For many new college students, being sick for the first time away from home is a daunting and tiring experience. Suddenly, it’s a bit difficult to remember what medicines Mom gave to you when you had a sore throat, and you just can’t understand what’s making you so perpetually sick. Thus, here are five easy tips to make your first college cold as pain-free as possible!
1. Keep a supply of cough drops and medicine on hand before you get sick. Sometimes your sore throat may sneak up on you, so it’s best to already have plenty of ammunition before disaster strikes.
2. Drink hot beverages to help relieve congestion. The warmth from a cup of coffee or tea will soothe your sore throat, and the steam will feel amazing for your head cold.
3.Drink a TON of water. Although hot beverages such as tea and coffee may relieve your sore throat, nothing can compare to good old-fashioned water.
4.Take DayQuil, not NyQuil. NyQuil and DayQuil treat essentially the same symptoms, except DayQuil is a non-drowsy medication. Therefore, if you want to relieve your cold and flu symptoms AND manage to stay awake for your 8 a.m., skip out on taking that NyQuil. Also, remember to use medications to treat the individual symptoms of your cold – don’t expect one medicine to cure everything. When in doubt, just read the labels and try to match it with the symptoms you feel!
5.Get plenty of rest! You were tired of hearing your mom tell you this when you were a kid, but she was on to something! On average, college students already don’t get the recommended amount of sleep, and when you’re sick, your body is being forced to work overtime. Try going easy on your body for once – treat yourself to that lazy day in bed watching Netflix that you’ve been dying for!