{"id":8247,"date":"2024-01-12T15:00:38","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T20:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/?p=8247"},"modified":"2024-01-12T15:00:38","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T20:00:38","slug":"why-is-everyone-sick-around-winter-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/why-is-everyone-sick-around-winter-time.html","title":{"rendered":"Why is everyone sick around winter time?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cPut your jacket on or else you\u2019ll get the flu\u201d, \u201cstay off air streams or else you\u2019ll get a cold\u201d, do you remember your parents ever saying that to you as a kid? I do! Or how about now, after what we went through with covid, being paranoid of every sneeze and cough you hear? I am! Have you noticed that for the past month almost everyone around you is sick every other day and it doesn\u2019t seem to go away? Well, it\u2019s not a new bug, it\u2019s just the winter season (and.. a little bit of lack of precaution, our bodies forgetting how to fight more common illnesses and back-to-back infections).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Some respiratory illnesses actually are more common during the winter but it is not because of the weather itself but because we spend more time indoors and with closed windows, which allows bacteria and viruses to pass easily from person to person. Also, if you already have a virus, lower body temperature makes it harder for you to fight it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of these common illnesses during colder months are whooping cough, pneumonia, bronchitis (acute and chronic), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), flu and common cold. Most of them have the same symptoms at the beginning, so what you have to check out for is how it develops and if you start to experience more severe symptoms.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, symptoms that go away and then reappear could be part of the same viral infection, so that mixed with a cold environment, could make it seem like several respiratory infections immediately one after the other, but it\u2019s really just one that seems to never end.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Here\u2019s a quick guide for you to distinguish between the different types of illnesses and their key symptoms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Illness<\/strong><\/td>Key symptoms<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Whooping cough<\/strong>
Starts as common cold<\/td>		Coughing spells that end with a whooping sound
Watery eyes mixed with runny nose and sneezing<\/td><\/tr>
Pneumonia<\/strong><\/td>Stabbing chest pain
Cough with mucus
Accelerated breathing and pulse
Shortness of breath<\/td><\/tr>
Bronchitis<\/strong><\/td>Acute:<\/strong>
Non-stop coughing
Headache
Wheezing
Sore throat
Chronic:<\/strong>
Persistent cough
Chest discomfort
Difficulty breathing<\/td><\/tr>
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)<\/strong>
Most likely on children, older people, people with heart, lung or immune system problems<\/td>		Decreased appetite
Low fever
Similar to a cold<\/td><\/tr>
Flu<\/strong><\/td>Exhaustion
High fever
Body ache
Sore throat
Vomit or diarrhea<\/td><\/tr>
Common cold<\/strong><\/td>Scratchy throat
Low fever
Chills and aches
Runny nose<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For a complete list of symptoms, how we get each illness, how long it should last and when it is safe to get back to our workplaces\/schools\/social gatherings etc., read here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should we bring back masks and stay home when feeling sick?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the beginning of last year almost everyone stopped wearing masks and forgot to take precautions in case of running into sick people, but we should reconsider bringing masks back since respiratory illnesses can become much worse in a matter of days during winter time. Wearing a mask not only prevents us from spreading viruses, it also stops chilly air from getting through our nose and lungs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having respiratory issues is really a nightmare: you don\u2019t sleep very well or don\u2019t sleep at all, you can\u2019t breathe correctly, sore throat makes it so painful to even pass food and saliva and we feel too tired to even take care of ourselves. We all know that feeling. Add to the fact that it can take 15 days to clear a common cold, and 25 days for a cough to go away in most cases. Adults can also have what doctors call a post-viral cough that can last for three weeks or more after other symptoms disappear. Knowing this, I think we can all agree that we should be more cautious and avoid spending up to a month sick, even if we won\u2019t be contagious after the first week of symptoms.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, if it is within your possibilities, make sure you are up to date on covid and flu shots. Influenza vaccination campaigns usually take place in October or November since it is best to get vaccinated before the influenza season starts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cPut your jacket on or else you\u2019ll get the flu\u201d, \u201cstay off air streams or else you\u2019ll get a cold\u201d, do you remember your parents ever saying that to you as a kid? I do! Or how about now, after what we went through with covid, being paranoid of every sneeze and cough you hear? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1672,1678,1675,1674],"tags":[1720,1721,1725,1724,1723,1722,1719],"class_list":["post-8247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-lyfestyle","category-mental-health","category-physical-health","tag-cold","tag-flu","tag-masks","tag-respiratory-diseases","tag-rsv","tag-viruses","tag-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8247"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8254,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8247\/revisions\/8254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}