How do you avoid getting sick as a teacher when sick is all around you?
It’s hard to stay healthy as a teacher. We’re constantly around kids who are sick. Kids who borrow our pencil or breathe on us when we come over to help them. We’re in an enclosed space for hours at a time with these kids and some haven’t developed proper hygiene. Some don’t wash after they use the bathroom or cough into their hands.
I surveyed hundreds of teachers and here’s the advice they gave. Let me know in the comments section below which you use and which others I should include in the list.
“I change out of work clothes as soon as I get home. Wash hands.”
“I found that keeping a box of tissues for the classroom in the back of the classroom has really helped keep me and my students healthier. Now everyone blows their noses far away from everyone else.”
“Drink plenty of water (soda does not count), increase fresh fruit and vegetable intake, get 8-9 hours of sleep nightly, exercise, open the windows and air out your classroom, wipe down common areas regularly, keep hands away from your face, wash hands frequently.”
“Wipe desks with Lysol wipes. Wash hands about 3x per day.”
“Lots of sleep, echinacea and zinc supplements, multi-vitamins and STUDENTS DO NOT TOUCH MY STUFF! They have their own stapler, 3-hole punch and pencil sharpener. Also I do not grade their papers at my desk, I sit at a clean student desk. IF I bring papers home I have “lap desk” that is cleaned after grading. I’m also lucky to have enough room to have a quarantine desk. If a kid walks in sniffling and coughing they’re quarantined. The kids help me enforce it, they know who’s sick ? During flu season at the end of each class I walk around dropping sanitizer wipes on each table, the next class walks in and wipes down the table before we start. They don’t want to get sick either. ??”
“I leave out hand sanitizer and Kleenex, after the second year I’ve only ever gotten sick once. The flu went around really bad two years ago and probably 3/4 school had it over the course of a month. Other than that, I don’t even get a cold from them anymore.”
“vitamin d, zinc, and elderberry syrup! excessive hand washing! I love the idea that was shared of changing clothes when you get home.”
“Purell makes a spray that can kill noro and other nasty bugs that lysol wipes dont touch. Spray down desks at the end of every day. I avoid hand sanitizer bc kids and adults think it replaces handwashing. Umcka and elderberry for shortening cold and flu.”
“Although this is sold to fight acne, there is much research showing this particular wavelength of blue light kills a multitude of bacteria, including MRSA. I use it on my ears, nose, throat and sinuses at the first sign of a cold (it doesn’t kill viruses) and have successfully avoided most sickness.”
“Airborne, shower frequently after work, sanitizer, sleep, good food….”
“Self-care. Good diet w/leafy greens & colorful plate. I take a multivitamin and 1,000 mg Vit C per day–pulverize them and put in the blender to make a smoothie with milk, banana, spinach leaves, frozen or fresh berries, bit of ice cream and Truvia sweetener (1 pack). I start it off with blender-spun oats (1/2 cup). I used to eat cooked oats each morning. Now I drink it on the commute”
“If I feel myself starting to get sick, I modify the smoothies and add 3,000 mg Vitamin C and a couple of cloves of pressed garlic. Usually knocks out any invaders (AND my wife lol) by the next morning.”
“Eat healthy everyday, drink water all day.”
“Wipe surfaces regularly like computers and calculators, eat healthy and exercise, and knowing it’s time to rest and take a sick day. Also drinking water helps and taking vitamins.”
“Eucalyptus in a diffuser at night. Black elderberry and zinc lozenges at onset. Always get flu shot”
“I swear using Clorox wipes to clean up my white boards after every class has kept me from getting sick! As to staying healthy- drinking water all day and not eating the candy I buy for science projects :)”
“Using hand sanitizer as they walk in the room.”
“I take a multivitamin plus vitamin c daily. I haven’t been sick once this year.”
“I clean all my desks and the backs/tops of the chairs at the end of each day. During the times of the year that I have lots of sick kids I wash my hands in between class periods. (I have a sink in my room.)”
“Move tissues, garbage cans, hand sanitizer, pencil sharpener, and stuff you allow students to use in areas of the room you use less frequently. Try not to take papers home to grade in peak seasons. Clean your desk each day and their desk at least once a week.”
“Flu shot, hand sanitizer available for me and them, reminders to wash hands (I teach high school and still remind) , stay home and rest when I feel it coming on instead of coming in as possible, and tell kids to stay home when they are sick.”
“Have flower pens for them to borrow if they forget a writing utensil, so I don’t have to take something back that they touched.
Diligently practice proper hand washing.
Use blue light on my ears, nose, throat and sinuses to kill bacteria at the first sign of an infection.”
“Exercise before work! It lowers my stress and directly improves my mood and my mental health, therefore improving my physical health! I also sleep better at night.”
“I keep hospital-grade antibacterial foam by my desk and use it often.”
“I also swear by gargling salt water and the beginning of anything head or throat wise. The cheapest bug killer there is and it works really well.”
“Get lots of sleep is the big one! I need to be conscious of stopping working in the evenings, and getting rest.1Hide or report this”
“Wash my hands a lot, eat healthy food, and exercise regularly. If I start feeling bad or am exposed to some sickness I take Airborne, use an essential oil immunity blend, and drink some hot tea with Thieves essential oil and a splash of orange juice.”
“Carry a personal pencil everywhere (don’t grab a student’s). Don’t use the handrails. Use my jacket to open the main door— that is a big one. The biology students always do the lab where they cultivate germs and the main door handle is the number one place not in a bathroom. I get sick a lot so I get a bit precautionary, lol!”
What do you do to keep yourself healthy?
