I swear I’m not going to talk about swine flu — well, maybe just a little bit.
It’s that time of the year when leaves merrily scatter along sidewalks, crunch underfoot and burst in garish flame against the dreary, gray sky. We huddle under umbrellas, and we cuddle with hot cocoa.
It’s also when we get miserably, mercilessly sick.
I am sick!
This always happens, every semester, just as midterms are closing in — I wake up to my alarm, gasping for breath through my congested chest with a headache that feels like my face is being ripped apart and fluid is sloshing in my ears and throat.
And ever since swine flu became the next Bubonic plague, when someone hears me cough, they try to inch away from my murderous germs — real subtle.
Even worse, no one has sympathy.
I have class, work and all the other responsibilities that seem to grow at alarming rates the farther I move away from parental supervision.
Constant stress can actually raise the cortisol — a rocket-like hormone that is launched into your bloodstream when you get really stressed and is the active ingredient in the fight-or-flight response — levels in your body and weaken your immune system, making you the perfect victim for colds or the flu.
According to the About.com Web site, we’re supposed to “practice stress management techniques,” such as journaling, yoga, self-guided meditation, exercise, laughter and even sex to beef up our immune systems.
Here are my Top 3 Stress Relievers:
1. Alcohol
Clearly not the healthiest decision, but after a day when the world has been oh-so-cruel, I find myself grinning after a few high alcohol content beverages.
2. Farmville
For some reason, harvesting eggplants, milking goats and helping neighbors on the Farmville application on Facebook sends me to my happy place.
3. Food Network
Usually watching the preparation of gourmet meals sends viewers to the kitchen or out to eat, but when I lay on the couch and watch roasting quail, sizzling bacon or glistening sauces, my worries melt away like butter.
In four years or less, you have to figure out what you’re going to do for the rest of your life.
College and stress are irrevocably linked.
So I guess every semester, around midterms, I will have to look at the flu, square in the face, and say, “Bring it on!”
Jill Abell
-Staff Writer
1 Comment
November 2, 2009 at 8:03 pm
I had just the same thought and was trying to analyze my own behavior but could not reach a conclusion. So I created a poll for people to help me figuring it out by simply voting. Please put your own voice: What the heck keeps us playing in FarmVille???
Wana vote?
http://yardennedray.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/what-the-heck-keeps-us-playing-in-farmville/