This time of year, there’s a simple movement I recommend doing several times each day for your health…washing your hands!
With swine flu, head colds, sore throats and more going around, washing our hands is the best prevention against illness we can take.
The Mayo Clinic says, “Frequent hand washing is one of the best ways to avoid getting sick.”
At the fitness facility where I work, we wash our hands before class and after class, and we wipe the exercise equipment down with disinfectant wipes after we use them.
Take the same approach for any public area—if you or your children take public transportation, make sure you wash your hands when you get off the bus or train, especially a school bus!
But even with washing my hands several times each day, I caught something. I’ve been knocked flat these last few days with a stomach virus. It hit me after my Pilates class last Thursday evening. It started with a really bad headache and then boom.
I had a doctor’s appointment on Friday but I felt so ill my husband cancelled it for me and I stayed in bed. My son Hunter played his first home basketball game that night, but I remained in my bedroom. I slept, watched Elf, and slept some more. Even today, five days later, I am still not back to myself.
Everyone in my family is washing their hands more thoroughly than usual so they don’t catch what I’ve got—and that includes my little grandbaby! I’ve also washed everything I’ve been in contact with, like my towels and bedding.
If the ancient writers of the Old Testament were alive today, they’d surely agree with this approach. Taking liberties with Leviticus 15:11: “Anyone the woman with the stomach virus touches without rinsing her hands with water must wash their clothes and bathe with water.”
Blessings,
Theresa
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Get more advice from Theresa!
Find all you need to know on whole-person
wellness in Shaped by Faith.
Theresa is a former model and nationally certified fitness professional who teaches people to use their faith to inspire fitness and their fitness to strengthen their faith. She is the author of Shaped by Faith: 10 Secrets to Strengthening your Body & Soul, and two exercise DVDS: Pilates for the Soul
She and her husband, Robin, have seven children and live in Calhoun, Kentucky.
You can email her with any questions or concerns.
