| Justin Tijerina/The Cougar
Everyone is getting sick around campus and as a courteous reminder from your friends at The Cougar, don’t push it when you’re not feeling well. As a matter of fact, don’t get sick in the first place. We know this is easier said than done, so here’s some steps you can take to protect yourself from the sick season.
Get some vitamins
Whether it be the vitamin C from your morning’s orange juice or the multitude of unknown substances in your One A Days and Centrums, your body needs the boost to your immune system.
Get a decent amount of sleep
Sleep plays a key role in keeping the body and brain at top performance levels and sleep deficiencies can attribute to an increased risk for chronic health problems. Lack of sleep is one of the leading factors of getting a flu or cold, so be sure to go to bed at a reasonable hour.
Keep your gloves dirty but your hands clean
Jidenna was on to something here. Now we know that the task can seem like a nuisance, but it’s definitely worth the couple of minutes it takes on the way out of the bathroom. Washing your hands kills germs and germs get you sick, so this is something that should be pretty easy to make the sacrifice for.
Doctors are there to help
They’re professionals for a reason. The UH Health Center offers flu shots, and there are plenty of Walgreens and CVS’s around campus, so take advantage of your preventative options. Even if you’re not worried about the flu, consulting your physician can help you determine what you’re most at risk for this time of year and they can give you even better health suggestions than the school paper.
Communication is important
Now we at The Cougar know you don’t want to miss class because your attendance has been a solid 100 for your grade, so don’t be afraid to email your teacher. With enough notice, most teachers won’t hold it against you that you are choosing to keep their classroom disease-free. It is genuinely more beneficial for you to stay home anyway, because then you become that person who got everyone in class sick so you technically ruined everyone’s grades.
For the strong and stubborn
If even after considering all of the grade-A advice your favorite school paper has put on the table and you still make the life-threatening journey to class, make the situation as painless as possible for the people around you. If you have to cough up a lung or drain your sinuses, please step outside. Nothing attracts eye daggers as quickly as the noises a sick human creates in a echoing classroom, so avoid warranting the invisible blades.
In all seriousness, we only want to help you. We all get sick every once in a while so we all understand what it’s like to deal with feeling crappy when you have things to do. So do your best to keep your germs quietly to yourself when you are sick and when you aren’t, don’t get mad at the people who are. It’s all a part of life.
-The Cougar editorial board
