How do you keep from getting sick?

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Replies

  • ummlovelovesyou
    ummlovelovesyou Posts: 1,024 Member
    Vitamins, eat veggies (which you already do!), and sanitize ALL the time!

    I work in a kindergarten class and I have not been sick since last year. (knock on wood lol) :laugh:
    Before changing my eating habits I got sick every other month, no joke.


    If you feel like you're getting sick, gargle with warm salt water. Nip it in the bud before it gets bad! This has always worked for me.

    :flowerforyou:
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
    If it's not been mentioned before, make sure you get a good air filter for your home. A lot of bugs and allergens get caught up in there so make sure you are cleaning it out monthly. Also, forget all the homeopathic stuff. None of it is proven to work, so just eat well, keep your home clean (sanitize countertops, doorknobs, remote controls, any surface you touch regularly, and wash your hands regularly).

    Also, try to keep your stress level under control. I only get sick when I'm stressed out badly, then I get very sick.
  • angkev2560
    angkev2560 Posts: 36
    I also work at a high school and I found I was always getting sick. I'd be just getting over a cold and I would come down with strep throat or a flu or something equally annoying, and it would always set me back on working out and weight loss! Ever since I started taking the daily Cold FX, I can feel that I might be coming down with something, but it never progresses beyond that. For example, because I work for the school board, I get two weeks off at Christmas, and the minute school let out for xmas break, I felt like I was coming down with something. But because I was taking my cold FX, it didn't progress and I managed to work out every day before xmas:) oh and lots of water and a good nights sleep, and hand washing are also key!
  • Trechechus
    Trechechus Posts: 2,819 Member
    Eat right and wash your hands.

    Please, for the love of God, DON'T USE ANTI BACTERIALS! I'd rather get sick with something my body can handle than try to deal with the superbugs we are creating with all this anti-bacterial garbage!
  • Trechechus
    Trechechus Posts: 2,819 Member
    double post
  • TourThePast
    TourThePast Posts: 1,753 Member
    You're in a tough environment, but my strategy, which seems to have worked is this:

    1. Keep fit and healthy
    2. Wash my hands regularly
    3. Avoid touching my nose and eyes when I'm not at home, ie when I'm in an environment where there are other people's viruses on the hard surfaces.

    The last one is the very hardest one to do, but it does make a huge difference in preventing the spread of viruses.

    Depending on the age of the kids in your class you can try teaching them to sneeze into the crook of their elbow - sneezing into their hand is just asking for them to transfer their viruses onto hard surfaces in the classroom, whereas viruses last far less time if they're on soft materials such as clothing.
  • ziggle_7
    ziggle_7 Posts: 81 Member
    hand washing is important but even when you wash for the suggested amount of time your are actually only riding yourself of about 20% of the bacteria. Try keeping hand sanitizer around and using it. Also keep your everyday surfaces clean. keep eating lots of fruits and veggies (berries are great for the immune system too!). Maybe try some yummy herbal teas =)
  • tam120
    tam120 Posts: 444 Member
    avoid human contact :drinker:
  • cobes24
    cobes24 Posts: 132 Member
    DRINK WATER. When you think you've drank enough, drink another bottle. Anything with caffeine make up for it with twice as much water. I'm a nurse practitioner working in Urgent Care and all I see are colds all day long...they're ALL dehydrated. Also, once you start feeling ill, take decongestants to dry up drainage--most start viral but turn bacterial, so dry that snot up and don't give bacteria a chance to get in there and set up shop. And WASH YOUR HANDS.
  • loombeav
    loombeav Posts: 391 Member
    Hand washing and lots of sleep. If I start to feel that sick feeling, I take Airborne, which really seems to help nip it in the bud.
    This is my suggestion also. In addition to this when I'm feeling run down, I take a few days to rest. I know it's ok to exercise when you have a cold, but for me I kick it much quicker if I take a few down days.
  • LeanMeanFitnessMachine
    LeanMeanFitnessMachine Posts: 659
    It sounds like you're doing everything right! Its hard to avoid getting sick when you work with kids.

    Here are some foods that help boost your immune system:
    - Vitamin C packed foods: bell peppers, strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, sweet potatoes, and (of course) citrus fruit.
    - Mushrooms
    - Carrots
    - Kale
    - Berries (for antioxidants)
    - Garlic
    - Yogurt (for digestive track health)
  • mamitosami
    mamitosami Posts: 531 Member
    Yes, I also agree with the vitamin D suggestion--I take 3000 IU a day. I have also read that protein boosts your immune system (I'll look for some links that back this up, but it says it right on my tub of protein!), and you can't beat sleep for fighting disease...


    (I know some people don't agree with taking supplements, but we, in Canada, need the vitamin D, it's dark here in the winter... we started taking vitamin D last winter and we've had a fraction of the colds and flu we got the years before, and if we do get sick, it lasts two or three days rather than weeks. I have a 4 year old and 6 year old, both walking germ factories! And I go to the gym every day and used to get sick all winter from it.)
  • brybre0413
    brybre0413 Posts: 212 Member
    If it is possible try to air your room out at the school as much as possible. If the room is not aired out often then you are wasting your time on all the other things. You will keep getting sick. The germs in that room just keep growing and multiplying and have no where to go.........
  • TourThePast
    TourThePast Posts: 1,753 Member
    avoid human contact :drinker:
    That gets my vote!

    Simply wrap each child in your class in saran wrap at the start of the day, but please don't forget to wash your hands afterwards. :bigsmile:
  • smcolton
    smcolton Posts: 78
    I used to get sinus infections and colds until my Dr talked me into doing nasel irrigation. I am not crazy about it, but I swear it helps!
  • Marll
    Marll Posts: 904 Member
    Eliminate as much sugar as you can and grains, you'd be surprised at the effects. My wife used to get sick practically every other week until we got rid of grains and now she gets sick very rarely.
  • AmberLiscous
    AmberLiscous Posts: 644 Member
    I don't do anything to prevent sickness because honestly withfour children I feel like this is a pointless task.

    However when I feel a cold coming on I take echinacea......I take two and then take two more a couple of hours later.....usually does the trick for me
    also: when you have a stuffy nose rub vicks on the bottom of your feet and put socks on.....always clears my head right up and works great on kids too
  • CrystalMarie253
    CrystalMarie253 Posts: 128
    I drink a lot of Bleach... it kills the germs :)
    Just kidding! Lol!
  • sunflower_yogi
    sunflower_yogi Posts: 78 Member
    practice yoga in a hot/warm room
    take multivitamin + vit C
    get enough sleep
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    I drink a lot of Bleach... it kills the germs :)
    Just kidding! Lol!
    I knew a lady who did this. OK, she didn't drink it, but she washed all her fruits and vegetables with bleach.
  • WhitneyJerome
    WhitneyJerome Posts: 80 Member
    I had a teacher in high school who was a a freak about getting sick. He kept hand sanitizer in every corner of the room. He had sanitizing wipes that he would use himself on every desk at the end of the day. I'm not positive but I suspect every time he could see someone who was sick he would wipe down their desk after class. Also he always talked about exercise and eating right and sneezing into the crook of your arm. In all four years of high school I only saw him get sick once.
  • CrystalMarie253
    CrystalMarie253 Posts: 128
    I drink a lot of Bleach... it kills the germs :)
    Just kidding! Lol!
    I knew a lady who did this. OK, she didn't drink it, but she washed all her fruits and vegetables with bleach.

    Yikes! Lol!
  • KayteeBear
    KayteeBear Posts: 1,040 Member
    I think I'm just one with a strong immune system or something because I rarely ever get sick (a full blown cold for me is a stuffy nose for one day or a sore throat and that's it even if everybody around me is sick) but I usually try to drink lots of water, take Vitamin C every day in winter (two a day if everybody around me is sick) and get lots of sleep... I honestly don't wash my hands a lot and never use hand sanitizer.
  • kardowling
    kardowling Posts: 221 Member
    Lots of fresh air. I get outside every day no matter how cold. Multi vitamins. frequent hand washer/purell. The most helpful is that my kids are frequent handwashers and I make them use purel "rub scrub" when ever I pick them up from library,school etc. Not neurotic, just common sense stuff. Paper cups (yes killing environment) but with 3 kids easy to forget which belongs to who. I think it does help. Just normal stuff, but get my family to follow along
  • HollieDoodles
    HollieDoodles Posts: 678 Member
    I get sick easily, because of an auto-immune disease.
    Here's what I do to avoid it:
    -Stay away from sick people
    -Wash off the handles on carts I use at the store
    -Wash my hands a lot
    -Drink a lot of water
    -Get plenty of sleep (well, I do better when I actually follow thru with this one)
    -Exercise
  • 0PhAtDaDdY
    0PhAtDaDdY Posts: 569 Member
    I really would exercise more if I weren't sick so much (cold, sinus, flu). I teach high school, so I don't think that helps. I think maybe I'm trying too hard...had sinus surgery this summer, get a flu shot every year, take vitamin C, a probiotic, a multi-vitamin, and L-Lysine. I aim for at least 5 fruits/veggies everyday. So...what gives?!? Any secrets???

    Ginseng, and Vitamin D during the winter months.. ZINC if you get sick til you get better.. Read about Zinc too much is bad..
  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
    Forgot another one - swallow whole cloves of raw garlic, like a vitamin, if you do get sick (cut them in half or smaller if they're really large!).

    And I strongly suggest not using hand sanitizer. Wash your hands with soap and water and avoid touching your face when in public. I think people over-sanitize, especially with children. Immune systems do not get stronger if they are never made to fight off invasions. During cold season, you should also wipe down the surfaces in your classroom at least once a week - at least the desks, doorknobs, pencil sharpener. With soap and water, or you could do the sanitizing with those. I used to teach, as well. The things I listed in my earlier post helped me (Kick *kitten* Immune - and it has to be that one, there are others - is a combination of herbs that fight colds).
  • rico1923
    rico1923 Posts: 32
    I had a teacher in high school who was a a freak about getting sick. He kept hand sanitizer in every corner of the room. He had sanitizing wipes that he would use himself on every desk at the end of the day. I'm not positive but I suspect every time he could see someone who was sick he would wipe down their desk after class. Also he always talked about exercise and eating right and sneezing into the crook of your arm. In all four years of high school I only saw him get sick once.

    I believe this guy was slightly germophobic (see article link) but a less anal/very effective version of this kind of overkill is to wash your hands as much as possible. As in each time after you go to the bathroom, before you eat and after you eat(about 5x a day including your morning shower). By washing your hands I mean WASHING your hands past your wrists for more than 30 seconds; hygiene in food service demands this kind of hand washing since the friction of washing your hands is more effective than any soap in eliminating germs if done correctly.
    Once I am sick I find garlicky soups like chinese Hot and Sour or french Stone Soup(garlic/tomato/chicken broth) as well as ginger tea work to sweat out any colds; as a preventative I like Echinacea tea, green tea and/or raw garlic once a day.
    I worked in Las Vegas casinos for 20 years and missed about a week total due to illness; I think the amount of people I came into contact with per day compares to what a schoolteacher might come up against during the usual school day.

    http://www.self.com/health/2009/02/the-truth-about-germs
  • Coltsman4ever
    Coltsman4ever Posts: 602 Member
    I'm super-human. I never get sick.
    I just keep telling myself that. Even when I'm sick. :wink:
  • miss_kisha
    miss_kisha Posts: 74 Member
    Everything everyone else said: washing hands, LOTS of water, good night's rest, exercise. In addition I swallow a couple of raw garlic cloves, crushed, with water like I'm taking a pill. Also homemade lemon, honey & red onion tea. Garlic is said to possess antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties, and red onion has antioxident and antiinflammatory. These aren't the best smelling options but they do work if you attack the cold with these at the first sign.
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