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Keep yourself warm and well
Top tips - click for more:
Flu jabs
Dress for the cold
Eat well
Keep moving
The flu jab is free to people in 'at risk' groups. These are:
• everyone aged 65 or over
• everyone with a serious heart or chest complaint, including serious
asthma
• everyone with serious kidney disease
• all diabetics
• anyone with lowered immunity due to disease or as a result of
treatment such as steroid medication or chemotherapy.
Your GP may also advise you to have the flu jab if you have serious liver disease or if you are a primary care worker, such as a nurse or social worker.
Wear the right sort of clothes -
Several thin layers on top of each other hold warm air; a much more efficient way of keeping warm than one thick jumper.
Natural fibres - wool or cotton - keep you warm, and light fleecy clothes are also a good choice.
Your body cools as you sleep - keep warm in bed on really cold nights by wearing woolly socks and a hat and perhaps thermal underwear under your nightdress or pyjamas.
Outdoors - a coat on top of several thin layers works better than one
thick jacket or jumper
You lose a lot of heat through your head - wear a hat or scarf!
Fleecy insoles in your shoes or boots will help keep your feet warm. If you stick to flat shoes or boots with textured soles, you won’t slip when it’s icy.
You'll feel the cold more if you get wet, so put on a waterproof top layer if it's raining.
Food keeps you warm too -
Make sure that you have at least one hot meal each day.
Regular hot drinks through the day will help to keep you going - try to vary the tea and coffee with some non-caffeine drinks, otherwise you'll be buzzing!
A hot drink at bedtime is a good idea. If you get into the habit of taking a thermos to bed with you, you can have a hot drink easily if you wake in the night feeling cold.
Try to keep a supply of food in the house, in case you can't get to the shops in very bad weather.
Home-made soup is easy to cook, cheap and nutritious - if you keep a batch going, you'll always have something hot to eat when you don't fancy cooking.
Check out the 'Eating Well' section for much more information on food.
Keep moving to keep warm
It's tempting to 'huddle' when you feel cold, but sitting still just
makes you feel even colder.
If you spend a lot of time sitting watching TV or with your computer,
break it up by moving around, doing some housework or gardening, going
out for a walk.
Try not to use the cold, dark winter months as an excuse for turning into a couch potato!