Time to Tap Out: Staying Healthy Abroad

           When you’re back at school, you don’t think much about health. There’s the occasional cold, maybe the campus bug that comes along at the beginning of the semester, and maybe that bad stomach thing you catch right after finals, but it’s mostly smooth sailing. Besides, what does it really matter? If you get sick for a little bit, you miss a couple of classes, ask your friends to fill you in on what you missed, and forget about it. You’re rarely sick for that long, and you’re rarely all that sick.

            The exact opposite is true of getting sick on study abroad. Sickness is always lurking around the corner, hiding in that extra beer you get offered at the Monday night party (yes, those happen. Regularly.). It’s masquerading as those three weekends in a row you spend traveling, because hey, you’re only studying abroad in Europe once, right? Illness, in its crafty way, waits for you to let your guard down, even for a second. On your grand European adventure, not worrying about much at all, let alone getting sick, is pretty par for the course. It’s the kind of thing you don’t think about at all until it hits you. You’re feeling great, having the time of your life, exploring the heights of Western culture. And then suddenly – wait, what’s up with that cough? Why can’t I breathe through my nose this morning? Why am I exhausted all the time?

            By the time you realize you’ve caught something, you’re already done for. Unlike getting sick at home, where it doesn’t really change anything, when you get sick abroad, it’s a real hassle. Homework, which already seemed like a tiresome chore distracting you from traveling, will now seem like climbing Everest. Traveling, which used to be the goal of study abroad, will become an elusive goal, a fleeting vapor. Nothing makes airplanes and train trips impossible quite like sinus congestion and overwhelming exhaustion.

            Perhaps the worst part of getting sick is the fact that it never quite goes away. Because you’re always out drinking and traveling, you never fully recover. That 48-hour bug starts to look more like a month-long battle with the Mucinex mascot. Used tissues and empty Ricola boxes cover your floor for weeks, standing in solemn witness to your sickness. No silence can escape the sound of your rattling cough. Nothing seems to make it better, and all of your friends start dropping like flies, victims to the same mysterious “traveler’s sickness” you are.

            Sounds grim, right?

            The good news is all of this is 100% preventable. “Traveler’s sickness” isn’t some mystery of modern medicine. It’s not some scary voodoo that kills you when you least expect it. It’s what happens when you’re so excited about a new experience that you forget to take care of yourself. And because that’s all that it is, there’s plenty you can do to prevent it.

-        Regular sleep:

This is probably the hardest item on the list, but it’s also the most important. Sleep is essential for your immune system to work properly, so passing out at 4am on a Monday night before your 9am class on Tuesday morning isn’t going to help keep you healthy. Neither is that double-header of international red-eye flights you planned for next weekend. Past the physical obstacles to our regular sleep, there are the mental ones. The general stress of being in new surroundings with new complications and friends will mean that sometimes you’ll do everything right, and still run into trouble. You’ll skip that party, stay away from travel, and turn in early, but you’ll still spend the night tossing and turning.

So what should a conscientious traveler do? Do your best to go to bed and wake up on something like a regular schedule. For stress relief, go work out or play a sport. The endorphins will make you happier, and the physical work will help your body relax when you finally hit the sack.

-        Don’t overdo it with the alcohol

After getting enough sleep, this is definitely the next toughest item on the list. Telling undergraduates to drink less is like… well, it’s exactly as useless as it sounds. You’re in a country where not only can you legally drink at 16, but where a liter of beer costs the equivalent of $1.50. So you’re going to drink. You’re probably going to drink heavily. Probably too heavily at some points. I really can’t stop you.

What I can do is tell you that alcohol is poison. It’s the most fun poison we know of, but it doesn’t do good things to your body. So if you’re already fighting off some cold, consider not doing that extra shot. Politely decline, and start drinking something that rehydrates you. Because as fun as it seems right now, being stuck in your bed coughing, sneezing, and generally feeling like crap. Make the better choice for yourself, and just wait til you’re healthy to start pounding them down again.

-        Be okay missing out occasionally

In sort of the same vein as the first two pieces of advice, sometimes you need to put your own health ahead of the immediate opportunity to have fun. Germany will still be here tomorrow. If you need to stay in your room for a few days, I can assure you they won’t make beer any more expensive and planes will still fly all over Europe when you come out. You need to give your body, and more importantly, yourself the chance to care for itself. It’s not selfish, or boring, or weak to do that. It’s normal, healthy, human, and necessary. So cut yourself some slack, grab a few Advil, and take it easy.  

            So in summary, keep a good head on your shoulders, try not to stretch yourself too thin, increase your sleep, decrease your drinking, and don’t take yourself too seriously. Sickness is something we all hate, and it’s something you can prevent, if only to make your study abroad a bit more fun.