The Return of The Dreaded Freshers Flu!

Many of you will now be starting to settle down after the glitter ball whirlwind that was Fresher’s Fortnight.

You’ve undoubtedly met a hell of a lot of new faces from all over the UK, maybe even found yourself engaging in some sort of drunken fumbling in the dark corners of the night clubs. You’ve most definitely consumed copious amounts of alcohol and washed it all down with some gorgeous Chippy Lane specials. Late night shape cutting on the dance floor has probably seen you getting to bed most nights at around 2-3am, then only to get up at the un-godly hours of 8-9am for morning lectures. Acting like a wild animal over the last 14 days has left you feeling seven shades of Wednesday, and has most probably left you with the dreaded Fresher’s Flu!

Up to 90% of Fresher students contracts Freshers Flu over the first few weeks in university, common symptoms include high fever, sore throat, severe headache, coughing and general discomfort. Although it doesn’t necessarily have to be flu, it’s often simply a bad cold, but named simply due to alliteration.

One of the big causes of Freshers Flu is the large numbers of students from all over the UK and abroad being slung together in to close quarter student halls. Students can bring with them germs, to which they are immune, but others have not had a chance to acquire the necessary immunity. However I think we all know the biggest cause of Freshers Flu is the alcohol fuelled barbaric slaughter we put our bodies through over Freshers fortnight. Stress, which may be induced by tiredness, combined with a poor diet, late nights and too much alcohol, can weaken the immune system and be a recipe for ill health. All this can make students more susceptible to infections within their first weeks of term.

So now we have Fresher’s Flu, how do we deal with it, and how to we prevent ever getting in this salted slug state again?

Plenty of Sleep

Sleep is a natural state of bodily rest. So get to bed, rest and recharge those batteries. This will not only have you feeling much brighter, less grumpy and more energetic, but it will also allow you to hit the party scene more often this term.

Eat Healthily

Make sure your getting plenty of fruit and veg for all those vital nutrients and vitamins, and no, cider doesn’t count. Stock up on those carbs, this will give your body plenty of energy to function throughout the day, and also help soak up some of that alcohol still resting in your gut from the night before. And donít forget the golden rule “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Donít miss it! It will definitely help you concentrate on what Mr Fossil is droaning on about at the front of the lecture room.

Exercise

Frequent and regular physical exercise boosts the immune system, and helps prevent diseases of affluence such as heart disease, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and obesity. It also improves mental health and helps prevent depression. Check out the Retro’s Fitness 2:1 section on page 20 for some exercise ideas.

Drink Sensibly

I’m not going to patronize you students by going on about the dangers of binge drinking and such, you all know what you can handle and what you cant. Just take it easy, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. And remember you donít want to end up on Retro’s Embarrassing Photograph section on page 19.

If you do find yourself feeling particularly bad after Fresher fortnight then go see you GP. If you have not registered with a GP yet I suggest you do so ASAP. You can find out information about registering with a local GP from UWICs nursing Staff, see article right.