You ever notice how fast the flu, strep throat, laringitis, bronchitis, and who knows how many other illnesses travel around on a college campus. Firstly, think about this; it is worse for us because we are stuck in tiny little apartments or dorm rooms where the damp air smells like mold and inviting bacteria, and when one girl or guy gets sick in your hall, it travels on down like malaria to everyone else in residence. Personally, I believe that we are so succeptible to getting sick because we are under a lot of stress, sleep deprived, and are alcohol dependent students. Just Kidding about the last part. Well not all, but still our generation knows more about health and yet most, not all, of us ignore it. Nutritionally, we are deprived and starved without realizing it and we don't even know what a toll we are giving our imune systems.
Ok so that was my soap box moment and heres my point:
Health Awareness
We need to focus our attention not only on our studies and our minds but on our bodies and how much damage we to ourselves. It amazes me how college campuses have "green day" and say "Give the earth a bath!" Well we should do the same for our bodies alongside of that. So if your roomate happens to look "sickly" or on the verge of obtaining the common cold, toss her an airborne tablet or emerge-c packet, and give yourself one as well. You don't have to be a health or nutritionalist major to be knowledgeable about your health. Take the initiative as a bright, young, knowledge seeking student to educate yourself about your body and what it needs. This is what we are programmed as people, not only in college but in life, to learn from the many things around us.
So happy eating and sleeping...healthfully! Let's do our bodies and room and hall mates justice and take care of ourselves. :)
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I don't think it's just a roommate issue. We're shoved into classrooms and lecture halls that have been used all day, you can have hundreds of people in one room with you at once. If a couple of people sneeze or cough, how are you to protect yourself from that? If somebody sneezed all over the desk you're now sitting in an hour before, how are you to know and how are you to prevent it?
You can't drug yourself up every day in hopes that you'll never get sick. That paranoia could get you sick in itself. Rather, we should just hope for the best, eat right, and exercise so that we're not more vulnerable to the big bad flu than usual.
where the damp air smells like mold and inviting bacteria
That's a factor of where you live, not dorm rooms and apartments. I live in an area that's so dry, I had horribly dry skin last week... to the point where I had a bleeding knuckle from the skin cracking so badly. Our shower rooms and toilet rooms (they're separated in our apartments, for some reason) are fan continuously, so the air can't stay damp.
So if your roomate happens to look "sickly" or on the verge of obtaining the common cold, toss her an airborne tablet or emerge-c packet, and give yourself one as well.
Vitamin C doesn't prevent illness, unless you train (exercise) extensively.
If somebody sneezed all over the desk you're now sitting in an hour before, how are you to know and how are you to prevent it?
Bacteria tend not to survive very long in the open air, unless they create spores. In which case, there's nothing you can do about it anyway. If they had a virus, then you'll only catch it if you rub your hand or arm or whatever onto an open cut or mucous membrane. Your skin is your best first line of defense.
All in all, the best way to prevent illness is just to not break your immune system down. Eat right, exercise, and get enough sleep. Besides, getting sleep actually helps you in school anyway, because that's when you convert your short term memory into long term memory.
~C
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