Over the few months that I have been here, I have noticed that in every lecture class there has been at least 20 people coughing throughout the duration of the class. A term commonly used when this topic is brought up is the “Penn State Sickness”. I decided to look into this topic further. Why is this so common when people are come together in a large group? Why don’t we see this when we go to football stadiums or basketball game?
Turns out there is not a lot of facts that can determine why people cough in lecture classes. There have been a few article from NBC stating that people get sick based on all of the germs the body has been exposed to but they don’t have any scientific backing. They mainly consist of people stating things without any show of research or statistics for their findings. Then as I was exploring I came across an article talking about why students tend to get sick after finals. In the article they state, based on current studies there is no well-accepted medical explanation for the posts-finals cold or flu. Some might say has to do with the irregular sleep patterns causing the immune system to break down. Others might consider stress sends mixed emotions throughout the entire body causing the immune system to break down. As the article goes on it continues to talk about the body and how it reacts to when the immune system is not working properly. This shows how people get sick by a weak immune system, but the question that still haunts me is why? Why are students constantly coughing in lecture halls? Why hasn’t our bodies develop a long lasting defense against the sickness?
As I continued to research other factors that might play a role in sickness. I came across a review stating that moderate alcohol consumption does have health benefits. But it turns out that beige drinking (which is what a lot of college students do) has a negative impact on the body since the immune system doesn’t function right when sickness attacks because of the high doses of alcohol already introduced into the system. Now this article which is backed by the National Government and Health Association which most people would presume to be crediable. However as most SC200 students know that is never the case when comes to studies. The main problem with the information is that it is effected by the Texas Sharpshooter fallacy. The data displayed is the data that only that support their claims. Since there was no other studies conducted this a false positive result. Since most people think this is true but it is not. Originally this might have been the truth based on one study but other third variables could have tempered with the results effecting any correlation between the two.
Overall further research and studies have to be conducted to get a better idea on why people seem to get sick in close environments since most of the articles posted don’t seem to be backed by multiple test and trials.
I always wondered why we were all so prone to the PS-flU. I feel as though every single person I talk to is sick. This article did a really great job at explaining many possible reasons why sickness happens so often when a large group of people are living together. http://www.livestrong.com/article/209706-the-reasons-college-kids-get-sick/ This article further explained reasons why we get sick so easily leaving in the dorms.
I’m happy someone wrote a blog post on this topic because I have been sick almost every day since we have moved onto campus. Whether it be a cough, cold, or something else involving a fever, I have not been feeling 100% at all. I did some research to see if other things could lead to my sickness and the reasons for why I am not feeling well. A study done by UC San Fransisco and the University of Pittsburg Medical Center showed that a lack of sleep could increase your risk of getting a cold by a large amount. This makes the most sense in my situation, as my sleep patterns have not been what they were at home. I found this information here (http://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2015/august/sleep-and-sickness.html).
I happen to be very sick as well. As a matter of fact about a month ago I had to go with my friend to the Mt. Nittany Hospital because she was so sick. The ER doctor explained to us that as Freshmen we are being exposed to germs that we have never encountered in our lives before and that the germs make us very tired. However, there are many variables that can cause use to be sick, like lack of sleep, nutrition etc. The point you make about drinking is very interesting.One of my blogs this blogging period was about germs and cell phones and how they can actually make us really sick. I found this website that talks about ten ways our cell phones can cause us to get sick you should check it out. http://www.healthcentral.com/slideshows/10-ways-your-cell-phone-can-make-you-sick/
The close proximity of students in a small area is bounds for the common cold to be spread. It is the more serious illness’ that are contagious that people have to be concerned about. For example, my roommate has an acute bronchitis during the winter that she deals with every year. I am very worried that there is not much that can be done to prevent me from getting this as well since we share a small room together. The student health center and services at Georgetown University educate students on how to seek help, diagnose and help treat illness’s that students might develop. http://studenthealth.georgetown.edu/health-issues/common-illness/
It is ironic that I opened up the class blog to see your post right now, because I just done having a conversation about this. I was on the phone with my mom, about 5 minutes ago, talking to her about how I am sick, and how I have been sick for the majority of the time I’ve been here. She was telling me that I should make sure I eat healthy, especially while I am sick and exhausted. I was curious about this after reading your article and I found this sitewhich lists off common reasons why college students tend to get sick.