Penn State Plague

I know for a fact I am not the only person waking up in the morning with a sore throat unable to swallow, the only one popping Sudafed every four hours or the only one taking extra Nyquil to make it through the night. The Penn State “Plague” is among us and it all started with one person. A cold is spread either through direct contact of a contaminated area or by breathing in the virus after a person sneezes, coughs, ect. Person to person contact increases your chances of catching a cold or sickness. The first three days is when a person is most contagious.

I don’t think we realize how often we touch our noses or our mouths then touch something or someone else. This contaminates both our bodies, and the surfaces that we touched. There are many ways to avoid getting a cold, and many ways to get rid of one but we all know it sucks just to have it. Although wiping out the Big O’s orange juice selection will amp up your vitamin c, theres plenty of other options. For example, taking an antibiotic, getting enough sleep, (believe it or not) chicken soup, vitamin intake, and drinking water… lots and lots of water.

Like I said, having a cold sucks and we all want to do whatever we can to avoid catching one. Washing your hands is a HUGE thing. The more you wash your hands the less likely you are to catch a cold. You can also lessen your chances of catching a cold through covering your nose and mouth, don’t share drinks, sleep and disinfect everything…and i mean everything. All the way from your desk top, to your computer, to your door knobs, to your phone… anything helps. Please, for the sake of Penn State and your fellow students make an effort to be sanitary and lets figure out a way to make this cold chill out.

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but if being sick looked like that then maybe i wouldn’t mind so much.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/cold-flu/5-ways-to-get-rid-of-cold.htm#page=5

http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/treat-symptoms-12/contagious-colds

 

7 thoughts on “Penn State Plague

  1. Olivia Diane Talbot Post author

    Another comment about my blog post. I am still sick! When I was at home, I suffered from infections maybe once or twice a year. I have been at Penn State for a little over three months now and have been to the doctor 3 times to get antibiotics! I can’t stand it! I have suffered from 2 sinus infections and a rash, this is so unlike me! I believe the dorms are the cause of this because we share almost everything whether we realize it or not. It is kind of unavoidable and I guess the only thing we can really do is wash our hands, ALOT! This link is about staying healthy in college, which i all think we could use http://www.collegeparents.org/members/resources/articles/helping-your-college-student-stay-healthy-living-dorm

  2. Nicole Rene Gelb

    This blog post really caught my attention because all of last week I had a viral infection and all my friends were fine. Now this week I am feeling much better and everyone surrounding me has finally gotten sick. I hope I don’t get sick again for a while, because it was not fun at all. I couldn’t even get to class for two days until I finally had to even though I was still really sick because I realized I had missed a pop quiz one of those days. Anyways, I think you might find this article interesting on why It’s important to drink vitamin c, http://authoritynutrition.com/does-vitamin-c-help-with-colds/

  3. ram5928

    This is funny because I caught the “Plague”. I was not feeling well for a few days, then one morning I woke up feeling so awful I had to skip class; I slept until three in the afternoon and felt a little better after gaining extra hours of sleep. I found a website that lists many different helpful tips to help fight a cold/sore throat. One tip is to get enough sleep because without it, our immune systems wears down. Getting enough sleep to begin with helps prevent getting sick. Here is the link incase anyone feeling ill can get better sooner! http://lifehacker.com/5686387/how-to-most-effectively-battle-the-common-cold

  4. Nick Jacoubs

    I’m really glad you blogged about this. Just the other week, I came down with a killer sore throat and was in agony anytime I swallowed food. I haven’t gotten through a class that didn’t involve a chorus of coughs and sniffles yet this week. Fortunately, I’ve been feeling much better, thanks to a couple of strategies that I’ve sworn by. For one, I’ve been CRUSHING water. I make sure to pound at least 4 glasses every time I’m at the commons and always keep a couple water bottles on me. Also, I take a multi-vitamin on a regular basis. I also take fish oil and green tea extract routinely, so maybe there’s some correlation with my rejuvenated health there. When I first started getting symptoms, I made sure to go to the gym with sweatshirt and sweatpants and go to work. I’ve found intense workouts and sweating a lot to be very helpful in overcoming any kind of cold or virus. Hopefully this comment and you’re blog can get people to be more consciences about their habits as we battle through #PSUPlague2k14.

  5. Julia Solly Levine

    This post is very interesting because just in the past few days I have been realizing that ALL my friends are sick and wondering why I am not yet. But I guess I spoke too soon because I woke up with a sore throat this morning! Although there are many ways to prevent a cold and getting sick, you can never be completely clear of a catching it. An especially scary epidemic that is spreading just as fast as the “Penn State Plague” is the deadly ebola in Africa. Although the ways to catching this disease are different than a cold, it is very important to be safe than sorry.

    http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/03/health/ebola-outbreak/index.html

  6. Valerie Ortense

    Its sad that this blog even had to be posted; but it is true. People do not wash their hands, do not clean, and are less that sanitary. Some people on my floor alone have me wondering how thay have not died from some kind of dirty disease. Old food laying around, sour milk, dirty stinking laudry, used tissues everywhere. It is just haorrible.
    You got me wondering what other interesting and simple ways people can prevent getting sick. So I looked it up.
    1) use lavendar oil as a hand sanitizer
    2) Breath out while someone is coughing or sneezing until you are in a clear distance from them
    3) Sanitize your phone
    4) use vodka or other alcohol to sanitize if you are within reach while out of reach of sanitizer
    5) Sleep!

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