6 Ways to Fight your Finals Week Sickness

Finals season seems to be prime time for Northwestern students to get sick. Triple shot espressos, cans of Red Bull, sleepless nights in the library and a lot of stress are the perfect ingredients to getting sick. There’s nothing more annoying than having a constant cough or runny nose while sitting through a 2-hour exam. So, here are some ways to prevent or cure your finals week illnesses!

1. Hang wet towels around your room! If you don’t have a humidifier, hanging a wet towel is a good trick to keeping your room humid! Hanging a towel near your face when you sleep can prevent you from waking up with a sore or dry throat in the morning. Breathing dry air can “cause such respiratory ailments as asthma, bronchitis, sinusitis, and nosebleeds, or general dehydration since body fluids are depleted during respiration” and you certainly don’t want any of that.
2. Take Emergen-C at the first sign of sickness, whether it’s a cough, a runny nose, or you’re just feeling a little off. Emergen-C seems to be ineffective once you’re actually sick, so make sure to catch it early! Whenever I take Emergen-C after spotting the first symptom, more times than not, the cough or runny nose will go away.
3. Rub essential oils on your body! Rubbing Thieves Essential Oil on your wrists or to the bottom of your feet is a great way to boost your immune system.
4. Sore throat? Gurgle with salt water. Take a glass of warm water and dissolve half a teaspoon of salt into it, gurgle for a few seconds and spit it out. I know it sounds gross, but it’s a life saver.
5. Best drink for a sore throat? Honey and lemon tea! Cut a lemon in half and put it in the microwave for 20 seconds  – this primes the lemon for juicing. Squeeze both halves in a cup of hot water and put as much honey as you want! Try trading it for coffee this week!
6. Though sleep might not seem realistic during reading and finals week, if anything, keep a water bottle with you and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! 

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