School has been underway for less than a month but many have gotten sick already, not only students, but also teachers. On average, highschool students get about 3 – 4 colds a year. A reminder to students and staff alike, you need to take care of yourselves by doing some simple things to keep your body healthy and some tips to help with a speedy recover, as according to the Mayo Clinic.
Some easy ways to take care of yourself are quite obvious. By drinking water and allowing your body a good rest, you can protect yourself by strengthening your immune system, and have a faster recovery time as well. With illness your body becomes dehydrated quicker than if it were healthy. Which is why when sick, one should always be diligent about drinking enough water and avoid drinks like coffee and soda. Along with drinking water, receiving a proper amount of rest is also important. Many say to “sleep it off”, but this can be difficult for a large amount of students. Due to school pressures like extra-curriculars, hours of homework and early school start times, it can often be hard for students to receive a full night’s sleep. But to get better and stay healthy, one must make sacrifices. To ensure your body has enough time to recover from a cold, limiting phone time and TV time on school days and not staying up until midnight on the weekends is recommended.
To relieve some symptoms of a cold, try drinking warm drinks like teas and soups to ease sore throats and stuffy noses. Nasal sprays and humidifiers are also great treatments for clearing stuffy noses. It is alright to take cold medicine in moderation, but only when given by a trusted guardian. Do not drive while sick especially if you are taking medicines like NyQuil. Not only would you be tired from drowsiness, but you’d also be under the influence of a legal drug which can impair your senses while driving.
Becoming sick is a terrible experience, not only due to the miserable feeling of being sick, but also the fear of disrupting class. Some tactics to keep others from becoming sick in the classroom are: if you have a fever stay home and when at school, wash your hands often and use hand sanitizers. Most teachers have at least one bottle on the desk during the year. Although you may have heard it before, cover your cough. Coughs travel up to 19 feet, this can definitely reach as far as the person in front of you in class. Colds are airborne, at least subdue the spreading of the cold. We all know the feeling of being watched while we travel from our desk to the teacher’s desk, blowing our noses, feeling self-conscious about being too loud and then quickly hurrying back to our seats. A trick I have learned is to carry tissues in your pocket for covering your cough and to blow your nose. You could also carry a cold kit with some cough drops. Personally, my favorite cough drops are Ricolas, even though they don’t taste the best, they definitely work. Some of my other favorite items for cold relief are: tissues, hand sanitizer, chapstick (I prefer Vaseline), and water. Being sick at school can be tough, but try to get through it. Be positive by setting little goals like, “I can get through the rest of the day, it is halfway over.” Everyone at the newspaper believes that you can get through this first cold of the season!
Give yourself time to recover. We all know it is hard, almost everyone gets a cold sometime or another. By doing simple things like drinking water, covering your coughs, drinking warm liquids and sleeping; we can prevent colds and make recovering from colds easier when we do get them.
