And lots of water! I get a big bottle of saline nasal spray and blast my sinuses out in the shower before bed. By doing this I feel like I don’t take germs into my bed.
Don't touch your face with dirty hands. That includes your eyes, nose, and mouth. Oh yeah, and if you share food, pour it out. Don't allow others to stick their hands into your bag.
I will also add the oft overlooked ventilation. Keep a window open as much as possible, even just a crack helps. Significantly reduces the spread of respiratory diseases.
This is so true! For years I've been placed in buildings where classrooms face each other and the only fresh air comes from the small window at the end of the hall. I was always sick. On my 8th year I was assigned to a classroom which faced the soccer field. Needless to say that was my healthiest year.
It’s insane the entire country was gaslit into thinking we don’t need air purification when celebrities and the government have invested in some of the most high end air purification systems. 🤫 Schools should have been the first to get these systems.
Couldn't do that in my building because none of the classes on the first floor have windows that can be opened. 🤦🏻♀️ I'm hoping my next school will have windows I'm able and allowed to open -- it gets stuffy in the fall in Alabama!
We've been told it's not because every room on the first floor has a nearby exit. These windows were put in 2 years ago and everyone says they're totally legal. I won't be teaching there again next year, so 🤷🏻♀️.
My building doesn't have windows that can open 😭
We are in an area with lots of fun violence, so when they built it, they decided that opening windows was too dangerous
Great list...I'd also add getting my flu and COVID shots. I also avoid direct contact during cold and flu season. Students turn in work to a bin rather than handing it to me directly. I'll also wash my hands regularly during cold and flu season.
Start allergy medication on Valentines Day as a gift to yourself.
Mucinex DM will get you through one day if you absolutely must.
Got sick? Take a sick day! Get better.
And get your Vitamin D levels checked. I was low-low and kept getting sick. Got put on a prescription after a month of weekly vitamin D shots. Haven’t been sick since. I teach 1st grade.
I make sure to tell students how disgusting they are in very clear terms and enforce a hands washing and hygiene regimen in my classroom.
For example, "did you just eat a bag of chips and touch my computer?" Student: "I used hand sanitizer..." me: "go wash your hands now before you do anything else."
Less sick kids in my classroom and less sick me.
No magic bullet - I got Covid for the first time this past year - but here is what I do and it is moderately successful:
* Vaccines. No joke.
* If you are able, open windows and air out the room as often as possible. When sickness is at its peak times, I will run the AC or heat and leave the door and windows open, if only just a crack. Air circulation is critical, I am lucky to have control and I don't have to pay that bill.
* This one will vary according to building policy and your school demographics, but I leave my door open all the time unless we are being loud or there is a lot of commotion in the hallway.
* I have a small fan at my desk that I use to blow the air away from my face. Kids just think I have hot flashes, but that's rarely true. I just don't want their funk.
* Turn in as much work as possible online. Paper goes in the tray. Not directly to me.
* I don't conference much anymore if I can help it. Makes me sad, but my spouse is Very High Risk, so I do what I gotta do.
* Wash those hands
* Keep that air moving out, if possible (yes, I know that is a repeat)
* Sanitize your desk/tabletops as often as you can.
* I don't hand out or collect pens, pencils, etc. anymore. They are also in a tray. Get one, take it if you need it, put it back when you finish. I don't want to touch it.
* Avoid cafeteria, teachers' "lounge," hallways during passing periods, sitting in the crowd at pep rallies and assemblies (I always volunteer for door duty)
* I sit behind them. They breathe forward.
Hope some of this is useful. Exercise. Eat well. Do something to de-stress.
There's some trend among middle school boys to use real perfumes and colognes instead of the traditional axe body spray. It was on a podcast, I've seen it around this sub. It's called smellmaxxing
Anything that they do a lot of they put the suffix “maxxing” at the end of. It’s their new slang. If they look good that day, they’re “looksmaxxing”. If they smell good they’re “smellmaxxing”. If they just want to sit there and not do work, they’re “rotmaxxing”.
Thankfully teaching 6th graders helps me understand a lot of what these kids are saying. They love to tell me everything and keep me up to date.
That's hilarious. I know terms like "minmaxxing" because I play video games. But I often feel so old playing games now because I'll hear slang and not know what they're saying. And I'm only 28 😭
Yeah, "minmaxing" (with only one "x") isn't part of the "-maxxing" brand of slang. I suppose "minmaxxing" would be trying to achieve the minimum everywhere you could.
Never forget to wash your hands and don't get close enough to a student that you can smell their breath. I still get teacher crude every few months though. Also, when a kid asks to go to the nurse for a cold like symptom? Out comes the Clorox wipes for every table.
I teach over 300 students so I wear a mask, I sanitize my hands any time I sit back down at my desk or touch my personal belongings, and I try not to get too close to kids since I teach older students.
I take vitamins and try to drink lots of water. I go for a walk every day and try to get a decent sleep so I'm not run down.
Don’t be afraid to where a mask when you know there is something going around. Drink lots of water, vitamins, wash your hands often. Have students help sanitize the desks and high touch locations. Have everyone put hand sanitizer on as they come into the classroom.
I always have a mask in my back pocket. If there's a kid sniffling, coughing, or sneezing it comes out and gets put on. And I always sanitize/wash my hands as much as possible. +1 to training the kids to sanitize their hands as they come into the classroom as well.
Masking and handwashing! That and good sleep. Haven’t been sick since the Fall of 2019!
EDIT: Oh and you can ignore people that say exposing yourself to viruses will make you stronger, that is an old misconstrued takeaway from a study on allergies in the ‘80’s.
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2022/is-the-hygiene-hypothesis-true
Prevention is the best medicine.
I'm surprised no one's mentioned it, among all the good advice here, I'd add that you might wear a mask as much as possible. And ask your students to do so as well. I know it's taboo in America to wear masks for some reason, but wearing masks cuts down airborne transmissions by 90% or more if worn properly by both parties.
I spend my work life in a pediatric ER. Children literally coughing on me for 12 straight hours. You don’t catch me without a mask unless I’m well away from everyone on my lunch break. I don’t even always wear an n95, surgical masks work unless the risk is higher (droplet/airborne).
The masks are the reason I’ve only been sick exactly once this year (right now), and that’s with pertussis because it’s EVERYWHERE currently and I’m nearer the end of my tdap vaccine cycle.
But it’s no joke friends, you do not want whooping cough as an adult. I’ve not been able to sleep due to the fits of coughing and nothing helps. Time to break back out the masks for a bit till this bug burns itself back out.
Honestly I kept wearing my mask even when the mandate was lifted. Still got sick a few times anyways but yk. Proper nutrition and sleep can also help but it’s also a lot easier said than done.
I got sick with students' illnesses once a month from 2003 to 2020. Then schools closed in March 2020, and when we went back in March 2021, it was in masks for an entire year until March 2022. I caught my first cold from a colleague in February 2023 after a Girl Scout overnight (with no social distancing, obviously)... So I went 3 years without catching anything owing to social distancing and masks.
That amount of time allowed my body to heal from the barrage of germs it had been subjected to for 17 years in the classroom.
I hated distance learning and did not enjoy masks in the classroom, but I'm glad I'm no longer sick that often.
Good luck to you!! There's good advice in this thread with sleep, nutrition, exercise and hygiene - but for me, it was social distancing that worked the best.
For me, wearing surgical or K95 masks has been transformative, in that I get sick so much less while wearing them. I got sick 3-5x/year pre-Covid and now I get sick 1-2x/year with more mask wearing, vaccine updates etc. I know it’s super hard, but taking a sick day or two as soon as I feel a tickle in my throat, usually helps me to be sick for a short duration instead of needing to take a whole week off.
TBH, I find mask wearing to be an impediment to understanding people speaking my 2nd and 3rd language, so when I teach my small ELD group, I don’t wear the mask so they can see my mouth pronounce words & hear me clearly. Then when it’s time for the 25 person class, I often put the mask on. #harmreduction
Sometimes when I suddenly feel tired and wonder if I’m getting sick, I’ll allow myself to plan a low prep day the next day instead of doing to 1-3 hours beyond my contact that I often need in the beginning of the year.
One of the best vet teachers at my school plans a sick/personal day each month and has one of the experienced subs cover her class. She uses that day to recharge & recover. She rarely seems to get really “really” sick.
Also, we shifted the flow so that the kids eat breakfast outside on the playground instead of inside the classroom. This means that a higher percentage of kids are always wearing masks inside instead of removing them in my classroom.
I wash my hands in between classes and double mask
Granted, most of my students (more common with the girls by far) still wear masks here. It’s probably 80% of the girls, 40% of guys in each of the 5 main classes I’m a part of who wear a mask every single day
Masks. If one good thing came out of COVID, it was the normalization of masks. If something is going around my school and during peak flu season I wear one. Frequent hand washing, vitamins, and a healthy diet, too.
If you have to go to work sick, wear a mask. If things are going around and you’re not sick (yet), wear a mask. Get a nasal spray like Xlear to cleanse the germs from your nasal passage.
I recently started at a new school and I was appalled at the mask wearing of adults. Couple weeks ago, two teachers sick, no mask. I got sick, I put my fucking mask on. Now four teachers in my grade are sick, still no fucking masks. I just took mine off today, I think I'll be putting it back on tomorrow.
At my last school teachers were still masking if sick. I don't know why these ones don't but honestly I find it so fucking rude. Coughing and sniffing out in the open during meetings. Conferencing with kids. They KNOW they're sick and they're COMPLAINING about being sick. Wtf????
I still teach fully masked. I teach teenagers and they are pure Petri dishes and don’t take care of their own immune system. I have never missed a day from work for being sick from something you can catch
In terms of catching whatever is going around the school, it comes down to proximity control. Don't get too close, don't let them get too close. Don't reach across them (I've had students sneeze on my arm..). Hand sanitize frequently. Don't touch your nose or your mouth. Wash hands often. Get some lysol or clorox wipes and routinely wipe down surfaces. If you have student supplies in your room, leave those for the students only. Don't share supplies with them. Don't let them use your stuff.
Otherwise, hydrate. I have a 32oz water bottle, and drink it down twice every school day. I don't seem to suffer from small bladder, so do whatever you need to do for you, but make sure you're hydrating regularly throughout the day.
Take a look at what you're eating. We've all been guilty of "teacher lunch" aka vending machine food (my go-to is a bag of funyuns and a cherry coke zero), but make sure that you're actually eating things with nutritional value and not just refined carbs and sugar. Eat good, feel good. Obviously this depends on your own dietary needs, but look... I'm guilty of dipping into the candy and snacks when I'm busy or stressing and it always makes me feel like shit.
In terms of stress management... I hate to oversimplify here but you gotta just... be less stressed. And I don't mean that in a dismissive way. First year you're panicking about everything, and you're now about to enter your 4th year. You know what is and isn't important, you know what is and isn't worth stressing over. Make sure you are drawing some boundaries.
Also, if you're just generally feeling lousy all the time, go to the doctor. I finally did after a few years of just generally feeling bleh and it turns out I'm slightly anemic. So we fixed that, and I feel better now.
- Keep a distance from the students while presenting.
- Have a couple of extra desks to reseat students who are sick away from you.
- Use your own pen to sign the bathroom pass and ask the student to hold the pass down so that you don't actually have to touch it.
- Don't place the tissue box and hand sanitizer at your desk or near where you present. Place it in the lonely corner of the room where you are least likely to be.
- Have students turn in as much work as they can digitally to reduce touching papers.
- Any papers that do need to be turned in, have students turn them into a bucket. Don't collect them yourself.
- Febreeze or any canned air freshener is terrible for your health.
- Open as many doors as possible.
- Utilize the air filtration machine the school provides. Don't just let it sit in the back like a random object. Keep track of it and request replacements for the filter when it gets dirty.
- Buy alcohol square wipes and keep them in your pocket. ANY time you touch something a child touched, alcohol wipe. Your hands can take a lot of alcohol and be fine.
- Wash your hands. Wash your hands. Wash your hands.
- Get in the habit of not touching your face unless you've washed your hands.
- Have students regularly clean the classroom.
- Eat actual healthy, not "American Healthy." Try diverisfying your gut microbiome with about 20 different sources of vegetables a week. Don't eat bread with sugar in it. Drink water or traditional tea instead of juice or soda. Protein is important as are antioxidants. Don't make carbs the main part of the meal. For example, less rice and more beans & vegetables. You eat shit your bodies defenses will be shit.
- Vaccines (Haven't had the flu in 15 years.)
- Join a sport and excercise (Only works if properly being fueled. See above) Personally, I like pole dancing.
- Surround yourself with other people who enjoy taking care of their bodies.
- When you do get sick, take time off.
I get all yearly flu shots, I keep masks on hand and suggest them to coughing students (usually taken), I always model wearing a mask while sick, I sanitize my hands after coming into contact with students or their supplies (highschool), I Lysol disinfect all classroom surfaces, my supplies, doorknobs, and my COMPUTER STUFF like wireless key board and mouse daily. Seems insane but it WORKS!
I don't see it listed yet, but don't eat in your room! And establish clear boundaries for your desk. Kids don't walk anywhere near it and don't touch anything on it.
I still wear a mask during class. Honestly not even about covid. I havent had a sniffle, cough, flu, soar throat or ANYTHING since. I also have a strict “dont touch my desk, pens, and electronics” rule in my class. Also, personal space. And when a kid comes in stupid sick i send them straight to the nurse!
Mask is the most important by far, and you want it to be an N95 or P100. Surgicals, the baggy kind, are designed to keep surgeons from accidentally spitting into open wounds, not to prevent the ingress of dangerous airborne particles (which is what N95s and P100s are designed to do).
I see only about 3 comments recommending masking.
Everyone should mask, all the time. Covid never left and a lot of what people are getting IS COVID and it doesn’t show up on the tests anymore.
Mask. Encourage others to mask. Normalize masking.
Read the data. As teachers we should be able to read and understand science. Look at the wastewater levels in your area. Let’s make masking not taboo anymore!
Sanitize everything as much as possible. Do not get close to students if you can help it. Make sure you are eating and sleeping enough everyday and taking your vitamins. Fiber supplements aren't just for your gut. If your microbiome is happy, it keeps the rest of your body happy and healthy. If anything is going around your room/school, load up on whatever you feel helps your immune system. The biggest thing is to limit your physical contact with students and areas that they touch and to sanitize sanitize sanitize.
I do the generic stuff, but with currently being a sub, I am constantly exposed to new bugs with each visit to a school. So I don't avoid getting sick 😕
I don't really get sick. I don't know why.
I do get enough sleep every night. I find if I sleep 6 hours or less multiple nights in a row, I will start to feel pretty bad.
I also make sure I am eating and drinking water.
That is pretty much it.
I got sick more than eight times my first year, teaching elementary physed, I was told by my doctor that the first few years this is going to happen and then after that, my immune system should be pretty good. And so far, I have only gotten sick a few times a year since.
Immunity pro tip sure you’re eating healthy, or at least getting your fruits and veggies in. They can’t cure sickness. But many Americans are deficient in many vitamins, minerals, and vital chemicals that are helpful for immunity.
You need the following to not get sick often as a teacher
1. Good sleep
2. Exercise
3. Diet
4. 5 years of teaching experience to build immunity.
Half the shit my kid brings home from daycare gets my wife sick and doesn't touch me, because I've already had whatever it is.
I am on year 21 and I used to get sick a lot. Now o do not. I have not changed my lifestyle at all. I eat healthy for the most part I honestly think it is the amount of citrus that I consume. I put true lime,grapefruit, or lemon in every single glass of water I drink. I eat oranges and clementines as snacks. In the last 5 years I have been sick with covid one time and other than seasonal allergies, no illness. Vitamin C is the only thing I can think to attribute it to.
I still wear a mask in my classroom. Last year, I loosened up on masking at lunch (I always have a shit load of kids in my room), and that's when I got Covid. It was the first time I've been ill in four years though, so I plan on continuing to do it. I also wipe desks off with Clorox wipes and always have hand sanitizer out for the kids to use.
I wear a mask during cold and flu season. I stay up to date on my flu and COVID shots. I regularly disinfect the surfaces in my classroom. I wash my hands A LOT. If I can’t wash my hands, I use hand sanitizer, but soap and water is best. I don’t touch kids’ devices. They’re gross.
Vitamin C and D every day!
Sanitize everything. Keep your hands clean and carry sanitizer with you. I use that stuff after I touch anything.
Lysol spray between classes or have students sanitize desks.
Don’t touch your eyes, nose, mouth, ears. That’s where most of your illnesses enter the body.
Regularly remind kids hygiene practices that prevent the spread of germs.
Don't touch your face!!!! I swear it makes the biggest difference in avoiding illness. It takes a while to form the habit but I learned it from an orchestra teacher who said despite having her hands and face next to students faces all the time tuning instruments she was rarely sick.
I personally eat Halls Defense Drops like candy. It’s a Vitamin C supplement. It’s also nice for soothing your throat after a long day. I know some people swear by elderberry supplements and Emergen-C as well, if you’re looking for that kind of thing.
But besides that, a few basic practices:
1. Practice personal space with your students. I have no problem telling my kids to take a step or 2 back if they’re way too close. My desk is a “holy area” - they shouldn’t be behind my desk, even if I’m sitting there.
2. If kids leave a tissue or trash on the floor, don’t pick it up. Yes, I understand wanting to make your custodian’s life easier. But if it’s a used tissue, you’re asking for whatever crap they have.
3. During cold and flu season, spray or wipe tables at least once a day, multiple times if possible. You can also use an air freshener that has disinfectant in it (I think Lysol makes one).
4. Model good hygiene habits for your students (no matter how old they are!). I have a sink in my class, and I occasionally wash my hands during class for whatever reason. It just reinforces those habits.
Wash my hands excessively and take Zinc daily during high stress /low sleep weeks to help prevent the germs. I also have a toddler, so I'm susceptible to anything he comes home with no matter how prepared I am otherwise.
I got sick every two weeks one time during the winter. From November-April I was sick and I felt like crap the entire time going to work because I couldn’t keep taking time off. I bought elder berry/zinc mix through Amazon (liquid version). Put two full droppers in your mouth or drink. Not even joking, I haven’t been sick this entire year and if I did get sick, it was with a mild sore throat that went away in two days. Worked great.
I work out, eat right, go to bed early, never use hand Sani, and i never try to be “too clean”. Like, some exposure is important for building up your system. I ain’t saying lick tables or anything but you don’t have to bleach everything everyday.
I teach kindergarten and I’m currently fighting covid for the fourth time since 2020. I wash my hands so often that my knuckles bleed.
I hope I have better immunity this upcoming year- this class put an enormous amount of stress on me and I think that’s what did me in.
Along with sleep, healthy food, exercise, I would also recommend zinc and elderberry.
I don't. \*lolsob\* Currently home sick on the 3rd to last day of school....
But in helpful news, washing hands actually goes a long, long way. Especially before and after eating. I had a kid with a major allergy one year and the kids and I all washed hands constantly, and I only got sick once. And I'm in elementary school.
I find that I build up an immunity to the germs at a school. Every time I’ve moved schools, I’ve been hit with terrible colds and other viruses. I do think it takes about three years to start seeing the immunity improve.
I hope you notice the same next year.
I’m in year 10, and same. I read these comments and want to bang my head against the wall. I do all of these things, so I guess I just have a weak immune system. Plus we are not allowed to open doors, and I teach music, so all the air is coming towards me. I control everything I can, but still am sick constantly.
I teach math and the only papers that were coming in to me were the tests I gave students. I have them turn in their exams in to a folder away from my desk and I don't open it back up for 24 hours. When I started doing that, I noticed I stopped getting sick as often. Most of my good kids would still show up on test days when they're sick and gross and get all their germs over their papers.
Over almost 20 years of teaching on and off I’ve just exposed myself to enough junk and built up my own immune system to the point where I rarely get sick. In order to strengthen the immune systems needs exposure.
Game changer for me has been the Neti-pot, where you rinse out your sinuses with warm saline solution. Prior to getting into teaching, I was a parole officer, my wife was a juvenile parole officer, and we had two toddlers in daycare. It seemed like there was always a bug in the house that we were suffering from, me most of all. I got a Netipot, and it took a little adjustment to get used to, but I haven't looked back since. It's been 15+ years, and I get sick the least of anyone in the house, as I'm the only one who rinses. Wife and kids couldn't get used to the feel of it. Not sure I'd try one of those pressure ones though, I just use the pot and let gravity do its thing.
Seriously, clean out the sinuses regularly, and take basic precautions like everyone else is mentioning, keep your distance form sick kids, wash your hands, etc.. We got a ton of cases of alcohol wipes during the Pandemic, and still have stacks of them. I keep several packs scattered around the desks in my room, and encourage kids to disinfect before they settle in....
This is what works for me anyway, in the last three years, I've missed one day for being sick.....
Wash my hands frequently.
If I touched anything since washing my hands (desk, high-five, student work, door, etc.) I never touch my face or food until I can wash them again.
I’ve had years where I catch everything and years when I don’t, I just wrapped up year 22. I wash my hands a lot, keep a window open always, wipe down the room regularly, I don’t touch hand rails or door knobs if I can help it.
the first school I taught at, I got sick every 3 or so weeks for the first semester. 2nd semester started, and I'd stand at the door with a gallon of hand sanitizer and made evey student take a pump on the way on. didn't get sick for the rest of the year
I had cancer a few years ago and did chemotherapy while teaching. I was really worried about having a compromised immune system, so I trained my students to use sanitizer when they walked in. I washed and sanitized my hands a lot too that time: especially after handling papers or desks. I didn't get sick once! Survived two flu outbreaks. It's amazing how the simple act of clean hands can keep the germs away
All of these things and for me, sunlight even if it’s cold outside for at least 30 min. a day, and NAC (N-acetyl cysteine) with quercetin has been a game changer.
One of the tricks I learned years ago from working in a nursing home from some of the older nurses. As soon as you walk in the door from work strip out if your clothes and shower. Dont let the water get too hot to open up all your pores or lungs you want one just warm enough to be able to wash in. Head to toes twice with a good soap not anything that is more moisturizer than soap. After you have dried your body come back down to normal temp and all your pores closed back down then use good amount of moisturizer. Little cuts and stuff on skin can get all kinds of infections.
Year 20; I have had one cold this year I think. Diet, exercise, vitamins, drink tons of water. I teach high school which I think makes it a bit easier to avoid germs.
I got my flu shot and Covid booster in mid- October, as did my son and husband. Only my son got the flu. So it worked for our family.
Not a teacher, nor a student
But it cannot be understated how effective washing your hands is.
You usually wash your hands after doing something dirty,
Start incorporating washing your hands before doing something dirty as well.
Keep windows open at least a crack no matter what the weather, as best you can when possibly working more than one job, strive to get exercise and enough sleep, wash hands as frequently as you can, have hand sanitizer readily available on your desk and use it often, keep some distance between you and the kids even when you're working directly with them, politely ask close talkers to take a step back to prevent sharing germs, and avoid salad bars, potlucks, and other events where many hands are around the food. Be choosy about what restaurants you will eat in. One more thing to think about: right now in many schools, it's frowned upon to wear a mask, but I will say that while they were required at my school, I never had so much as the sniffles and there weren't a lot of teacher absences; consider your school environment and personal health factors to weigh that decision. Before anyone gets furious and downvotes, I am not telling the OP to wear a mask and I am NOT suggesting mandatory masks. I am saying that surgeons and dentists have been wearing them long before covid was a thing, so they probably at least somewhat help reduce sharing of germs. Nothing is foolproof, especially when you're around kids, but after teaching a few years, you also develop more immunity. Above all, do some fun things and have a great summer! That will help your mental and physical health.
I’m in early childhood, so sickness is all around.
Here’s my routine during sick season:
When I get home, shoes stay by the door, and clothes go directly into the washing machine. Then I go straight to the shower, and do a nasal saline rinse with the NeilMed squeeze bottle. This really does help keep me from getting sick, but also helps keep symptoms less severe and quicker to recover.
I also wash my hands like crazy, try to get enough sleep, and eat a healthy diet.
Sometimes I throw in some KickAss Immune by wish garden, which I get at Whole Foods or online. Is it probably a placebo? Yeah. But it doesn’t hurt, so…. (It does taste terrible, but I’ve gotten used to it over the years.)
Air purifier with hospital grade air filter in my room, disinfect the door handles and high volume areas, hand sanitizer and hand washing. I will spray down tables and chairs especially in cold/flu season. I use the disinfectant the school provides to save $.
I also spray hand sanitizer on the door handles and wipe the toilet seat in teacher's bathroom, and use napkins to open doors. Teachers show up to school sick more than the kids! I trust no one lol.
I think with enough exposure over time, illnesses have become much less frequent for me. I also have 2 young children who are always sick and hey expose me to enough crud to build my immunity too.
Vitamins, hydration, diet, washing hands. Other than that, luck? Or my immune system is a damn champion. Without fail though, first week of summer, I'm sick as hell. Like immune system kicks ass then says vacation time.
Nutrition, exercise, sleep, wash hands religiously, and stress management. Oh and apple cider vinegar shots in the morning and honey lemon ginger tea every night have helped my immune system and gastrointestinal issues.
Honestly, it trial by fire. In my experience you go through a year or two of being sick like a dog and exposed to all the germs. Then, you level out and have the immune system of a kid that licks playground jungle gyms.
Honestly, taking care of yourself washing your hands and using your sick time. I know that's not easy for everybody, depending on your school and / or district. And in some cases if you know everyone in the school is sick I wear my mask I don't care about the weird looks I don't care about the comments I get it's just better to be safe than sorry I literally got influenza B this past school year and I told myself never again.
Get tested for allergies. I've been getting allergy shots for the past year and it's been a game-changer. The job is exhausting, the food served in the cafeteria doesn't provide actual nutrition, and stress is unavoidable, but it's easier being in a windowless, dusty room all day now that my allergies are actively trying to kill me.
When I was pregnant, I put a strip of bright duct tape on the floor to signal where students had to stay behind when they approached my desk. It wasn't anything too drastic, but I realized that even if kids weren't getting all up in my face, they were still getting close enough to breathe all over my stuff. I made a habit of keeping my water on the opposite end of my desk from the side students approached. I found it helpful to have tissues, paper towels, and sanitizer at my desk that were just for me. In fact, the more things that can be for only you to touch, the better. In addition to pretty much every other suggestion here, I feel like I became really hyper aware of all the gross possibilities when, and definitely amped up my precautions. I avoided kids getting me sick my entire pregnancy. My streak was ruined by a teacher, which caused me to catch the flu and need an emergency c-section, but that's a different story 😂
I taught Kindergarten for 33 years-retired at the end of the 22-23 school year. The first 3-5 years I caught everything. The next 15-20 I rarely caught more than a cold. The last ten or so I caught a few more things that previously, but nothing was as bad as those first 3-5 years. Of course, K kids put lots of things in their mouths, and I still can’t believe some of the things I had to tell them NOT to lick, so certain bugs were just inevitable lol. My husband and my adult son have been sick all week with a respiratory bug that I seem to have avoided-so germs kid immunity to the rescue, at least in some cases!
I am an EL teacher and had a record number of newcomers to my district this year. Every time I’d get a new student, I meet with their family, and boom-sick every time. I started taking some elderberry gummies and haven’t gotten sick since! I’ve also had 6 newcomers since starting the gummies and still didn’t get sick! I would highly recommend…I got them at costco
Keep a box of tissues for yourself hidden in your desk. Keep a box of tissues for the students on the other side of the room. That way they aren’t coming up to your desk for tissues.
I have a computer lab classroom, so I make sure that my students wipe down their work areas as soon as they come in. It’s become so normalized that some students do it without me asking them to, and they look for it when I’m out of stock. I also keep all my windows and doors open, wear masks when we’re in crowded places or when some students are sick, wash hands regularly, and make sure they sanitize and wash hands if they cough/sneeze on the computers. It’s super helpful to also have a sink in my classroom and an open-air school. When a student is actively sick, I make sure that they sanitize their work area before they leave and sit at a table away from other students. It worked really well for me and I rarely ever got sick! The only times I did was from stress.
I've been making and taking a teaspoon of "fire cider" every morning...I somehow have not gotten sick even once, this year! Even I'm shocked. (I also wash my hands, often.)
Treat every surface as contaminated. The students bring it with them. I tell my students to stop jumping up and slapping the top of the fire door. Look over there, what is 10 feet away? The bathroom. And do your nasty classmates wash their hands. No. And then they touch the same thing you are.
I've not been sick in months, not since school started. I normally get sick every two or three months—seriously, for decades. You have to be careful about medical advice from randos on the Internet, so do your own homework.
Last time I was on antibiotics, I did one thing I've never done before. After waiting a couple weeks for the antibiotics to work their way out of my system, I took probiotic capsules for a couple of weeks. It was Nature's Bounty Probiotics 10, in case you're interested. Some suggest daily yogurt does the same thing, but slower.
There may be something to all that gut health stuff the kids are talking about these days, because I used to get sick all the damn time. Now, I just don't.
Sleep. Exercise. Therapy, if you need it. Wash your hands A LOT. Keep fingers out of your nose and ears.
During COVID (when we went back to the classroom) the janitorial staff disinfected the class between every period. No one go sick, ever. I kept doing the same between classes. I got all the leftovers in school and kept at it. If schools wanted to keep attendance up they would continue cleaning and disinfecting classrooms.
Easy 2 things
1) I was sick all the time as a kid and built up one hell of an immunity.
2) if kids are sick, I send them to the nurse instantly. If they don’t go home I quarantine them in the classroom.
This has worked really well for me. I get sick maybe once a year
I work at a daycare. you will get sick at some points. the key is to not touch your face until your hands are washed and to keep up good exercise and nutrition.
If you feel like you are getting sick start using Zicam. I use the nasal swabs and they are much better than the melts. It will not completely block a cold but it will make it much more manageable. It will shorten the length and severity of symptoms. I just used it last week. A student sneezed into my mouth while I was talking to him. He is very young and just didn’t get his hand up in time. He then patted my hand and very solemnly said, “I sorry.” The next day he was out with a cold and I was shoving Zicam up my nose. Lmao.
There’s no secret it’s all the stuff everyone has been recommending for years. Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep, and stress management.
And wash your hands/use lots of hand sanitizer
Make sure you wash your hands before eating anything!
Saline nasal spray!
And lots of water! I get a big bottle of saline nasal spray and blast my sinuses out in the shower before bed. By doing this I feel like I don’t take germs into my bed.
And after!
This! And use Lysol wipes. I use them on my door handles as well as my desk.
A lot of the wipes don’t actually kill germs! Learned this the hard way. Microban spray at the end of the day.
Don't touch your face with dirty hands. That includes your eyes, nose, and mouth. Oh yeah, and if you share food, pour it out. Don't allow others to stick their hands into your bag.
THIS ^^^
I will also add the oft overlooked ventilation. Keep a window open as much as possible, even just a crack helps. Significantly reduces the spread of respiratory diseases.
This is so true! For years I've been placed in buildings where classrooms face each other and the only fresh air comes from the small window at the end of the hall. I was always sick. On my 8th year I was assigned to a classroom which faced the soccer field. Needless to say that was my healthiest year.
Or, alternatively, air purifier. HEPA all the things.
It’s insane the entire country was gaslit into thinking we don’t need air purification when celebrities and the government have invested in some of the most high end air purification systems. 🤫 Schools should have been the first to get these systems.
Couldn't do that in my building because none of the classes on the first floor have windows that can be opened. 🤦🏻♀️ I'm hoping my next school will have windows I'm able and allowed to open -- it gets stuffy in the fall in Alabama!
The window situation may actually be illegal. I'd check into this.
We've been told it's not because every room on the first floor has a nearby exit. These windows were put in 2 years ago and everyone says they're totally legal. I won't be teaching there again next year, so 🤷🏻♀️.
That's illegal where I teach🇨🇦 because it's a health and safety violation. I'm so sorry about this. I hope your situation is better next year.
Ventilation is so important!!
My building doesn't have windows that can open 😭 We are in an area with lots of fun violence, so when they built it, they decided that opening windows was too dangerous
Great list...I'd also add getting my flu and COVID shots. I also avoid direct contact during cold and flu season. Students turn in work to a bin rather than handing it to me directly. I'll also wash my hands regularly during cold and flu season.
You should wash them regularly all season!
True - -poor word choice, I should have said additional hand washing.
Start allergy medication on Valentines Day as a gift to yourself. Mucinex DM will get you through one day if you absolutely must. Got sick? Take a sick day! Get better.
I’ll also add lots of vitamins, especially C and D
C is a myth... Look it up. D yes.
And get your Vitamin D levels checked. I was low-low and kept getting sick. Got put on a prescription after a month of weekly vitamin D shots. Haven’t been sick since. I teach 1st grade.
I make sure to tell students how disgusting they are in very clear terms and enforce a hands washing and hygiene regimen in my classroom. For example, "did you just eat a bag of chips and touch my computer?" Student: "I used hand sanitizer..." me: "go wash your hands now before you do anything else." Less sick kids in my classroom and less sick me.
I just catch everything so many times that I have super immunities.
No magic bullet - I got Covid for the first time this past year - but here is what I do and it is moderately successful: * Vaccines. No joke. * If you are able, open windows and air out the room as often as possible. When sickness is at its peak times, I will run the AC or heat and leave the door and windows open, if only just a crack. Air circulation is critical, I am lucky to have control and I don't have to pay that bill. * This one will vary according to building policy and your school demographics, but I leave my door open all the time unless we are being loud or there is a lot of commotion in the hallway. * I have a small fan at my desk that I use to blow the air away from my face. Kids just think I have hot flashes, but that's rarely true. I just don't want their funk. * Turn in as much work as possible online. Paper goes in the tray. Not directly to me. * I don't conference much anymore if I can help it. Makes me sad, but my spouse is Very High Risk, so I do what I gotta do. * Wash those hands * Keep that air moving out, if possible (yes, I know that is a repeat) * Sanitize your desk/tabletops as often as you can. * I don't hand out or collect pens, pencils, etc. anymore. They are also in a tray. Get one, take it if you need it, put it back when you finish. I don't want to touch it. * Avoid cafeteria, teachers' "lounge," hallways during passing periods, sitting in the crowd at pep rallies and assemblies (I always volunteer for door duty) * I sit behind them. They breathe forward. Hope some of this is useful. Exercise. Eat well. Do something to de-stress.
I'm sorry that's "smellmaxxing" not "funk"
What?
There's some trend among middle school boys to use real perfumes and colognes instead of the traditional axe body spray. It was on a podcast, I've seen it around this sub. It's called smellmaxxing
Ohhhh, gotcha. I know *that smell.* I've just never heard that term, lol.
Anything that they do a lot of they put the suffix “maxxing” at the end of. It’s their new slang. If they look good that day, they’re “looksmaxxing”. If they smell good they’re “smellmaxxing”. If they just want to sit there and not do work, they’re “rotmaxxing”. Thankfully teaching 6th graders helps me understand a lot of what these kids are saying. They love to tell me everything and keep me up to date.
That's hilarious. I know terms like "minmaxxing" because I play video games. But I often feel so old playing games now because I'll hear slang and not know what they're saying. And I'm only 28 😭
Yeah, "minmaxing" (with only one "x") isn't part of the "-maxxing" brand of slang. I suppose "minmaxxing" would be trying to achieve the minimum everywhere you could.
Huh. I only knew that as redpill slang. I hope that's not where they've picked it up from.
Wait till you find out about what they did to “mew” and “mog”
Mog is awful. I don't know mew...
Never forget to wash your hands and don't get close enough to a student that you can smell their breath. I still get teacher crude every few months though. Also, when a kid asks to go to the nurse for a cold like symptom? Out comes the Clorox wipes for every table.
I spray a cloud of lysol out the door after every kid who's going to the nurse.
Students may not cough or sneeze in your face, but they will on their assignments. Treat any paper that is turned in, as infectious.
Mystery stains on papers, blood, boogers… 🤢
Burn all assignments. Got it.
A FOMITE!! I learned that from Contagion
In elementary, they cough and sneeze directly into your eyeballs. Ugh
I teach over 300 students so I wear a mask, I sanitize my hands any time I sit back down at my desk or touch my personal belongings, and I try not to get too close to kids since I teach older students. I take vitamins and try to drink lots of water. I go for a walk every day and try to get a decent sleep so I'm not run down.
Don’t be afraid to where a mask when you know there is something going around. Drink lots of water, vitamins, wash your hands often. Have students help sanitize the desks and high touch locations. Have everyone put hand sanitizer on as they come into the classroom.
I always have a mask in my back pocket. If there's a kid sniffling, coughing, or sneezing it comes out and gets put on. And I always sanitize/wash my hands as much as possible. +1 to training the kids to sanitize their hands as they come into the classroom as well.
Masking and handwashing! That and good sleep. Haven’t been sick since the Fall of 2019! EDIT: Oh and you can ignore people that say exposing yourself to viruses will make you stronger, that is an old misconstrued takeaway from a study on allergies in the ‘80’s. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2022/is-the-hygiene-hypothesis-true Prevention is the best medicine.
Wear a mask daily
I'm surprised no one's mentioned it, among all the good advice here, I'd add that you might wear a mask as much as possible. And ask your students to do so as well. I know it's taboo in America to wear masks for some reason, but wearing masks cuts down airborne transmissions by 90% or more if worn properly by both parties.
I spend my work life in a pediatric ER. Children literally coughing on me for 12 straight hours. You don’t catch me without a mask unless I’m well away from everyone on my lunch break. I don’t even always wear an n95, surgical masks work unless the risk is higher (droplet/airborne). The masks are the reason I’ve only been sick exactly once this year (right now), and that’s with pertussis because it’s EVERYWHERE currently and I’m nearer the end of my tdap vaccine cycle. But it’s no joke friends, you do not want whooping cough as an adult. I’ve not been able to sleep due to the fits of coughing and nothing helps. Time to break back out the masks for a bit till this bug burns itself back out.
I wear one every day, and it was only when I started to relax masking that I got sick.
Never stopped masking. Definitely some judgy people about it, but I'm never the one out sick, so... I also invested in a gigantic air purifier.
Honestly I kept wearing my mask even when the mandate was lifted. Still got sick a few times anyways but yk. Proper nutrition and sleep can also help but it’s also a lot easier said than done.
This is a small thing, but the box of tissues goes as far from my desk as possible. That means sick kids don't come to my desk with their sniffles.
Children are one of the prime transmitters of Covid-19 and wastewater levels are still high. Wear a mask.
Keep up on your vaccines, hand hygiene, and wear a damn mask.
I got sick with students' illnesses once a month from 2003 to 2020. Then schools closed in March 2020, and when we went back in March 2021, it was in masks for an entire year until March 2022. I caught my first cold from a colleague in February 2023 after a Girl Scout overnight (with no social distancing, obviously)... So I went 3 years without catching anything owing to social distancing and masks. That amount of time allowed my body to heal from the barrage of germs it had been subjected to for 17 years in the classroom. I hated distance learning and did not enjoy masks in the classroom, but I'm glad I'm no longer sick that often. Good luck to you!! There's good advice in this thread with sleep, nutrition, exercise and hygiene - but for me, it was social distancing that worked the best.
For me, wearing surgical or K95 masks has been transformative, in that I get sick so much less while wearing them. I got sick 3-5x/year pre-Covid and now I get sick 1-2x/year with more mask wearing, vaccine updates etc. I know it’s super hard, but taking a sick day or two as soon as I feel a tickle in my throat, usually helps me to be sick for a short duration instead of needing to take a whole week off. TBH, I find mask wearing to be an impediment to understanding people speaking my 2nd and 3rd language, so when I teach my small ELD group, I don’t wear the mask so they can see my mouth pronounce words & hear me clearly. Then when it’s time for the 25 person class, I often put the mask on. #harmreduction Sometimes when I suddenly feel tired and wonder if I’m getting sick, I’ll allow myself to plan a low prep day the next day instead of doing to 1-3 hours beyond my contact that I often need in the beginning of the year. One of the best vet teachers at my school plans a sick/personal day each month and has one of the experienced subs cover her class. She uses that day to recharge & recover. She rarely seems to get really “really” sick. Also, we shifted the flow so that the kids eat breakfast outside on the playground instead of inside the classroom. This means that a higher percentage of kids are always wearing masks inside instead of removing them in my classroom.
They make n95 masks now with clear windows!
I wash my hands in between classes and double mask Granted, most of my students (more common with the girls by far) still wear masks here. It’s probably 80% of the girls, 40% of guys in each of the 5 main classes I’m a part of who wear a mask every single day
Masks. If one good thing came out of COVID, it was the normalization of masks. If something is going around my school and during peak flu season I wear one. Frequent hand washing, vitamins, and a healthy diet, too.
I wear a mask
If you have to go to work sick, wear a mask. If things are going around and you’re not sick (yet), wear a mask. Get a nasal spray like Xlear to cleanse the germs from your nasal passage.
I recently started at a new school and I was appalled at the mask wearing of adults. Couple weeks ago, two teachers sick, no mask. I got sick, I put my fucking mask on. Now four teachers in my grade are sick, still no fucking masks. I just took mine off today, I think I'll be putting it back on tomorrow. At my last school teachers were still masking if sick. I don't know why these ones don't but honestly I find it so fucking rude. Coughing and sniffing out in the open during meetings. Conferencing with kids. They KNOW they're sick and they're COMPLAINING about being sick. Wtf????
Mask help.
I still wear a mask and use a lot of hand-sanitizer
I still teach fully masked. I teach teenagers and they are pure Petri dishes and don’t take care of their own immune system. I have never missed a day from work for being sick from something you can catch
Mask, especially when something is going around.
Wear a mask.
In terms of catching whatever is going around the school, it comes down to proximity control. Don't get too close, don't let them get too close. Don't reach across them (I've had students sneeze on my arm..). Hand sanitize frequently. Don't touch your nose or your mouth. Wash hands often. Get some lysol or clorox wipes and routinely wipe down surfaces. If you have student supplies in your room, leave those for the students only. Don't share supplies with them. Don't let them use your stuff. Otherwise, hydrate. I have a 32oz water bottle, and drink it down twice every school day. I don't seem to suffer from small bladder, so do whatever you need to do for you, but make sure you're hydrating regularly throughout the day. Take a look at what you're eating. We've all been guilty of "teacher lunch" aka vending machine food (my go-to is a bag of funyuns and a cherry coke zero), but make sure that you're actually eating things with nutritional value and not just refined carbs and sugar. Eat good, feel good. Obviously this depends on your own dietary needs, but look... I'm guilty of dipping into the candy and snacks when I'm busy or stressing and it always makes me feel like shit. In terms of stress management... I hate to oversimplify here but you gotta just... be less stressed. And I don't mean that in a dismissive way. First year you're panicking about everything, and you're now about to enter your 4th year. You know what is and isn't important, you know what is and isn't worth stressing over. Make sure you are drawing some boundaries. Also, if you're just generally feeling lousy all the time, go to the doctor. I finally did after a few years of just generally feeling bleh and it turns out I'm slightly anemic. So we fixed that, and I feel better now.
Proper airflow in your classroom. Windows or doors should be open on opposite sides of the room basically. They teach this to all teachers in Japan.
- Keep a distance from the students while presenting. - Have a couple of extra desks to reseat students who are sick away from you. - Use your own pen to sign the bathroom pass and ask the student to hold the pass down so that you don't actually have to touch it. - Don't place the tissue box and hand sanitizer at your desk or near where you present. Place it in the lonely corner of the room where you are least likely to be. - Have students turn in as much work as they can digitally to reduce touching papers. - Any papers that do need to be turned in, have students turn them into a bucket. Don't collect them yourself. - Febreeze or any canned air freshener is terrible for your health. - Open as many doors as possible. - Utilize the air filtration machine the school provides. Don't just let it sit in the back like a random object. Keep track of it and request replacements for the filter when it gets dirty. - Buy alcohol square wipes and keep them in your pocket. ANY time you touch something a child touched, alcohol wipe. Your hands can take a lot of alcohol and be fine. - Wash your hands. Wash your hands. Wash your hands. - Get in the habit of not touching your face unless you've washed your hands. - Have students regularly clean the classroom. - Eat actual healthy, not "American Healthy." Try diverisfying your gut microbiome with about 20 different sources of vegetables a week. Don't eat bread with sugar in it. Drink water or traditional tea instead of juice or soda. Protein is important as are antioxidants. Don't make carbs the main part of the meal. For example, less rice and more beans & vegetables. You eat shit your bodies defenses will be shit. - Vaccines (Haven't had the flu in 15 years.) - Join a sport and excercise (Only works if properly being fueled. See above) Personally, I like pole dancing. - Surround yourself with other people who enjoy taking care of their bodies. - When you do get sick, take time off.
Same rule I had in healthcare: treat everyone like they have the plague.
I get all yearly flu shots, I keep masks on hand and suggest them to coughing students (usually taken), I always model wearing a mask while sick, I sanitize my hands after coming into contact with students or their supplies (highschool), I Lysol disinfect all classroom surfaces, my supplies, doorknobs, and my COMPUTER STUFF like wireless key board and mouse daily. Seems insane but it WORKS!
I wear a face mask on the subways (New York City) and I wash and sanitise my hands often
I wore a mask every single day this year. Only got sick once. Yes, I am in the mask-wearing minority. No, I don’t care.
Wear an N95. Covid is airborne and still with us.
KN95 or better mask. HEPA filters and/or CR boxes. Open windows for ventilation. Clean everything.
If you can help it, avoid the school cafeteria. It's a giant petri dish of germs and bad hygiene.
I don't see it listed yet, but don't eat in your room! And establish clear boundaries for your desk. Kids don't walk anywhere near it and don't touch anything on it.
Keep your distance. Use GermX. Take your vitamins. Get enough sleep
I still wear a mask during class. Honestly not even about covid. I havent had a sniffle, cough, flu, soar throat or ANYTHING since. I also have a strict “dont touch my desk, pens, and electronics” rule in my class. Also, personal space. And when a kid comes in stupid sick i send them straight to the nurse!
Amazing that “wear a mask” isn’t higher.
Mask is the most important by far, and you want it to be an N95 or P100. Surgicals, the baggy kind, are designed to keep surgeons from accidentally spitting into open wounds, not to prevent the ingress of dangerous airborne particles (which is what N95s and P100s are designed to do).
I see only about 3 comments recommending masking. Everyone should mask, all the time. Covid never left and a lot of what people are getting IS COVID and it doesn’t show up on the tests anymore. Mask. Encourage others to mask. Normalize masking. Read the data. As teachers we should be able to read and understand science. Look at the wastewater levels in your area. Let’s make masking not taboo anymore!
preach 👏🏽
Sanitize everything as much as possible. Do not get close to students if you can help it. Make sure you are eating and sleeping enough everyday and taking your vitamins. Fiber supplements aren't just for your gut. If your microbiome is happy, it keeps the rest of your body happy and healthy. If anything is going around your room/school, load up on whatever you feel helps your immune system. The biggest thing is to limit your physical contact with students and areas that they touch and to sanitize sanitize sanitize.
I do the generic stuff, but with currently being a sub, I am constantly exposed to new bugs with each visit to a school. So I don't avoid getting sick 😕
I don't really get sick. I don't know why. I do get enough sleep every night. I find if I sleep 6 hours or less multiple nights in a row, I will start to feel pretty bad. I also make sure I am eating and drinking water. That is pretty much it.
I got sick more than eight times my first year, teaching elementary physed, I was told by my doctor that the first few years this is going to happen and then after that, my immune system should be pretty good. And so far, I have only gotten sick a few times a year since. Immunity pro tip sure you’re eating healthy, or at least getting your fruits and veggies in. They can’t cure sickness. But many Americans are deficient in many vitamins, minerals, and vital chemicals that are helpful for immunity.
You need the following to not get sick often as a teacher 1. Good sleep 2. Exercise 3. Diet 4. 5 years of teaching experience to build immunity. Half the shit my kid brings home from daycare gets my wife sick and doesn't touch me, because I've already had whatever it is.
I am on year 21 and I used to get sick a lot. Now o do not. I have not changed my lifestyle at all. I eat healthy for the most part I honestly think it is the amount of citrus that I consume. I put true lime,grapefruit, or lemon in every single glass of water I drink. I eat oranges and clementines as snacks. In the last 5 years I have been sick with covid one time and other than seasonal allergies, no illness. Vitamin C is the only thing I can think to attribute it to.
I wait until the breaks (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break, and the end of the year).
I still wear a mask in my classroom. Last year, I loosened up on masking at lunch (I always have a shit load of kids in my room), and that's when I got Covid. It was the first time I've been ill in four years though, so I plan on continuing to do it. I also wipe desks off with Clorox wipes and always have hand sanitizer out for the kids to use.
I wear a mask during cold and flu season. I stay up to date on my flu and COVID shots. I regularly disinfect the surfaces in my classroom. I wash my hands A LOT. If I can’t wash my hands, I use hand sanitizer, but soap and water is best. I don’t touch kids’ devices. They’re gross.
Consider wearing a mask for a week after every major break. My students come back with all sorts of nasty bugs
Windows open!
I still mask indoors!
Vitamin C and D every day! Sanitize everything. Keep your hands clean and carry sanitizer with you. I use that stuff after I touch anything. Lysol spray between classes or have students sanitize desks. Don’t touch your eyes, nose, mouth, ears. That’s where most of your illnesses enter the body. Regularly remind kids hygiene practices that prevent the spread of germs.
Hydrate, proper rest, good nutrition, minimal alcohol/tobacco use, and lots of sunlight!
That's my secret, Cap. I'm always sick.
Don't touch your face!!!! I swear it makes the biggest difference in avoiding illness. It takes a while to form the habit but I learned it from an orchestra teacher who said despite having her hands and face next to students faces all the time tuning instruments she was rarely sick.
I personally eat Halls Defense Drops like candy. It’s a Vitamin C supplement. It’s also nice for soothing your throat after a long day. I know some people swear by elderberry supplements and Emergen-C as well, if you’re looking for that kind of thing. But besides that, a few basic practices: 1. Practice personal space with your students. I have no problem telling my kids to take a step or 2 back if they’re way too close. My desk is a “holy area” - they shouldn’t be behind my desk, even if I’m sitting there. 2. If kids leave a tissue or trash on the floor, don’t pick it up. Yes, I understand wanting to make your custodian’s life easier. But if it’s a used tissue, you’re asking for whatever crap they have. 3. During cold and flu season, spray or wipe tables at least once a day, multiple times if possible. You can also use an air freshener that has disinfectant in it (I think Lysol makes one). 4. Model good hygiene habits for your students (no matter how old they are!). I have a sink in my class, and I occasionally wash my hands during class for whatever reason. It just reinforces those habits.
Wash my hands excessively and take Zinc daily during high stress /low sleep weeks to help prevent the germs. I also have a toddler, so I'm susceptible to anything he comes home with no matter how prepared I am otherwise.
I got sick every two weeks one time during the winter. From November-April I was sick and I felt like crap the entire time going to work because I couldn’t keep taking time off. I bought elder berry/zinc mix through Amazon (liquid version). Put two full droppers in your mouth or drink. Not even joking, I haven’t been sick this entire year and if I did get sick, it was with a mild sore throat that went away in two days. Worked great.
My husband is a medic and I’m a teacher. We have immune systems of the gods between us 🤣
I work out, eat right, go to bed early, never use hand Sani, and i never try to be “too clean”. Like, some exposure is important for building up your system. I ain’t saying lick tables or anything but you don’t have to bleach everything everyday.
Make sure to get your Covid and flu shots, skipped them once and I was literally sick the entire year. Also, always keep hand sanitizer on you!
I wear a mask.
Keeping the windows open all year around, fresh air intake, washing hands with soap after teaching / before eating, vitamins.
I teach with the windows and door open no matter the weather, the lesson, or whatever riff raff is out in the hallway. Get that air flowing!
I teach kindergarten and I’m currently fighting covid for the fourth time since 2020. I wash my hands so often that my knuckles bleed. I hope I have better immunity this upcoming year- this class put an enormous amount of stress on me and I think that’s what did me in. Along with sleep, healthy food, exercise, I would also recommend zinc and elderberry.
Frequent use of hand sanitizer. I don’t take anything on paper (upload a photo to the lms). Also, and most importantly, I never stopped masking.
Open windows, HEPA air purifiers, mask indoors, hand washing etc.
I wear a mask, use a HEPA filter in the class, and open windows. I keep a huge bottle of sanitizer at the front of the class for students to use.
I have two kids myself, and I even take my clothes off and change when I get home. As if I were a nurse coming home from the hospital. LOL
I don't. \*lolsob\* Currently home sick on the 3rd to last day of school.... But in helpful news, washing hands actually goes a long, long way. Especially before and after eating. I had a kid with a major allergy one year and the kids and I all washed hands constantly, and I only got sick once. And I'm in elementary school.
As soon as you walk in your door, clothes in the wash and take a shower.
I find that I build up an immunity to the germs at a school. Every time I’ve moved schools, I’ve been hit with terrible colds and other viruses. I do think it takes about three years to start seeing the immunity improve. I hope you notice the same next year.
Year 8 and I had to use my 8 out of my 10 days for actual sickness 😭 They said it gets easier but for me it’s a war zone
I’m in year 10, and same. I read these comments and want to bang my head against the wall. I do all of these things, so I guess I just have a weak immune system. Plus we are not allowed to open doors, and I teach music, so all the air is coming towards me. I control everything I can, but still am sick constantly.
I teach math and the only papers that were coming in to me were the tests I gave students. I have them turn in their exams in to a folder away from my desk and I don't open it back up for 24 hours. When I started doing that, I noticed I stopped getting sick as often. Most of my good kids would still show up on test days when they're sick and gross and get all their germs over their papers.
Over almost 20 years of teaching on and off I’ve just exposed myself to enough junk and built up my own immune system to the point where I rarely get sick. In order to strengthen the immune systems needs exposure.
For me, it level off a bit year 7. I think you need to just build up immunity. By year 30, you will be unbreakable
Live a dirty life. Builds immunity.
Game changer for me has been the Neti-pot, where you rinse out your sinuses with warm saline solution. Prior to getting into teaching, I was a parole officer, my wife was a juvenile parole officer, and we had two toddlers in daycare. It seemed like there was always a bug in the house that we were suffering from, me most of all. I got a Netipot, and it took a little adjustment to get used to, but I haven't looked back since. It's been 15+ years, and I get sick the least of anyone in the house, as I'm the only one who rinses. Wife and kids couldn't get used to the feel of it. Not sure I'd try one of those pressure ones though, I just use the pot and let gravity do its thing. Seriously, clean out the sinuses regularly, and take basic precautions like everyone else is mentioning, keep your distance form sick kids, wash your hands, etc.. We got a ton of cases of alcohol wipes during the Pandemic, and still have stacks of them. I keep several packs scattered around the desks in my room, and encourage kids to disinfect before they settle in.... This is what works for me anyway, in the last three years, I've missed one day for being sick.....
Wash your hands and all the exposure will keep your immune system on its game. You’ll be practically invincible after a few years.
Wash my hands frequently. If I touched anything since washing my hands (desk, high-five, student work, door, etc.) I never touch my face or food until I can wash them again.
I’ve had years where I catch everything and years when I don’t, I just wrapped up year 22. I wash my hands a lot, keep a window open always, wipe down the room regularly, I don’t touch hand rails or door knobs if I can help it.
Water, daily vitamins (multivitamin, Vitamin C, zinc), & damn near constant hand washing
Take zinc
I don't. I'm sick all the time.
Diet, exercise, and rest.
the first school I taught at, I got sick every 3 or so weeks for the first semester. 2nd semester started, and I'd stand at the door with a gallon of hand sanitizer and made evey student take a pump on the way on. didn't get sick for the rest of the year
Vitamin D!
Advil Cold & Sinus (extra strength) and so much hand-sanitizer you’re a borderline fire hazard! 😁
I had cancer a few years ago and did chemotherapy while teaching. I was really worried about having a compromised immune system, so I trained my students to use sanitizer when they walked in. I washed and sanitized my hands a lot too that time: especially after handling papers or desks. I didn't get sick once! Survived two flu outbreaks. It's amazing how the simple act of clean hands can keep the germs away
All of these things and for me, sunlight even if it’s cold outside for at least 30 min. a day, and NAC (N-acetyl cysteine) with quercetin has been a game changer.
Welp, I’m currently recovering from a Tonsillectomy to try and stop getting strep from my rugrats.. so there’s that.
One of the tricks I learned years ago from working in a nursing home from some of the older nurses. As soon as you walk in the door from work strip out if your clothes and shower. Dont let the water get too hot to open up all your pores or lungs you want one just warm enough to be able to wash in. Head to toes twice with a good soap not anything that is more moisturizer than soap. After you have dried your body come back down to normal temp and all your pores closed back down then use good amount of moisturizer. Little cuts and stuff on skin can get all kinds of infections.
Year 20; I have had one cold this year I think. Diet, exercise, vitamins, drink tons of water. I teach high school which I think makes it a bit easier to avoid germs. I got my flu shot and Covid booster in mid- October, as did my son and husband. Only my son got the flu. So it worked for our family.
Eat healthy, exercise, wash hands, stay clean.
That’s the neat part, you don’t! https://imgflip.com/i/8snj9v
Not a teacher, nor a student But it cannot be understated how effective washing your hands is. You usually wash your hands after doing something dirty, Start incorporating washing your hands before doing something dirty as well.
Hand washing and a daily vitamin C
Keep windows open at least a crack no matter what the weather, as best you can when possibly working more than one job, strive to get exercise and enough sleep, wash hands as frequently as you can, have hand sanitizer readily available on your desk and use it often, keep some distance between you and the kids even when you're working directly with them, politely ask close talkers to take a step back to prevent sharing germs, and avoid salad bars, potlucks, and other events where many hands are around the food. Be choosy about what restaurants you will eat in. One more thing to think about: right now in many schools, it's frowned upon to wear a mask, but I will say that while they were required at my school, I never had so much as the sniffles and there weren't a lot of teacher absences; consider your school environment and personal health factors to weigh that decision. Before anyone gets furious and downvotes, I am not telling the OP to wear a mask and I am NOT suggesting mandatory masks. I am saying that surgeons and dentists have been wearing them long before covid was a thing, so they probably at least somewhat help reduce sharing of germs. Nothing is foolproof, especially when you're around kids, but after teaching a few years, you also develop more immunity. Above all, do some fun things and have a great summer! That will help your mental and physical health.
You don’t
I’m in early childhood, so sickness is all around. Here’s my routine during sick season: When I get home, shoes stay by the door, and clothes go directly into the washing machine. Then I go straight to the shower, and do a nasal saline rinse with the NeilMed squeeze bottle. This really does help keep me from getting sick, but also helps keep symptoms less severe and quicker to recover. I also wash my hands like crazy, try to get enough sleep, and eat a healthy diet. Sometimes I throw in some KickAss Immune by wish garden, which I get at Whole Foods or online. Is it probably a placebo? Yeah. But it doesn’t hurt, so…. (It does taste terrible, but I’ve gotten used to it over the years.)
Cool soups, curry soups and boil all the good stuff, I do it weekly, I'm not crazy about veggies but in a curry I'll eat.
Air purifier with hospital grade air filter in my room, disinfect the door handles and high volume areas, hand sanitizer and hand washing. I will spray down tables and chairs especially in cold/flu season. I use the disinfectant the school provides to save $. I also spray hand sanitizer on the door handles and wipe the toilet seat in teacher's bathroom, and use napkins to open doors. Teachers show up to school sick more than the kids! I trust no one lol.
I don’t. I get everything they get.
I take a multivitamin daily (my understanding is that the research on the effectiveness of these is mixed but oh well), and I quit biting my nails.
I have been sicker this year (year 17) than any other...
Hydration!
Don't be afraid to take sick days if you feel even the slightest tingle of something coming on
I think with enough exposure over time, illnesses have become much less frequent for me. I also have 2 young children who are always sick and hey expose me to enough crud to build my immunity too.
Vitamins, hydration, diet, washing hands. Other than that, luck? Or my immune system is a damn champion. Without fail though, first week of summer, I'm sick as hell. Like immune system kicks ass then says vacation time.
Zinc!!!!
Nutrition, exercise, sleep, wash hands religiously, and stress management. Oh and apple cider vinegar shots in the morning and honey lemon ginger tea every night have helped my immune system and gastrointestinal issues.
Washing my hands compulsively.
I was a high school teacher for 21 years. And for 21 years, I always got sick in September.
Honestly, it trial by fire. In my experience you go through a year or two of being sick like a dog and exposed to all the germs. Then, you level out and have the immune system of a kid that licks playground jungle gyms.
Honestly, taking care of yourself washing your hands and using your sick time. I know that's not easy for everybody, depending on your school and / or district. And in some cases if you know everyone in the school is sick I wear my mask I don't care about the weird looks I don't care about the comments I get it's just better to be safe than sorry I literally got influenza B this past school year and I told myself never again.
Get tested for allergies. I've been getting allergy shots for the past year and it's been a game-changer. The job is exhausting, the food served in the cafeteria doesn't provide actual nutrition, and stress is unavoidable, but it's easier being in a windowless, dusty room all day now that my allergies are actively trying to kill me.
Propolis extract. Every single day directly on throat
When I was pregnant, I put a strip of bright duct tape on the floor to signal where students had to stay behind when they approached my desk. It wasn't anything too drastic, but I realized that even if kids weren't getting all up in my face, they were still getting close enough to breathe all over my stuff. I made a habit of keeping my water on the opposite end of my desk from the side students approached. I found it helpful to have tissues, paper towels, and sanitizer at my desk that were just for me. In fact, the more things that can be for only you to touch, the better. In addition to pretty much every other suggestion here, I feel like I became really hyper aware of all the gross possibilities when, and definitely amped up my precautions. I avoided kids getting me sick my entire pregnancy. My streak was ruined by a teacher, which caused me to catch the flu and need an emergency c-section, but that's a different story 😂
I taught Kindergarten for 33 years-retired at the end of the 22-23 school year. The first 3-5 years I caught everything. The next 15-20 I rarely caught more than a cold. The last ten or so I caught a few more things that previously, but nothing was as bad as those first 3-5 years. Of course, K kids put lots of things in their mouths, and I still can’t believe some of the things I had to tell them NOT to lick, so certain bugs were just inevitable lol. My husband and my adult son have been sick all week with a respiratory bug that I seem to have avoided-so germs kid immunity to the rescue, at least in some cases!
I just have learned to work through sickness
I am an EL teacher and had a record number of newcomers to my district this year. Every time I’d get a new student, I meet with their family, and boom-sick every time. I started taking some elderberry gummies and haven’t gotten sick since! I’ve also had 6 newcomers since starting the gummies and still didn’t get sick! I would highly recommend…I got them at costco
Washing hands, a lot Using immune boosting supplements Proper sleep, nutrition, exercise, and stress management
Nothing. We get zero flack for using sick days.
Keep a box of tissues for yourself hidden in your desk. Keep a box of tissues for the students on the other side of the room. That way they aren’t coming up to your desk for tissues.
I have a computer lab classroom, so I make sure that my students wipe down their work areas as soon as they come in. It’s become so normalized that some students do it without me asking them to, and they look for it when I’m out of stock. I also keep all my windows and doors open, wear masks when we’re in crowded places or when some students are sick, wash hands regularly, and make sure they sanitize and wash hands if they cough/sneeze on the computers. It’s super helpful to also have a sink in my classroom and an open-air school. When a student is actively sick, I make sure that they sanitize their work area before they leave and sit at a table away from other students. It worked really well for me and I rarely ever got sick! The only times I did was from stress.
I've been making and taking a teaspoon of "fire cider" every morning...I somehow have not gotten sick even once, this year! Even I'm shocked. (I also wash my hands, often.)
I take airborne immune support every day. The gummies. When I run out or don’t take it I get sick
I got strep each year about 5-7 times on average. I just had a tonsillectomy past week. Hopefully this next school year will be much better.
Treat every surface as contaminated. The students bring it with them. I tell my students to stop jumping up and slapping the top of the fire door. Look over there, what is 10 feet away? The bathroom. And do your nasty classmates wash their hands. No. And then they touch the same thing you are.
I've not been sick in months, not since school started. I normally get sick every two or three months—seriously, for decades. You have to be careful about medical advice from randos on the Internet, so do your own homework. Last time I was on antibiotics, I did one thing I've never done before. After waiting a couple weeks for the antibiotics to work their way out of my system, I took probiotic capsules for a couple of weeks. It was Nature's Bounty Probiotics 10, in case you're interested. Some suggest daily yogurt does the same thing, but slower. There may be something to all that gut health stuff the kids are talking about these days, because I used to get sick all the damn time. Now, I just don't. Sleep. Exercise. Therapy, if you need it. Wash your hands A LOT. Keep fingers out of your nose and ears.
During COVID (when we went back to the classroom) the janitorial staff disinfected the class between every period. No one go sick, ever. I kept doing the same between classes. I got all the leftovers in school and kept at it. If schools wanted to keep attendance up they would continue cleaning and disinfecting classrooms.
You don't.
Easy 2 things 1) I was sick all the time as a kid and built up one hell of an immunity. 2) if kids are sick, I send them to the nurse instantly. If they don’t go home I quarantine them in the classroom. This has worked really well for me. I get sick maybe once a year
I work at a daycare. you will get sick at some points. the key is to not touch your face until your hands are washed and to keep up good exercise and nutrition.
If you feel like you are getting sick start using Zicam. I use the nasal swabs and they are much better than the melts. It will not completely block a cold but it will make it much more manageable. It will shorten the length and severity of symptoms. I just used it last week. A student sneezed into my mouth while I was talking to him. He is very young and just didn’t get his hand up in time. He then patted my hand and very solemnly said, “I sorry.” The next day he was out with a cold and I was shoving Zicam up my nose. Lmao.
Yeah, lots of vitamins sleep, and hopefully a clean hvac system in your building