Do As I Say, Not As I Do.

So far, most of our blogging has been focused on being healthy, and preventing illness and disease. But what about when you do get sick? Despite all your best intentions, the hand-washing and vitamin C, you end up with a cold or flu, how do you recover to regain your health? As it seems half of the campus is currently sick (our department is no exception), I figured this would be the best time to discuss the recovery process.

Hi, my name is Jolene and I was sick last week and still came to work.

Consider this an open apology to everyone in my department and to those I worked closely with last week. I tried to limit my personal contact, but I’m fairly certain at least one person in my office is sick because of me.

I took last Tuesday off to rest through the worst of it, but was far too overzealous Wednesday and Thursday, requiring me to leave early on Friday afternoon to recover once again. In hindsight, taking the few days off at the beginning would have allowed me to recovery much sooner, and I would have been much more productive once I returned to work.

By the way, I do feel much better now, thank you for asking.

So what did I do to speed up my recovery?  Or what should I have done to speed up the recovery?
1. Rest.  Nothing like a good 15 hour sleep to rejuvenate the immune system.
2. Meds. I had no idea if what I had was a cold or flu, but to cover my bases I had cold AND flu meds and took them liberally, mostly just to ensure I got adequate rest.
3. O.J. I was drinking orange juice like it was my job. Yes, vitamin C supplements probably would’ve been more effective, but I figured adding extra liquids to my diet at this time couldn’t be a bad thing.
4. Exercise. Ok so this one took me some time. I waited until I was feeling 70% better, until I went for a slower-paced run along my normal route. The run itself was a struggle as my respiratory system is always the last to recover, but the improvement to my well-being after that run was well worth it. I could feel the colour return to my cheeks, the warmth return to my nose and fingers.

I think most of us are aware that regular exercise helps boost immune function, but when you are sick, when should you skip the run and crawl back into bed? This is a question that lingered in my head all last week. So I thought I would share my findings with you, in case you had the same question…

http://www.prevention.com/cda/article/should-i-exercise-while-sick/e75e72e50d803110VgnVCM10000013281eac____/fitness/fitness.coaches/chris.freytag

So, in conclusion, what’s the best way to speed up a recovery from the cold or flu?
My answer: Do as I say, not as I do.

Stay home and get some rest.