How to prep up home and family for the winter?

How To Get Your Home Ready For Winter?

Here are some things you can do to make sure your home is winter-ready.

1. Maintain humidity levels correctly: Maintaining humidity levels is extremely important during the winter.
   1. The lack of proper maintenance may have a great impact both on your house and your health
   2. The dryness of the skin that can cause cracking, flaking and irritation of the skin, sore throat, breathing difficulties are some of the outcomes of the low humidity level
   3. Use humidifiers to maintain the humidity of indoors
2. Rotate an air purifier: During winter, our indoor air quality becomes poorer.
   1. Seasonal activities such as burning logs in a fireplace, sealing the ventilation to stop the cold air entering the house, etc. will adversely affect the indoor air quality and contribute to a higher concentration of indoor allergens and heightened symptoms
   2. We breathe a lot more indoor air in the winter, so it is important to keep it clean and free of allergens
   3. Using an air purifier will help to maintain a healthy atmosphere in the home
3. Heat the home: Maintain the temperature of the living room shared by all family members to around 18 to 21 C. When using a heater, make sure you have a humidifier, too, to ensure that the air doesn’t become too dry
4. Be safe from poisoning due to carbon monoxide: When using heaters, it is important to install a carbon monoxide detector, and also get the batteries checked regularly. Exposure to too much carbon monoxide can be fatal
5. Indoor green plants: There are a wide variety of indoor plants you can choose from, for your home. The indoor plants not only increase the positive energy of your home with their appearance, but also help control indoor air pollutants, thereby maintaining a healthy atmosphere inside the house
6. Take care of the interiors: Don't use materials that can be breeding grounds for allergy-causing dust mites, fungus, animal dander for the curtains, bedspreads, and carpets

How To Prepare Your Family For The Winter?

Give special attention to babies, family members aged above 60, expecting mothers, new mothers, and family member with long-term health issues during the winter as they are more likely to experience the ill effects of winter. Here are some things you can do to make it a comfortable winter for your family.

1. Diet: Here are some diet tips to follow this winter-
   1. Stick on to slow cooked, warm meals during winter. Soups are an excellent choice for the cold, dry winter days for all the age groups of your family.
   2. To stay warm, lubricated and healthy, choose richer foods for your family during the winter.
   3. Include premium quality of dairy products, nuts, dried fruits, seeds, and healthy fats in your family's daily menu.
   4. Increase spices and foods that help keep the digestion process active
   5. Include food and spices that boost your family's immune system in your recipes. Make sure you use utilize the goodness of dark leafy greens, mushrooms, garlic, onions, turmeric, cloves, ginger, cumin, oregano, and cinnamon
2. Water: Because the cold weather months are dry, if your family does not drink enough water, they could be more prone to the after effects of dehydration. Even though no one feels thirsty during winter as they do in summer, never reduce the water consumption. Urge your family to drink lots of water to stay healthy and avoid the chances of dehydration
3. Sleep well: Winter calls for more sleep. Also, change the sleeping pattern so that you and your family get more uninterrupted sleep before midnight. This will provide enough time for the body to repair the damages and hence prepare it to fight off the possible infections. Therefore, urge your family to follow the motto ‘early to bed” during the winter season
4. Get some sunlight: Even though your family prefers to stay indoors during the winter, urge them to go for a walk during sunny hours. Even a 10-minute walk in sunlight will help to energize your family and gives a dose of Vitamin D.
5. Get immunized: As the viral disease flourishes during the winter, it is always better to immunize your family with available vaccinations. Make sure your family gets annual flu shots, especially if there is expecting mothers or new mothers. Also, shots are available for preventing pneumonia and whooping cough.
6. Wear warm clothes: Make sure your family wears warm clothes during winter. They should wear socks and thermal underwear. It is better to wear different layers of cloth rather than one thick layer. Note that the children need one layer more than an adult exposed to the same weather conditions.
7. Increase the indoor activities: Planning yoga, stretching, dance and aerobics with all family members can positively influence you and your family both physically and mentally. Make this winter to induce or develop the reading habit of your family
8. Take good care of seniors: Unlike the other members, the seniors in your family are facing more challenges during the winter as they are cut off from their circle of friends. Arranging a meeting for their groups (in turns) will help them to stay away from the possibility of winter-induced depression and aloofness.

Did you like the blog on how to prep-up your home and family this winters? These are few tips we have shared do you have some more ideas to prepare yourself for the oncoming winter season? Share your views and feedback with us in the comments section below.