Sharing Germs

Now that we have been back to school for a few weeks the germs that we accumulated during our summer breaks are mixing with everyone else's germs. Sometimes our immune system can handle all these new germs and sometimes we get stomach issues while our bodies figure it out.

I've been seeing some students with stomach aches and nausea, occasionally combined with vomiting and/or diarrhea. If you have a temperature of 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit or higher or have uncontrolled vomiting or diarrhea, please stay home!

How can you protect yourself from these germs? As with all many other conditions, keep the three things in mind to keep your body in great shape to fight new germs:

• good nutrition (try to eat foods that are not processed  or processed very little- like fruit, vegetables, yogurt, cheese, lean meats, rice)
• exercise
• sleep
• wash your hands after using the bathroom (oops, that makes 4!)

If you do get sick, make sure you take care of  yourself: more sleep than usual, sip fluids all day if you're losing fluids via vomiting or diarrhea. See a doctor if you're not improving after a few days.