“Cough. Cough. Ehhh I feel terrible,” are common words being released from students mouths between weeks three and twelve of the semester. It is a natural phenomenon that students always seem to get sick between one and three times within a sixteen week period. Why is this? Although I do not know for sure, it is probably because during those time periods students are sleeping less, partying/studying/other more, the weather is changing, and students are generally just being less healthy (go junk food!). Now to combat the tumults of a bad bout with bronchitis, there are couple things students can do. Here are some helpful tricks to staying healthy (or at least shortening your sickness length):
1.Sleep Schedule: I do not know about your parents, but mine have harped on this since I was born (or at least mentally conscious). If you regularly get 6-8 hours of sleep a night your likelihood of illness decreases a lot. There is an inordinate amount of medical research to back up this statement, but that’s truly irrelevant; this truth is passed along from many, many college students who challenged sleep deprivation and lost (myself included – which is why I am sick now).
2.Au Natural Medications: Don’t be thrown off by the French vernacular, these babies are all-American and readily attainable. There a lot of natural supplements on the market, but what really matters is that students pick the ones that are not “Sickness fighting Ram’s Urine.” From personal experience, daily multivitamins are an essential. And when you’re below-the-weather overloaded vitamins (like airborne) and nasal spray work beautifully. As would be expected, these herbal healers vary from person to person and often do nothing for one person and wonders for another, so tease out which is best for you.
3.Do not be afraid of the Health Center: Miami University has a competent staff of physicians whom are oddly feared by the student body, yet utilized universally. If you are feeling down, a professional opinion and diagnosis is always a good idea (unless it’s a minor cold or something).
4.Exercise! If you haven’t already figured it out, I am an exercise fanatic. Yet the truth of it is that when you are feeling down, nothing peps you up like a little run or lift. I am not exactly sure why this works, but I surmise that it’s a mixture between accomplishment and blood flow activity… and making yourself more sexified in the process (of course).
5.And if nothing else works…. Slow down! All organizations, teachers, and friends understand when someone is doing too much. If you are caught in this dilemma, be honest and go relax for a while. Take a nap; it’ll rock your world.
So these are my personal wellness techniques here at Miami. I hope that they were a little helpful (although, looking back on them, mostly common sense). The important thing to understand is that, as a student, your time is your most precious commodity. Because of this, students are always over-working, over-studying, over-partying themselves to illness and distemper. Just realize that everyone gets busy and everyone needs breaks. So, from an honors students to other (possible) honors students, hearken the words of the great Wyclef Jean and, “Slow down.”
nice song.
stop getting me sick :)
Posted by: anonymous | November 29, 2008 at 07:34 PM