By Deborah Ross / EmpowHER

You’ve been going at it full throttle through the summer, the fall and even the holiday season, and now look at you: You have the flu, and you are hurtin’.

It’s a fact that high stress levels can make you vulnerable to seasonal flu outbreaks. Perhaps you’re not eating right, not getting enough sleep and generally running yourself ragged. All of these factors weaken your immune system.

According to WebMD, an onslaught of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline can wreak havoc on your body’s ability to fight germs. In fact, the site calls stress reduction the most important lifestyle change you can make to boost immunity.

Is your body trying to tell you something about your mental and emotional well-being?

As flu season heightens, the news from the Centers for Disease Control is that the early weeks of 2012 haven’t produced as many cases as feared. But that’s probably no comfort to you as you slog through a high fever, chills, bouts of fatigue, loss of appetite, muscle aches, a runny nose and assorted other miseries.

So wrap a blanket around your shoulders (or maybe not, if you’re feverish!) and heed these steps toward a little TLC for yourself as you quietly reflect on the stressors in your life:

1.  Stay home from work and sequester yourself from family and friends for as long as possible. It benefits no one to spread your icky influenza germs. And wash your hands frequently. You could be contagious for as long as a week.

2.  Channel your inner grandmother and nourish yourself with the kinds of comforting foods and drinks that your system can handle. Think soda crackers, dry toast, applesauce, chicken soup, ginger ale, herbal tea, diluted juices and, of course, water.

3.  Have a cool compress handy for those bouts of fever. By the same token, have a heating pad available for muscle aches.

4.  If your nose is feeling stuffy, fill a sink with very hot water, then bend over it while covering your head with a towel. Breathe in the vapors; maybe you can add a drop of eucalyptus oil.

5.  If your throat is sore and you can handle gargling with saltwater, the mixture is one teaspoon of salt to one cup of warm water. Drugstores offer a number of comforting throat drops, though, which you might prefer.

6.   Don’t hesitate to call the doctor if a few days pass without any sign of your feeling better. Ask whether you should take acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Be mindful of the possibility of complications such as ear and sinus infections, pneumonia and dehydration.

Keep in mind that the history of flu outbreaks shows that they sometimes peak in January or February, even later. It may be too late to get a flu vaccine, but consider making it part of a yearly autumn routine. The CDC says that vaccines are commonly administered either as shots or nasal sprays and that the vaccines protect against the three main flu viruses.

For more information, visit www.flu.gov.