(Rosemarie Dunlop is on the NESPA board as the nurse rep. She will be publishing a health article on the blog every month.)
This is the topic of the season. You have heard about hand washing, coughing in your sleeve and your shirt, washing hands frequently, getting your flu shots, turning your head and holding your breath if a student coughs in your face, staying home if you are sick even if it makes you feel guilty, and drinking plenty of fluids to keep yourself well flushed. Anyone mention the benefits of fresh air?? It is highly underrated.
We may spend up to 8 hours indoors during a typical working day. Inside air tends to be dusty and laden with germs from coughing people. This gets into our respiratory system. We spend all night in our homes. We breath in cooking fumes. All this stresses our immune system.
Have you thought of taking time out to enjoy the "great outdoors"? There are many benefits of fresh air. It can improve one's health and sense of well being. Fresh air cleans our lungs. Expect to cough a bit at first as the lungs get rid of impurities, but as you continue to breathe deeper and deeper, it will bring more oxygen to your cells. This will increase energy and bring clarity to the brain.
Exercises done outside in the fresh air benefit us aerobically. It improves our breathing technique. Fresh oxygen to the muscles reduces lactic acid build-up (which could lead to cramping) in our muscles.
It is an interesting aside to remember that in 1877, a program called The Fresh Air Fund was started in New York City for disadvantaged children to reap the benefit of fresh air in the countryside of upstate New York. My husband's family hosted some of these children during the summer at their farm in Duanesburg, New York. I guess this is nothing new to some of us.
