1st February, 2019, by Justin L. (G11)
The sound of coughing filled the school in January. Lots of students are wearing masks, and we can see their haggard face in those masks. These are caused by athe virus called Influenza. Influenza is a highly infectious virus, which causes coughing, nose running, headache, indigestion, high fever, and muscle pain. Actually, there is a vaccine for this virus, and because this virus appears winter season every year, it is pretty easy to prevent to get sick due to this virus. However, if any student gets influenza, the school should isolate that student to prevent the spread of Influenza. In this January, 15 junior had to leave school for a while due to the Influenza, and many other students in different grade levels were forced to take a break for the same reason.
If Influenza is a problem and there are many ways to prevent Influenza, then why students are getting sick of this disease? The answer is simple. They know how to prevent it, but they don’t. Many of students who responded they didn’t get Influenza in this season said they already got Influenza shot before the winter vacation. However, high students’ vacation is not that resent. Harsh academic schedule binds students from the other schedules. Due to harsh schedules, many students forgot to take an Influenza shot. Jason M. (G11) said “I was stuck in the academy for whole fall and winter vacation. To finish the homework and tasks that the academy gives to me, I didn’t have any time to get a flu shot. I think I got Influenza because of this reason.” To prevent the Influenza, it is necessary to take a flu shot before the winter comes. Students must find the near hospital or health center to take a flu shot because it is the easiest way to prevent the spread of an Influenza.
Next reason is the lack of essential nutrients or the exercise. It is very important to have balanced nutrients and enough exercise to maintain good health. It is not only to prevent the Influenza but also maintain the general health. However, it is really hard to have balanced nutrients and enough exercise for high school students. If we look at the menu of the cafeteria, we can notice the carbohydrate-focused menus. Our Home provides the salad bar and fruits for the students, but there are not many students who utilize this salad bar. It is especially more hard to have balanced nutrients for dorm students, because many dorm students skip the dinner or lunch and have ramen or snacks to please hunger. Enough exercise is a really hard goal to achieve too. Due to the harsh academic schedules, many students spend their whole day for studying or doing homework; eventually, they lost the time to exercise at the school. Also, because juniors and seniors don’t have required P.E class in their courses, they have much less time to exercise in school.
Then why balanced nutrients and enough exercise is important to prevent Influenza? It is related to our immune system. Various nutrients such as Vitamin C and mineral matters are deeply related to the strength of the immune system of our body. Some people might think exercise will make them just more tired, but it is an essential part of the immune system too. If your immune system is not strong enough, you can be infected to Influenza virus even if you already got flu shot. Alex P. (G10) said “I got flu shot in the middle of winter vacation, but I was infected to Influenza and struggled. I think the biggest problem was the lack of balanced nutrients and exercise, because I ate ramen rather than having balanced meals, and I avoided to exercise because of so many academic works and online games.” To have balanced nutrients and enough exercise, students must have a balanced meal from the cafeteria and try to find a time and place to exercise at least 2 or 3 times a week.
Students who were isolated due to the Influenza are struggling with academic works right now. Because isolated from the school doesn’t mean that they are free from all academic works, they have to recover the pieces of stuff they missed while they were not in the class. Some students had to take retests, and some had to do tons of homework in a short time. If you don’t want to struggle with these kinds of academic difficulty and avoid the enormous pain, you must take the flu shot and try to maintain athe healthy lifestyle as possible.