Living in close quarters with other people has so many benefits and is a fun exciting experience, but there is always that one thing to look out for… You’re sitting in your common room with your roommates, another casual night, everyone is back from classes and then you hear it….that awful cough and sniffling coming from across the room. You realize the spread has begun. Before you know it half your room has some sickness and you’re just trying to make sure you stay away from this trend. How do you not get sick when all your roommates do?
There are a few essential items you want to make sure you have: a stash of medication, some type of Lysol disinfectant, and your own space and fresh air. Open the windows in your room, get that fresh air circulating around. Take your vitamins on a daily basis to keep up a healthy immune system in hopes to prevent sickness. When you feel it coming on, start the self medication. Take that Dayquil or Sudafed right away and then maybe a dose of Nyquil or Dimetapp before bed. Even lend your roommates some
medicine, contain the sickness as soon as you can. When you help everyone else with their sickness, you are absolutely preventing the spread for you and the rest of us! If not it tends to linger for months because once one roommate gets over it, another roommate is just beginning and the constant cycle continues. Remember, you are in such a confined place with everyone constantly on top of each other. When you walk around campus and realize everyone is sick, this is where it begins.
Hopefully you live with considerate people and when they realize their sickness isn’t going away, they will see a doctor as soon as possible. But unfortunate for many, there is that one roommate that will hack away for months upon months without any prescription. There is that spread of germs and sickness continuously occurring. You could always mention seeing a doctor could be a good idea, lend them some medicine or even buy them those cough drops they may desperately need.
Germs are everywhere, especially in that contained space you live in. This is where the disinfectant comes in, spray here and there, freshen up each room a little. Cleaning may not be everyone’s favorite hobby (unless you’re lucky and have that one obsessive cleaner in the room), but tidy up here and there, keep your dorm as fresh as can be. Also, try to maintain a healthy sleeping schedule as best you can and exercising at least a few times a week is a good idea, as well. Keep up the usual healthy habits to try and keep your body free of sickness. Try to get rid of it before it even begins! Good luck!