Grant Lucas – sports editor. Maintaining good health is a topic that doesn’t always top the priority list of college students. It’s rarely thought of or discussed. In fact, we hardly ever worry about it until we start a family or if we ourselves become ill.
Nowadays, however, students have developed a fear of sickness along with the pandemic of the H1N1 virus. Every sniffle, cough, sore throat or headache drives sufferers to suspect the worse.
After a series of flu shots and vaccinations are given to cure illnesses that may or may not exist, what are the sickies left with? A sickness. Even with all the precautions taken to prevent the viruses from spreading, people still end up in their beds, eating chicken noodle soup and watching low-class, daytime television.
Sound familiar? If not, you have one heck of an immune system. This progression from symptom recognition to final diagnosis may seem like a stretch, but it’s a common story I have not only experienced but have seen.
Since my childhood days of enduring vaccination-induced illnesses, I’ve changed my ways of dealing with flu-like symptoms: juice and aspirin. Call me stubborn or a man — there isn’t much of a difference — but I haven’t acquired a sickness worse than a cold (knock on wood).
How do I avert the health conditions that lead people into a vegetated state that V-8 would be happy to sponsor? It’s something my parents have drilled into me for years, and something I’ve ignored from teachers. My roommates and others who know me may not believe it, but the secret holds true: a clean-ish environment.
Remember health class back in the day (which, by the way, was a Tuesday) when the teacher was rambling on and on about how “a clean room is a healthy room”? It was about the same time you turned to your friends to laugh at funny words. I’ll confess to being that guy. Anyway, the teacher had a point. Having dirty dishes, laundry and garbage all over the place is just asking for trouble.
I loosely followed this guideline until my senior year here. My schedule became overloaded, and cleaning dropped on my priority list. Dishes stacked, laundry piled and belongings became lost in my war zone of a room.
This past Monday, my parents visited on their way to the airport. I knew that if they saw the condition of my house, I could kiss Christmas in Florida goodbye and I would be buying my own presents, which I would claim were from a nonexistent person. There was no way I would become that nut job in Wal-Mart with a personalized shopping list, asking people if I would like something as a gift.
Unfortunately, being the good parents they are, Mom and Pops brought groceries for their strapped-for-cash son. In a bitter-sweet event, they came into my house, saw the kitchen and quickly spun around to me. My dad removed his glasses, and I knew he meant business. For the next 20 minutes, I received a life lecture about how ill I would become if my house remained in the shape it was in. Although it sounds too simple to convince a 21-year old to clean, it did.
That night, my roommate and I scrubbed our abode wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor. He had been ill for nearly a week. The house has been clean for two straight days and not only have the three of us remained healthy, but the lone sick roommate has made a full recovery.
This whole ordeal has a moral that we can all live by, even if it sounds like a broken record. When you begin sniffling, coughing or have the slightest tickle in your throat, don’t panic and flee to the doctor like it’s never happened before. Look around your living quarters and evaluate your living situation. It works.
I’m not a medical professional, but I know from experience that the vaccinations that “cure” sickness only make you less ill. Citing the health teachers ignored during my school years, “a clean environment is a healthy environment.”
You stay healthy, Mac town.