CDC Offers Tips for a Healthy New Year
BY ALLISON KOZICHAROW AND BERNICE BORN
T
he holiday season is over, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urges us to follow these tips to get the New Year off to a healthy start. WiRED International suggests taking steps now to keep yourself and your loved ones active and healthy in the New Year.
Six Tips for the New Year
- Wash your hands often with soap and water to prevent the spread of infection and illness. Handwashing involves five simple and effective steps: wet, lather, scrub, rinse, and dry. Learn more about when and how to wash your hands.
- Make healthy food choices. A healthy eating plan emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products. It also includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts, and is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars.
- Get active! Start small — try taking the stairs instead of the elevator or parking further from your destination. Consider mall walking if the weather is cold or icy. Adults should get at least 2 ½ hours a week of moderate-intensity physical activity.
- Be smoke free. Need inspiration? Check out these videos from the Tips From Former Smokers® campaign.
- Get enough sleep. Insufficient sleep is associated with a number of chronic diseases and conditions — such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression. Adults need seven or more hours per night.
- Make an appointment for a check-up, vaccination, or screening. Regular oral and medical exams and tests can help find problems before they start. They also can help find problems early, when your chances for treatment and cure are better.
You can download the modules mentioned in this story, and all 400+ of WiRED’s health modules, through WiRED’s Health Module Access Program (HealthMAP) by clicking here. This easy-to-use free program will enable you to create your own customized collection of health learning modules. You can learn more about HealthMAP through WiRED's animation.
As you wrap up the holiday season and think about the year ahead, consider what new healthy traditions you can start. You might consider improving your health literacy by reviewing one WiRED health module each week. It takes only about an hour. By the end of 2019, you’ll have a high health knowledge quotient!
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