As the snow begins to melt, the anticipation of warmer weather creeps in and everyone seems to be catching a little bit of a spring fever- or maybe it’s just a regular fever.

With spring rolling around, more and more people can be heard sniffling, coughing and sneezing and are even seen with watery eyes and flushed faces. However, there are many ways to prevent the spread of this crappy common cold and ensure it’s not caught.

The most obvious way to prevent getting sick is to wash your hands. Yes, sometimes it may seem tedious. Who would want to scrub off the 332,000 germs that are on our hands? However, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. The most important times to wash hands are right before eating; You don’t want the same hands that touched the drinking fountain push button also touching your food, and after going to the bathroom. This not only helps you with not getting sick, but it also helps others stay healthy by preventing the spread of germs. So, next time you’re in the bathroom, spend 60 seconds washing your hands while mentally singing your favorite song, even if it means having to endure the horrendous smell of the e-wing restrooms for a little bit longer.

Another way to prevent getting the stinking sniffles is to acquire a healthy eating style. Eating some fruits and vegetables instead of a bag of potato chips helps build up your immune system, “a network of cells, tissues, and organs that work together to defend the body against attacks by ‘foreign’ invaders”. So basically, your body is a machine and it needs good fuel to work properly. Another reason to be eating healthy is that there are some pretty good healthy food options out there like fruit, yogurt and cheese. It may seem harder to chose the food that is actually “good” over food that tastes good, but it is a lot easier to do that than fight off a cold for a week.

sleep. Sleep. SLEEP. That probably got a few of you excited, who doesn’t love sleeping? Not only is sleeping enjoyable, it’s also healthy and extremely important, especially around cold/flu season. Remember how I said your body is a machine? It needs a break sometimes and when getting those breaks it can recuperate and strengthen. Studies show that a teenager should get about 9.25 hours of sleep each night. To me, this seems a little unrealistic because there aren’t enough hours in the day to go to school, be in activities and do the 16,573 hours of homework I’m given each night. However, even getting seven hours of sleep each night is better than three.

Everyone has that thought when they’re sick that they would do anything to feel normal again and wouldn’t take it for granted. How about we just skip having to have that thought all together and don’t even get sick. Washing hands, eating healthy foods and sleeping are all easy ways to remain healthy, but they’re also pretty “sick” ways to stay healthy. Maybe if I would’ve done those three things I wouldn’t be writing this with a throbbing headache, sore throat and runny nose.