25 February 2014

What Not To Do When You're Feeling Ill!

Most people give you advice of what to do when you're ill, like eating Heinz tomato soup, having lots of rest or keeping warm. But no one ever tells you what not to do. I don't often get colds or bugs or fevers (although I do have a cold this week which is my inspiration for this post), there are lots of different types of illness, and I think for someone to say they're never ill is a lie. Everyone gets ill every now and then, whether it's physically sick, perhaps from drinking too much or mentally ill for whatever reason you have. All types of illnesses are not fun to deal with, and although people telling you what to do is all great and helpful, its not the same as knowing what not to do. Hopefully some of these ideas might help people reading this whenever they're next ill.



Firstly, drinking orange juice. Once you're ill (with a bug or virus), there's not much it can really do to help and if you're not taking in the right vitamins and minerals your body can't even absorb all that vitamin C. Certainly buying a large carton and drinking it all in one day will not make you better, in fact it will probably make you feel worse because it's so acidic. Believe me, I tried it myself yesterday, it does not help.



Also, definitely don't sit in all day watching sad movies. Anything like Titanic, The Notebook, Lion King, steer clear of. Today I made the mistake of watching Revolutionary Road. It's a great movie, I'm not saying it's not, but watching their lives crumble right before my eyes did not make me feel better. I'm quite emotional movie watcher, I cry at pretty much anything. Sad movies make you stressed which then brings on a headache, which then makes you even more stressed and ill. Surely you decided on watching movies to relax? So make sure you pick something relaxing.. like a comedy or what I should have watched, a Disney princess movie . Also I'd stay way from thrillers like The Bourne Trilogy, The Matrix Trilogy, or anything that has the potential to get you worked up.





Similarly, don't listen to depressing music because that's definitely not going to help! If you're feeling upset after a break-up, for example, listening to the Twilight soundtracks are definitely going to make you feel worse. Again, Disney is an awesome pick-me-up (Frozen soundtrack is pretty catchy) but artists like Jack Johnson are also really good at making you feel a lot calmer, and if you're using the music to help you sleep then he's definitely worth giving a try.



Sleeping all day sounds like a great idea right? You're ill, you can't be bothered to do anything yeah? Well unless you've got a serious illness that is highly energy zapping like glandular fever then it's probably not a good idea. If you need a nap then have one. I absolutely love naps, I probably average about 5 a week. But trust me sleeping all day doesn't help as much as you'd think. It's better to power on through, make yourself earn that sleep and then by the time you actually need it, you'll be straight off. A deeper sleep is a better quality of sleep and gives your body more of a chance at recovering.

This is also linked with being lazy. If you're too lazy to go and fill your water bottle up or get more tissues then you're not really helping yourself get better. Water definitely helps. It stops headaches, replaces any fluids you may be losing through fever, sickness or the other ways.. And if you don't replace them how is you body going to beat that virus?

Finally, don't wallow in your own self pity. It sounds pretty harsh but well all do it and I think this probably applies to almost all types of illness, unless you have something deadly and highly contagious. Then you're pretty much on your own. Unless you can provide those anti-germ suits. If you're feeling upset, hungover or even just bored of being ill, seeing you're friends, talking to them on the phone will make you feel better. Having a night in with them (or out if you're feeling up to it?!) will take your mind off being ill (as long as you don't talk about being ill the whole time) and not thinking about it will help you feel better. I mean procrastination makes you feel like you have less work so perhaps pretending you're not ill, or forgetting you are, will help too!