-19: Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is also important for everyone ages 6 months and older. The updated COVID-19 vaccines offer the best protection against serious illness from the virus, especially for those at higher risk. This includes people with certain health conditions or older adults, which may include parents, grandparents and great aunts or uncles. By getting vaccinated, people of all ages can lower their risk of getting severely sick. In fact, young adults are at higher risk of developing Long COVID than older adults. However, staying up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines lowers your risk of Long COVID, too.

RSV: RSV can be especially risky for older adults and babies. That’s why everyone 75 and older, people 60-74 with certain health conditions or who live in a nursing home and pregnant people should get the RSV vaccine. Pregnant people should get the RSV vaccine at 32-36 weeks of pregnancy to help protect their newborns from severe RSV during their first six months of life.

As you prepare for the holidays, remember that prevention is the best way to keep from getting seriously sick from flu, COVID-19 and RSV. By getting vaccinated now, you can enjoy the holiday season with greater confidence and less risk of missing time together. Being vaccinated helps keep your symptoms milder if you get infected after vaccination so you can do the things you want to do with less risk of spreading infection.

Talk with your doctor about which vaccines are right for you as well as for any loved ones you help care for. Visit cdc.gov/RiskLessDoMore for more information on vaccines, or visit vaccines.gov to get started.

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The Effects of Flu, COVID-19 and RSV on Different Populations

People who are Black, Hispanic or who live in rural areas may be at higher risk of severe illness from flu, COVID-19 and RSV than others. Getting vaccinated is the best protection from getting seriously sick from these viruses. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

• Last flu season, Black adults were more than twice as likely as white adults to be hospitalized for flu.
• Last flu season, Hispanic adults were more likely than white adults to be hospitalized for flu.
• One in 3 adults living in rural areas have never been vaccinated against COVID-19. For people living in rural areas, health services may be far away. That can mean it takes some planning to get vaccinated. But being far from medical care also means it’s even more important to lower your risk of serious illness by getting vaccinated.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock

SOURCE:
United States Department of Health and Human Services

Our Lifestyle section on STM Daily News is a hub of inspiration and practical information, offering a range of articles that touch on various aspects of daily life. From tips on family finances to guides for maintaining health and wellness, we strive to empower our readers with knowledge and resources to enhance their lifestyles. Whether you’re seeking outdoor activity ideas, fashion trends, or travel recommendations, our lifestyle section has got you covered. Visit us today at https://stmdailynews.com/category/lifestyle/ and embark on a journey of discovery and self-improvement.

Rebecca Walker Reczek, The Ohio State University; Cory Haltman, The Ohio State University, and Grant Donnelly, The Ohio State University

If finding the right present and making sure the recipient gets it on time leaves you feeling anxious, you’re not alone. More than half of Americans say that gift-giving stresses them out.

Concerns about on-time delivery are so common that people share holiday deadlines for each shipping service. And in the event that you can’t meet these deadlines, there are now handy etiquette guides offering advice for how to inform the recipient.

If you’ve sent late gifts thanks to shipping delays, depleted stocks or even good old-fashioned procrastination, our new research may offer some welcome news.

In a series of studies that will soon be published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, we found that people overestimate the negative consequences of sending a late gift.

Trying to follow norms

Why do people tend to overestimate these consequences? Our findings indicate that when people give presents, they pay more attention to norms about gifting than the recipients do.

For example, other researchers have found that people tend to be reluctant to give used products as presents because there’s a norm that gifts should be new. In reality, though, many people are often open to receiving used stuff.

We found that this mismatch also applies to beliefs about the importance of timing. Many people worry that a late gift will signal that they don’t care about the recipient. They then fear their relationship will suffer.

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In reality, though, these fears are largely unfounded. Gift recipients are much less worried about when the gift arrives.

Unfortunately, aside from causing unnecessary worry, being overly sensitive about giving a late present can also influence the gift you choose to buy.

Compensating for lateness

To test how lateness concerns affect gift choice, we conducted an online study before Mother’s Day in 2021. We had 201 adults participate in a raffle. They could choose to send their mother either a cheaper gift basket that would arrive in time for the occasion or a more expensive one that would arrive late.

Concerns about lateness led nearly 70% of the participants to choose the less expensive and more prompt option.

In another study, we conducted the same kind of raffle for Father’s Day and got similar results.

Aside from finding that people will choose inferior items to ensure speedier delivery, we also found that givers may feel that they can compensate for lateness with effort.

In another online study of 805 adults, we discovered that participants were less likely to expect a late delivery to damage a relationship if they signaled their care for the recipient in a different way. For example, they believed that putting an item together by hand, versus purchasing it preassembled, could compensate for a present being belated.

Better late than never?

If sending something late isn’t as bad as expected, you may wonder whether it’s OK to simply not send anything at all.

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We’d caution against going that route.

In another online study of 903 participants, we found that recipients believed that not receiving anything at all was more likely to harm a relationship than receiving something as much as two months late.

That is, late is better than never as far as those receiving gifts are concerned.

You may want to keep that in mind, even if that new gaming console, action figure or virtual reality headset is sold out this holiday season. It could still be a welcome surprise if it arrives in January or February.

Rebecca Walker Reczek, Professor of Marketing, The Ohio State University; Cory Haltman, Ph.D. Candidate in Marketing, The Ohio State University, and Grant Donnelly, Assistant Professor of Marketing, The Ohio State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Our Lifestyle section on STM Daily News is a hub of inspiration and practical information, offering a range of articles that touch on various aspects of daily life. From tips on family finances to guides for maintaining health and wellness, we strive to empower our readers with knowledge and resources to enhance their lifestyles. Whether you’re seeking outdoor activity ideas, fashion trends, or travel recommendations, our lifestyle section has got you covered. Visit us today at https://stmdailynews.com/category/lifestyle/ and embark on a journey of discovery and self-improvement.

Tome medidas para limitar el riesgo de enfermedad cardiovascular

(Family Features) En la última década se ha producido un aumento de factores de riesgo cardiovascular, como la hipertensión arterial no controlada, la diabetes y la obesidad, cada uno de los cuales aumenta el riesgo de desarrollar enfermedades cardíacas y accidentes cerebrovasculares. Estas tendencias están llevando a los investigadores a concluir que la prevalencia de las enfermedades cardiovasculares (ECV) seguirá aumentando.

Más del 60 % de los adultos estadounidenses tendrán algún tipo de ECV para 2050, según las proyecciones previstas de la American Heart Association, que celebra 100 años de servicio salvando vidas como la principal organización mundial sin fines de lucro dedicada a la salud del corazón y el cerebro de todos. Además, se espera que los costos totales relacionados con las ECV casi se tripliquen en ese período hasta alcanzar más de 1.8 trillones de dólares.

El aumento será impulsado por una población más anciana y diversa, pero estos factores de riesgo están aumentando incluso entre niños y adultos.

“Reconocemos que el panorama de la salud cardiovascular cambiará en las próximas tres décadas debido al tsunami que se avecina de aumentos en los costos de la atención médica, una población de mayor edad que vive más tiempo y un número cada vez mayor de personas de poblaciones de pocos recursos”, dijo la voluntaria de la American Heart Association, Karen E. Joynt Maddox, M.D., M.P.H., FAHA. “Aun así, estas siguen siendo las principales causas de muerte y discapacidad en Estados Unidos”.

Si bien se necesitan cambios sistemáticos continuos en la ciencia, las políticas y la atención de salud, la mayoría de las ECV se pueden prevenir a nivel individual. Usted puede ayudar a cambiar el rumbo de las terribles perspectivas de la ECV y, al mismo tiempo, mejorar su propia salud siguiendo y alentando a otros a seguir los “Life’s Essential 8” de la American Heart Association.

Coma mejor. Intente seguir un patrón de alimentación saludable en general que incluya alimentos integrales, frutas y verduras, proteínas magras, frutos secos, semillas y cocinar con aceite de oliva y de canola.

Manténgase activo. Los adultos deben realizar 2 horas y media de actividad física moderada o 75 minutos de actividad física vigorosa por semana. Los niños deben tener 60 minutos cada día, incluidos juegos y actividades estructuradas.

Deje el tabaco. El uso de productos que suministran nicotina por inhalación, que incluyen cigarrillos tradicionales, cigarrillos electrónicos y vaporizadores, es la principal causa de muerte evitable en los EE. UU.

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Duerma bien. La mayoría de los adultos necesitan dormir entre 7 y 9 horas cada noche. Los niños de 5 años o menos necesitan entre 10 y 16 horas, incluidas las siestas; de 9 y 12 horas, en niños de 6 y 12 años, y entre 8 y 10 horas, entre los 13 y 18 años.

Controle el peso. Lograr y mantener un peso saludable tiene muchos beneficios. El índice de masa corporal es un indicador útil. El IMC óptimo es menor de 25, pero menor de 18.5 se considera bajo peso. Puede calcularlo en línea o consultar a un profesional de la salud.

Controle el colesterol. Los niveles altos de colesterol no HDL, o “malo”, pueden provocar enfermedades cardíacas. Su profesional de atención médica puede considerar el colesterol no HDL como el número preferido para monitorear, en lugar del colesterol total, porque se puede medir sin ayuno previo y se calcula de manera confiable entre todas las personas.

Controle el nivel de azúcar en sangre. La mayor parte de los alimentos que consume se convierten en glucosa (o azúcar en sangre) que su cuerpo utiliza como energía. Con el tiempo, los niveles altos de azúcar en sangre pueden dañar el corazón, los riñones, los ojos y los nervios.

Controle la presión arterial. Mantener su presión arterial dentro de rangos aceptables puede ayudarle a mantenerse saludable por más tiempo. Los niveles inferiores a 120/80 mmHg son óptimos. La presión arterial alta se define como una presión sistólica de 130 a 139 mm Hg (el número superior en una lectura) o una presión diastólica de 80 a 89 mm Hg (el número inferior).

Encuentre más formas de cuidar su salud en el nuevo año y más allá en heart.org.

Foto cortesía de Shutterstock

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SOURCE:
American Heart Association

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