It’s inevitable here. People say getting sick in college is the worst, but I haven’t had any time here where I haven’t been sick. Last night, while my roommate was coughing up a lung, I quickly wondered if the Emergen-C in our drawer would help the disease from spreading to my side of the room. However, I went to sleep anyways and woke up this morning feeling awful. So here I am, left wondering if the huge amounts of Vitamin C found in Emergen-C or Vitamin C supplements actually make a difference when suffering from a cold.
According to this article, a lot of experts claim daily exposure to Vitamin C hasn’t been found to make much of a difference in sick days. It’s heavily debated over but what’s clear is that too much Vitamin C can be harmful to the body. It can cause nausea or other stomach issues, so it’s best to not consume more than 2,000 mg per day.
However, this doesn’t help me, because I’m still looking for a way to avoid getting sick.
Colorado State University says that it’s important to be physically healthy with what you can control– like your sleep habits, your physical activity, and the types of food you eat. Balancing all of these well, and also avoiding major stress, should help to make for a strong immune system.
Another way to avoid getting sick and missing class is by getting the flu shot. Dr. Mark Hyman claims that it doesn’t actually do much for people outside of the very elderly and infants whom for them, the flu could be fatal. However, using my newfound scientist skills, I will follow the majority of doctors recommendations by getting the flu shot this year to give myself the best chance possible. It isn’t too hard to stop by the HUB and get one, that is of course unless I’d be late to class..
I am not really sure how the title relates to the blog, but i did enjoy reading this post. At home, i never got sick. I do not remember the last time I missed a day of school due to a cold or an illness. Here, i swear I’ve been sick since the first week on campus. When it comes to medicine, I’m kind of a stickler. I don’t take many pills but I am a firm believer in vitamin C. I drank orange juice probably 3 times a day for a week. Do i think this cured my cold? No. Do i think it made a difference? Yes.
A quick note on vitamin c. While it may not completely prevent the common cold, it is definitely beneficially to get a regular intake of vitamin-c. The National Institute of Health says “People with high intakes of vitamin C from fruits and vegetables might have a lower risk of getting many types of cancer, such as lung, breast, and colon cancer.” So try to get that vitamin-c from healthy foods and it will pay out in the long run! But for right now, I don’t know how to avoid the Penn State plague being as this is my second time through it. Best of luck to the rest of you!
Going off of what you said about the flu, it is highly recommended to get every year, and obviously there is a reason for it, or doctors would not recommend it. Of course everyone is different, so getting the flu can affect different people in different ways, but just because one person can get the flu and feel fine the next day, that doesn’t mean that the person sitting next to them in class all week will be okay. In extreme cases the flu can cause death, and anyone with a weak immune system to the flu can be susceptible to it. So why get the flu shot? It put yourself and the others around you at a much lower risk, and there are different types of flu shots too! It’s one of the easiest shots to get (pain wise), and it’s super easy to get one (especially here at Penn State) so why not get one? No one likes being sick even if it is only a little sick anyway!
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/keyfacts.htm
I got my turn at the Penn State Plague the second week of school, before it even had its name. Now, I can feel it trying to make a reappearance in my life, which is unacceptable. I have always been a huge believer in vitamin C and take a plentiful amount every day. I have three different forms of Airborne that I alternate through. I feel that it works for me, but there is a strong possibility that it is all in my head. There are a lot of instances where the power of the psychological mind provides some medical improvement, such as case with placebo drugs. Having the mentality that my vitamin C dosage will lesson my symptoms may actually cause me to believe my symptoms aren’t so bad after all, without actually improving my health. It’s interesting concept to think about. And if “too much vitamin C” is a real thing and actually causes some issues, I will probably be the first to experience it so I will keep you updated.