Well. It’s winter. Again. You’d think by now we’d be prepared for it. We aren’t.
It starts with a smell. You know the one. The one like a walk-in freezer feels. It accompanies the first sneeze of your impending disease; the smell that signals you’ll be out of commission for a few days. It grips your heart with fear. You might as well email your professors now and tell them that you’ll be in a Nyquil-induced haze for the next few days.
So, what do you do when, during the busiest and darkest quarter of the year, you get sick? So often, college students will ignore their own minor illnesses in order to attend their classes. Hi, it’s me, common sense, here to tell you how bad of an idea that is. I can guarantee (and doctors will agree), that even one day of rest will end your cold much quicker than just soldiering on.
Think of it this way: your immune system is a tired single mother of four (million) white blood cells. It’s your job to make her life as easy as possible so she can do her job.
This is the best tip I can give you. For all your fear of missing classes, I promise that trying to focus while sick will keep you from absorbing information anyway. One day of rest will save you and your grades.
The next thing you can do to guarantee a quick recovery is hydrate. What comes out should be as clear as the water that went in, if you’re picking up what I’m putting down. You should be filling your water bottle twice a day or more. Water is essential to a functioning immune system, as well as working to flush out the germs faster.
I cannot tout the benefits of tea enough. I really can’t. If you have a sore throat, some tea with honey may possibly change your life. If you’re congested, praying to any deity for air’s clear passage through just one nostril, drink some tea. The heat of it will help the congestion settle down.
Let’s talk about congestion, actually. Whether it’s in your head or your chest, being stuffed up can linger for weeks after a cold fades. The best way to unstopper yourself is with heat. Baths work great for a chest cold, and is also some radical self love we all could use in the winter.
Sinus pressure, however, is another demon entirely. You feel like the kids from those Gushers commercials just before their heads explode. The best thing I can recommend is Sudafed Sinus Pressure+Pain. I honestly don’t even know what’s in it, it could be actual magic. Suffice it to say, it works.
We all know how to not get sick: wash your hands, eat healthy, stay warm, etc. Here’s what you do when you get sick anyway. Good luck, stay strong, and don’t say I didn’t warn you.