Under normal circumstances, this would be an article about how to stay healthy and well while people around you are sick. That is not what this is. I am writing this as a sick person. I am sick with some random slew of potential viruses that have been going around my campus. So, you aren't getting some sickness-preventative article. This is how to find your way back to health and not spread whatever you have to others.

So how can you get back to your healthy self? The first step is drinking more water. If you feel yourself starting to catch something, drink more water. Water does so many good things for your body; water supplies the adequate hydration your body needs, ridding headaches and other "symptoms" that you may feel when sick. It helps flush the sickness out of your body.

Another thing that goes well with upping your water intake is taking the medicine and/or vitamins that your body needs. This is hard. I am someone who is not crazy about taking medicine. If I find another way to get feeling better, you better believe that I am doing that other thing. Most medicine does not taste good, but it gives your body the extra help it needs to fight sicknesses. Vitamins can also aid the feel-better process. I am all for that vitamin C when I get sick.

Sleep is a beautiful thing in itself, but it becomes a magnificent masterpiece when you are sick. Sleep renews and revamps the body so it can continue to fight off sickness. It is probably the most important thing to do when you are sick. Some feelings of sickness can even be taken away with a good, long nap. Think about this: you wouldn't go to the boxing ring with your most slow and run-down fighter. Why should you fight sickness with your slow and run-down body?

Sleep is important, but so is getting some exercise. Something like getting out of bed and going to a few classes if you aren't contagious could help. The fresh air combined with moving your body can help strengthen everything fighting off infections, viruses, etc. You don't have to workout or go running for this. You just need to be doing something for a small part of the day. This helps break fevers for me.

Okay, you're sick. You're working on getting better. Now you can focus on not getting anyone else sick. You know that contagious thing that I just said? If you are contagious, stay away from people. Disinfect everything once you have gotten over whatever you had. That could mean spraying disinfectant on everything you touched (like I do) and washing things you constantly touched, like pillowcases, blankets, face and hand towels, and dishes. You should wash your hands after touching around your mouth, nose, ear, and eye area if you are around people. I had this funky thing with my eyes going on. I didn't know if it was pink eye or some other infection, so I would wash my hands after every time I touched them.

Being sick at college sucks, but hopefully I have given you some tools to make it suck less. Go and be well!