Dear Aunt Izzie,
Everyone in my dorm is getting sick. How can I avoid catching something?
Sincerely,
Can’t Afford Tissues
Dear Can’t Afford Tissues,
Once every month or so it seems like every single human on campus starts sniffling and getting head, stomach, and every other kind of aches. But fear not! There are definite ways to avoid falling under the weather.
Wash your hands! Seriously. Don’t do that thing where you only wash them when someone else is in the bathroom, and don’t “rinse them” because, guess what? Germs are not afraid of water. Wash your hands. Use soap. Use too much soap, even.
Don’t share drinks with people. This is a good tip for life in general, but especially if you like staying healthy. Honestly I don’t understand why it’s a surprise that you get sick after you put your mouth on something that someone else just put their mouth out. (Gross elaboration on this advice: maybe don’t put your mouth one anyone else’s mouth either; you don’t know if they have some sort of disease.)
Get lots of sleep. Your body needs sleep all the time and not sleeping weakens your immune system. No, I am not a doctor. But I’m pretty sure not sleeping weakens your immune system. Trust me, I have an advice column.
Drink orange juice. Or water. Or Gatorade if you’re a believer in electrolytes –shout out to my mom, biggest believer in electrolytes! Hydrate yourself all the time because it is good for you. But don’t hydrate yourself with shared drinks. We already went over this.
And if all my advice fails you and you do get sick, find a nice middle ground with your sickness. Don’t try and power through something nasty because you will fail and harm yourself in the long run, but also don’t be that person who misses a week of classes and stays in bed, scattering dirty tissues and cough drop wrappers about the hallway. Like I said, almost everyone gets sick about once a month, so nobody feels bad for you.
Love,
Aunt Izzie
Aunt IzzieIzzie Gibson Penrose, class of 2016, has 19 years of advice to give. She loves telling people what to do (but doesn’t take offense if they don’t listen) and lives as strange a life as possible so she has plenty of anecdotes to share. Izzie also enjoys making jokes and baking cupcakes. Email her with questions, concerns, or anything LITERALLY ANYTHING that’s on your mind at gibsis01@gettysburg.edu. She promises to read every email she receives at least once, probably six times.
