Happiness, Healthiness

How many times have you woken up feeling groggy, maybe you have a headache, maybe your nose is stuffy or maybe you have a sore throat?

In the midst of this ridiculous Pig Flu (fine, H1N1) pandemic it’s not uncommon for people to automatically assume they are either going to die or sprout a pig tail, much like Dudley Dursley did in “Harry Potter” (minus Hagrid’s magic, o’ course).

It seems these days people are so ready to believe they are sick that the slightest fever, the simplest cough, means that they are in store for a bad time.

I am writing this article now with a sore throat, froggy voice, a “delightful” cough, etc. However I am not running to the nearest doctor expecting to be the latest victim of whatever virus is flying about. Instead, I visited student health and got some vitamins and helpful advice.

Anyway, my point is 75% of the time illness is all in your head, and I don’t mean headaches or trauma. It is psychological. If you say, “Oh, I’m sick” then your body is going to go into shut-down-repair-mode.

This is a good thing…minus the whole “shutting down” part. You can heal; you can recover without becoming a whiny, moaning little puddle of pity and aches.

Everyone loves to run home to mom or dad complaining of a fever and a “tummy ache,” but acting that way – and getting a concerned parent involved – heightens the chance that you’ll soak up the attention and your body will want to “play sick” longer than you would like.

Don’t get me wrong, parents need to know when their kids are sick, but we are college kids and it’s time we learn how to cure these things ourselves.

Generally, when you are sick, you are experiencing some physiological symptoms. Yes, you should take it easy and get your sleep and all the necessary things to get better.

You should not, however, act like a terminally ill patient. Illness is in your head, but so is healthiness.  Believe you’re getting better and you might start feeling better.

Don’t stay in bed all day – get up, read, wave your arms around, walk in a circle, bathe – do something other than act like a sick person.

If you have been ordered to stay home and rest, do so, but do so in a manner that affects your demeanor, mind and health positively.

It’s all about the power of happy thoughts. Don’t psych yourself into believing you’re going to die! Have faith that you’ll be well soon, that you’re not that “one in a million” case of that rare disease from Botswana. Take things easy, don’t neglect your health, but don’t stress over it either.