doing homework while sick

How to Study when Sick: Tips for the Freshman Flu

Introduction weeks are over, classes are about to start and the freshman flu lurks in hidden corners. While being sick is a chore, falling ill right at the start of the school year can be a major setback. It's safe to say that runny noses and fever dreams don't help with productivity. But who says that finals can't rhyme with the flu? If you're like me and happen to be both bed and book-ridden here are a couple of tips to get you through your first couple weeks of classes.

Pomodoro it

The Pomodoro method consists of working in 4 sets of 25 min with a 5min break in between each round and a longer break ranging from 15 to 30 min after 4 sets. The division of the Pomodoro into 25/5/15 is completely up to you. Many people customize their Pomodoro timing to best fit their workflow. The most important aspect is that alternation between mid-sized work sessions and short breaks which can keep you focused on the task at hand for longer. What makes the Pomodoro Method perfect for studying when sick is that each task is naturally divided into feasible increments. You can even take 5 min naps during your breaks! Check out the best timers for the Pomodoro method in our article about improving study habits .

Yeah, it's tempting to stay holed up in your room surrounded by textbooks and/or tissues. However, sometimes a breath of fresh air is exactly what you need to get some energy. Just taking a 5 min walk (bonus points if it's during your Pomodoro break) can help clear your head and potentially your sinuses. If you don't feel like going outside, take some time to stretch and relax your muscles. Exercise is a great way to get your blood flowing which will make you feel better.

Drink some water

I'm pretty sure that water is in every listicle out there from dealing with skincare to depression but it's worth the emphasis: don't forget to drink water and stay hydrated! Water helps produce saliva and mucus which are both very handy when fighting a sore throat or a dry nose. Water also helps regulate your body temperature. Our bodies are 60% water so it's needless to say that it plays a vital role in the basic maintenance of our bodies. No matter the pace you've decided to study at you need to stay hydrated in order to maintain said pace and eventually get better.

Proactively study

When you're sick, you don't have the leisure to passively intake information and hope it sticks. Start by dividing all you have to study into small realizable steps and ordering them by priority. This will help you get through the day without feeling overwhelmed. Make flashcards and test yourself on key terms. Instead of repeatedly reading information, by writing it down you engage with the material in a different way. Have a group video call where you explain and present some of the information with your friends. Again, this is another way of engaging with the material: if you can explain a concept well then you probably know it. Don't focus as much on rote memorization as much as contextualized understanding.

Healthy snacks

Studying and being sick are both physically draining activities that when combined tend to have a negative effect on each other. Along with water, food is what will get you through a last-minute cram session without crashing. Why healthy? Though it is tempting to eat your exhaustion and stress away, you do still need to take care of yourself. Food is fuel so you'll need the best kind if you plan to study when sick.

A cozy environment may induce napping but comfort is always worth it. Grab some tea, coffee or hot water, blankets and whatever painkillers you're on to create an environment that's both studious and soothing. Studying when you're sick is hard enough. There's no need to make it worse by sitting at a badly lit desk for 5 hours straight surrounded by empty packets of tissues. Create a space you want to be and study there.

So you've written 5 to-do lists, went boxing, ate some carrots, drank 5L of water, incarnated hygge and you still don't feel okay... what now? Most of the time students are victims of the belief that every occasion is the last. If you're too sick to study and can't make it to class then don't go. There's no point in worsening your physical and mental health for something that definitely won't impact your life as much as you think it will. You can take resits, or ask for an extension or even god forbid take that class again. Nothing is worth ruining your health for, not even the illusion of a college degree.

If it's really bad, don't forget to take advantage of your health insurance and go to a doctor. Don't have Dutch health insurance yet? Check out Swisscare International Student Insurance if you’re a student within the EU/EEA.

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Tips for Staying Caught Up on Homework While Sick

On January 24, 2024, I woke up with a headache and a 99.4 temperature. I did not have a class that day until 11 a.m., so I waited to see if it would go down. Long story short, I had the flu, and missed a week’s worth of assignments. Even as I was sick in bed, watching plenty of movies, what stayed on my mind the most was the homework that I needed to catch up on.

It is important to maintain an up-to-date status on schoolwork, even when sick. When students are ill, their mindset is typically on trying to get better, and justifiably so. However, that results in students having to make up work after they get back, on top of having to do all of the work that is assigned after they make their return. However, through this entire process, there are some things that students can do in order to work through their period of medical misfortune.

• Get in Contact with Your Teachers

Believe it or not, teachers want to do everything they can to help you succeed! Even though different teachers have different policies on late work, if you are sick, they will almost always aid you however they can. In an interview with one of SNU’s faculty members, Melany Kyzer, Ph. D., expressed how even though she does not accept late work, “if a student communicates with me ahead of time, I will work with them.” Even though it is wise to make sure your work is finished in a timely manner, teachers will give grace on assignments as needed, allowing for the best results to be produced.

• Work On What You Can

When I was out with the flu, my condition went up and down, and I certainly had days in which I felt better than others. On those days, I worked on homework. However, it is still important for the body to rest, so do not overwork yourself. I would recommend doing one normal-sized or two smaller assignments on the days in which you feel better in order to make some progress while still allowing yourself some rest.

Speaking of resting, this is the most surefire way to get better. Even though students are stressed about the assignments they may have to do when they get back, the best way to get back is to rest your body and mind. This could take many forms, whether it be watching movies, doing a relaxing activity, or just sleeping your sickness off. Doing this will not only allow you to be at your best when you return to school but also possibly speed up the healing process as well.

It is difficult to be able to complete every assignment that is given out while a student is out for multiple days, or in my case, a full week of class. However, these tips can help to reduce the problem that comes from being sick. It allows students to lighten their load for when they get back while also obtaining some grace from their teachers and letting their bodies heal from whatever sickness afflicts them. Being sick is certainly a pain, but it should not keep students from excelling in the classroom or being the best version of themselves that they can be.

Photo by Kristine Wook on Unsplash

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11 Ways to Deal With Homework Overload

Last Updated: August 17, 2024 Fact Checked

Making a Plan

Staying motivated, starting good homework habits, expert q&a.

This article was co-authored by Jennifer Kaifesh . Jennifer Kaifesh is the Founder of Great Expectations College Prep, a tutoring and counseling service based in Southern California. Jennifer has over 15 years of experience managing and facilitating academic tutoring and standardized test prep as it relates to the college application process. She takes a personal approach to her tutoring, and focuses on working with students to find their specific mix of pursuits that they both enjoy and excel at. She is a graduate of Northwestern University. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 255,968 times.

A pile of homework can seem daunting, but it’s doable if you make a plan. Make a list of everything you need to do, and work your way through, starting with the most difficult assignments. Focus on your homework and tune out distractions, and you’ll get through things more efficiently. Giving yourself breaks and other rewards will help you stay motivated along the way. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you get stuck! Hang in there, and you’ll knock the homework out before you know it.

Things You Should Know

• Create a checklist of everything you have to do, making sure to include deadlines and which assignments are a top priority.
• Take a 15-minute break for every 2 hours of studying. This can give your mind a break and help you feel more focused.
• Make a schedule of when you plan on doing your homework and try to stick to it. This way, you won’t feel too overwhelmed as the assignments roll in.

• Make a plan to go through your work bit by bit, saving the easiest tasks for last.

• Put phones and any other distractions away. If you have to do your homework on a computer, avoid checking your email or social media while you are trying to work.
• Consider letting your family (or at least your parents) know where and when you plan to do homework, so they'll know to be considerate and only interrupt if necessary.

• If you have the option to do your homework in a study hall, library, or other place where there might be tutors, go for it. That way, there will be help around if you need it. You'll also likely wind up with more free time if you can get work done in school.

• To take a break, get up and move away from your workspace. Walk around a bit, and get a drink or snack.
• Moving around will recharge you mentally, physically, and spiritually, so you’re ready to tackle the next part of your homework.

• For instance, you might write “I need to do this chemistry homework because I want a good average in the class. That will raise my GPA and help me stay eligible for the basketball team and get my diploma.”
• Your goals might also look something like “I’m going to write this history paper because I want to get better as a writer. Knowing how to write well and make a good argument will help me when I’m trying to enter law school, and then down the road when I hope to become a successful attorney.”

• Try doing your homework as soon as possible after it is assigned. Say you have one set of classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and another on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Do the Monday homework on Monday, instead of putting it off until Tuesday.
• That way, the class will still be fresh in your mind, making the homework easier.
• This also gives you time to ask for help if there’s something you don’t understand.

• If you want to keep everyone accountable, write a pact for everyone in your study group to sign, like “I agree to spend 2 hours on Monday and Wednesday afternoons with my study group. I will use that time just for working, and won’t give in to distractions or playing around.”
• Once everyone’s gotten through the homework, there’s no problem with hanging out.

• Most teachers are willing to listen if you’re trying and legitimately have trouble keeping up. They might even adjust the homework assignments to make them more manageable.

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• ↑ https://www.understood.org/en/articles/homework-strategies
• ↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/homework.html
• ↑ https://kidshelpline.com.au/kids/tips/dealing-with-homework
• ↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/focused.html
• ↑ http://www.aiuniv.edu/blog/august-2014/tips-for-fighting-homework-fatigue
• ↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/homework.html
• ↑ https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/study-partners/

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Remote workers are powering through and working while sick — and it's bad for them and their companies

• When some remote workers get sick, they decide to log on for work anyway.
• Research says workers think they'll feel guilty if they take off; they feel more guilty for working.
• But the urge to log on ties to how managers are adjusting to remote work, and a lack of sick leave.

Working from home has many benefits. Taking sick days isn't one of them.

That's why it took Jake Sedlacek three years of working from home to have a realization: When he got sick, he didn't have to work through it.

"Taking the day off and making sure you're actually recovered and then doing a great job the next day is way better than doing a week or two weeks of work at 50%, because you're not catching up on sleep or you're feeling bad," Sedlacek, a 27-year-old product manager, said.

Sedlacek, who's based near Chicago, loves remote work. But a big challenge is achieving work-life balance, one that supportive bosses have to guide. Even though he wasn't told to, he said he used to find himself working more hours — just because his office was his house. And he was working through being sick, even at companies where he had unlimited PTO.

Sedlacek isn't alone in that. When Michelle, a 41-year-old accountant, had a mild cold a few months back, she didn't take the day off; she didn't feel the need to. Michelle verified her identity with Insider, but asked that we don't print her last name for privacy reasons.

In previous jobs, she had to show up in person, even when she was sick. "My only option was to go to the office while I was sick and then have people hear me coughing and sneezing and not happy about it, but who else is gonna do my work? I have to meet this deadline," she said. 

Michelle, who's been working remotely from Texas since 2018, loves her current job, and doesn't feel the same deadline pressures. She can also avoid getting others sick by working from home.

She said her company would be fine with her taking days off for being sick. But she feels that she hasn't had a bad enough illness to merit it.

"I do think working at home when you're sick is way easier than going to the office because you can sleep in, you don't have to wear makeup, you can wear comfortable clothes, you can take a break as often as you need it," Michelle said.

Paradoxically, some Americans' takeaway from a once-in-a-lifetime deadly pandemic is to work while sick. It's an outgrowth of the ways that the pandemic warped many peoples' relationships with work.

Related stories

Sick days have become a kind of no-man's land for a certain type of remote worker: It's up to them whether to take it, and people working from home just aren't . In a country that has made sick time a privilege, bosses have to step up to fill that void and assure workers it's OK to take time off. Workers need to feel comfortable deciding to take time off, and feel comfortable articulating those boundaries. It's not always the case that both of these conditions are met.

People feel guilty for taking sick days — but then tend to feel even worse if they don't

Work from home brought perks like no commutes, the ability to exercise in the middle of the day, or do laundry — but some workers, as Insider's Aki Ito reports , work harder and longer to make up for those perks. That's not an inherent issue with working remotely, but rather one that stems from a lack of guardrails and a lack of management intervention. 

Guilt, in part, drives the temptation to not call out sick. 

That's according to research from Prisca Brosi and Fabiola H. Gerpott, professors at Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg, Germany; and WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management , a leading German business school, respectively, who study organizations and leadership.

"We do find that people tend to work from home despite being ill, because they expect that they will actually feel less guilty," Gerpott said. "They think about it, and wonder, 'Oh, if I will continue working, maybe then I can take a little bit of work away from my colleagues, then they don't have to do it.'"

The problem is, Gerpott said, that "human beings are very bad at predicting how they will actually feel." Instead, workers feel more guilty — because they couldn't help their colleagues or themselves very well. 

There is one silver lining from the pandemic: People aren't going into work with symptoms anymore and spreading illness. They're just staying at home. And, the researchers said, the hurdle of deciding whether to work while sick is lower — because now you can just default to working from home while sick. But there's a negative cycle, since the more you push yourself, the less you recover, and the less you're able to engage with the tasks at hand.

To build a culture of taking sick time when needed, bosses need to lead by example. "If your leader tells you you can just not work, but you see that your leader always works whenever they are ill, that puts pressure onto others," Gerpott said.

Workers might call in 'silent sick,' but it's bad for them and workplace culture

There's one important part of the sick-days equation: Whether you actually have any. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , around a fifth of civilian workers did not have access to paid leave as of March 2021. But the more money you made, the more likely you were to have access to paid leave. For instance, 95% of the top 10% of earners had access to paid sick leave, while just about a third of the bottom 10% could call off and get paid. 

In-person, low-wage workers have said their bosses and companies have pressured them to come in while ill. Paid sick leave — or a lack thereof — is a key issue for workers. Rail workers in the US were prepared to strike and pummel the economy over a contract that did not even include unpaid sick days .

Similarly to "quiet-quitting," the feeling that paid sick days are a special perk can lead to what Brosi calls "silent sickness."

"It seems like, oh, people are actually less sick, but obviously this is probably not what is happening," Brosi said. Instead, they're at home and "they are still sick and they just don't officially mention that."

Michelle, for example, had to do the calculus of whether she felt bad enough to completely call out, or just be "silent sick." She said she's more likely to use her unlimited PTO to run an errand or to go to an appointment. Another increasingly common use of sick time: Taking a mental-health day , which, as Bloomberg reported , can be considered a qualifying illness for protected leave.

But Brosi said that if you're using just a day or two of sick time to help shield against burnout or larger issues, "you're trading basically your short-term illness against your long-term."

At the end of the day, the rise of "silent sickness" is a management problem, Brosi said. When workers with unlimited time off and flexible schedules are still logging on, it shows a cultural issue — especially among workers who enjoy their jobs. 

For Michelle, it's all about creating a new equation. Sedlacek, who now takes the time when he needs it, is a lot less stressed. He thinks that the urge to keep plugging comes "from the older work culture of 'just work through anything.'"

"It's much more about, OK, we need to think about our working cultures, and how we manage these cultures," Brosi said.

In Sedlacek's case, one of the things that made a difference was working for a company that would restrict workers' access to systems while they were on vacation if they knew those workers would be tempted to log on. He said it's "probably a hundred times easier" to make healthy boundaries if your company proactively encourages them. 

In his current role, management has made it clear that people shouldn't work on weekends or into the nights. 

"We're shifting into that culture now where people feel comfortable saying 'Hey, I need a mental-health day,' or 'Hey, I need a sick day,' and it's OK," Sedlacek said. "It's not like, 'Oh they're lazy.' It's like, 'Oh, they're actually gonna take care of themselves and still do a good job because they're able to.'"

• Main content

How Bad Is It Really to Work From Home When You're Sick?

How Bad Is It Really? sets the record straight on all the habits and behaviors you’ve heard might be unhealthy.

Working remotely has its perks: You can avoid a crappy commute, wear pajama pants during meetings and sneak in a workout during your lunch hour. But when the line between your home and the office becomes blurred, there are also some possible downsides too.

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Perhaps the most damaging drawback: Many people with remote jobs feel the pressure to perform around the clock, even if they aren't feeling well.

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In fact, 66 percent of Americans who work from home report that their bosses would disapprove of taking a sick day for any ailment less serious than COVID-19, according to a 2020 poll commissioned by ColdCalm , a cold medicine company.

And this stress to impress employers has clearly affected employees' decisions when it comes to sick days. The same survey also found that 67 percent of respondents were less likely to skip a day of work when sick, while seven in 10 have already pushed themselves to power through the workday when ill.

But what are the repercussions of toughing out a terrible cold or fighting the flu while working remotely?

Here, medical experts explore how working from home when you're sick can sabotage your health (now and in the future) ‌ and ‌ prevent you from being productive on the job too.

4 Risks of Working From Home When You're Sick

1. it doesn’t allow you the rest you need to recover.

"When our bodies are sick, they are spending a lot of energy fighting off the infection and trying to recover," says Laura Purdy, MD, MBA , a board-certified family medicine physician.

But if you choose to work from home, you deprive your body of the rest it needs to repair, Dr. Purdy says.

Indeed, sleep is a pivotal part of the healing process. Here's why: When you snooze, your immune system produces protective proteins called cytokines (which help fight infection and inflammation) as well as antibodies, according to the Mayo Clinic .

So if you're skimping on essential slumber to slog through a meeting, you're essentially decreasing your immune system's defenses and possibly extending the length of your illness.

2. It Can Be Stressful

"If you're trying to keep up with your workload, but you're not as clear thinking or energetic as usual," the normal demands of your daily routine can feel especially stressful, Dr. Purdy says.

And adding more stress to the mix — which can cause inflammation in the body — is not ideal when you have an impaired immune system that's already struggling to fend off an infection.

Put another way: Pushing yourself when you're ill can disrupt your bioenergetic state and place your body in a stress state, says Kien Vuu, MD , host of ‌ The Thrive State Podcast. ‌

If you're too stressed, your cells won't function optimally, and your immune system will be less able to counteract a foreign invader such as a virus or bacteria, Dr. Vuu says.

3. You Won’t Perform at Your Best

Real talk: No one does their best work when they're under the weather.

"When you're sick, especially, if you have a severe illness, it can be hard to concentrate and focus on the task at hand," Dr. Purdy says. Not only will your productivity likely decline but the quality of your work will take a hit too, she says.

Dr. Vuu agrees: Powering though the workday if you feel poorly can prevent peak performance. "There's a point in time when there are diminishing returns," he says. When you're feeling frail and fatigued, you can't cognitively perform at your best or activate your flow state. And this is when you tend to make mistakes, he adds.

Case in point: more than half of people reported their work performance suffered "considerably" when they worked from home while sick, according to the same ColdCalm poll.

4. You Can Burn Out in the Long Run

When you work remotely, there's often no clear distinction between your office space and your home. And this can make it hard to maintain a healthy work-life balance, especially for high performers and overachievers, Dr. Purdy says.

Which is why it can be all too tempting for people to tough it out from home even when they feel terrible. But making this a habit can be harmful.

"Over time, if there are poor boundaries and little separation between your work life and home life, it can lead to burnout and disengagement," Dr. Purdy says. And this ultimately results in decreased quality of output, she adds.

Dr. Vuu agrees that a good balance is necessary not only for better productivity in the long term but also to optimize health and achieve a thrive state.

When our body is in homeostasis, our cells are functioning at their best and can more effectively manage outside threats such as viruses or bacteria, he says.

But if you have a mentality like, ‌ I'll sleep when this project is over ‌ or ‌ I'll just relax on my annual vacation ‌, you're overstressing your body, which won't have the right amount of energy for health and healing.

And not allowing your body to recover and repair when you're run-down can increase your risk of feeling sick in the future.

That's what a June 2009 study in the ‌ Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health ‌ concluded. People who repeatedly went to work ill (more than six times in a year) had a 74 percent greater chance of having a long-term absence (for two months or more) due to sickness down the road.

In the long run, pushing your body like this can lead to chronic inflammation and disease, Dr. Vuu says.

It's true. Research demonstrates that chronic inflammation can contribute to the development of serious illness such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis and bowel diseases like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, according to Harvard Health Publishing .

What's more, this type of burnout not only affects you physically but also mentally. A June 2014 study in the ‌ Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine ‌ found that working while sick may significantly increase your risk for depression.

7 Tips for Better Sleep When You’re Sick

Your Step-by-Step Guide to Staying Healthy When You’re Feeling Under the Weather

The Best and Worst Foods to Eat When You're Sick

Signs you’re too sick to work from home.

"If you listen to your body, you will know whether it is safe or healthy for you to try to work through an illness," Dr. Purdy says.

In other words, don't ignore your body's signals, which can help you know when it's time to call it quits and take a proper sick day.

"I would definitely recommend avoiding work if you are severely sleep deprived, or have a very high fever, extreme fatigue, nausea or vomiting," Dr. Purdy says.

Similarly, severe body aches, lack of appetite and hounding headaches may also indicate that it's time to close shop and shut down your computer, Dr. Vuu says.

In these cases, focus on getting plenty of rest, hydrating frequently with fluids and, if possible, eating nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory foods, he says.

Is It Ever OK to Work From Home When You’re Sick?

"This is something that every person must decide for themselves," Dr. Purdy says. "Sometimes I still work from home if I am slightly under the weather, but only if I am feeling up to it. If I have a fever, I am so sick that I slept poorly the night before or I am really struggling, I will take the day off."

Dr. Vuu agrees that the decision also depends on how ill you are. For example, if your symptoms are mild — say, you have a runny nose but otherwise you still have an appetite, and your energy is good — you could still do most of your work from home, he says.

The type of work you do — how physically, mentally or emotionally demanding it is — should also factor into your decision, he says. Again, you want to avoid adding more stress to your life when you're sick.

"Another alternative is to designate yourself as 'out of office' but work on some projects individually if you feel that you have the energy to do so," Dr. Purdy adds. This way, you can work at your own pace and stop whenever you're feeling too unwell.

So, How Bad Is It Really to Work From Home When You’re Sick?

If you have a mild case of the sniffles, you're probably in the clear to continue working from home. But forcing yourself to perform when you're unfit to work is futile both for your productivity and your health.

By giving yourself the time you need to rest when you're sick, you'll have a speedier recovery and, ultimately, it will allow you to have better output at work, Dr. Purdy says.

Dr. Vuu agrees we should put more focus on recovery and taking care of ourselves. This will enable you to show up and do your best at work and at home with your family and relationships, he says.

The bottom line: "There's no shame in taking a day off for illness," Dr. Purdy says.

How Bad Is It Really to Swallow Pills Without Water?

How Bad Is It Really to Hold in a Sneeze?

How Bad Is It Really to Use Hand Sanitizer All the Time?

• Mayo Clinic: “Lack of sleep: Can it make you sick?”
• Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health: “Sick at Work — A Risk Factor for Long-Term Sickness Absence at Later Date”
• Harvard Health Publishing: “Understanding acute and chronic inflammation”
• Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine: “Is sickness presenteeism a risk factor for depression? A Danish 2-year follow-up study”

Is this an emergency? If you are experiencing serious medical symptoms, please see the National Library of Medicine’s list of signs you need emergency medical attention or call 911.

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Does working while you are sick make you sicker?

A man who's supposed to work five days a week only ever turns up for four. So, he gets paid for four. "Why do you only work a four-day week, Joe?" his boss asks him. "Because I can't manage on three," replies Joe.

Sick leave is an important issue. No one is healthy all the time, but there are no federal legal requirements for paid sick leave . If people work when ill, they may be more likely to make mistakes, which could be dangerous. There's also the risk of passing an illness on to coworkers, which could be a big deal as we face outbreaks of swine flu .

Even so, sick leave tends to be discussed in pretty simplistic terms. Businesses talk about the money they lose through absenteeism, and web sites offer workers tips about how to fake a sick day.

But research from Denmark says taking time off when you're sick may protect you from more serious illness. The researchers thought that by turning up to work while sick, employees might not give their bodies enough of a chance to recover properly from illness. They asked nearly 12,000 workers how often they went into work while feeling unwell.

During the previous year, about 42 percent of workers said they'd never gone into work feeling sick, or had only done it once. Another 50 percent had gone to work feeling sick between two and five times, and 8 percent had done it six times or more.

Over the next year and a half, the researchers checked which employees had records of long periods of sick leave (two weeks or more). They found that people who went to work while sick had a higher risk of being off sick for at least two weeks during the study.

It's possible that people were making themselves sicker by not taking time to recover, but there could be other explanations. If someone has poor health, they might not want to stay home from work every time they get sick. That type of person might struggle into work more often, and may also be more likely to take longer periods off of work. Another possibility is that people who go to work when sick are generally less careful about their health, and more likely to get seriously ill in the future.

Whether you take a sick day depends on the physical demands of your job, the financial implications and how seriously ill you are. The research so far doesn't give a definite answer about whether working when sick can be harmful, but it's a possibility.

The CDC currently recommends you stay home if you get sick with the flu.

What you need to know. It's not certain that working when sick can lead to health problems in the long run, but it is a possibility. If you have flu symptoms , stay home.

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Chronic Illness

23 things to do on days when you're stuck at home due to illness.

Life with chronic illness means you may have days (or weeks, or even longer) when you aren’t able to leave your home. While your healthy friends may think you’re “so lucky” to “get to stay home every day,” you know the truth: that it can be tough to be in so much pain, or so fatigued, or have such a difficult symptom flare, that you aren’t able to get outside, go to work or see your friends. There’s absolutely no shame in spending any length of time “housebound.” But if you’re struggling with loneliness, boredom or “cabin fever” due to spending a lot of time at home, you’re not alone. There are so many out there dealing with similar challenges (Mighty contributor Toni Bernhard even wrote an article about her own experiences and advice ).

Coping with the challenges of being housebound due to illness isn’t easy, but it can help to know how others in the same situation get through it. So we asked our Mighty community to share their advice for those who have to stay home often because of their illness. Hopefully their tips, tricks and “hacks” can give you some ideas for your own “housebound” days.

Here’s what our community told us: 

• “Due to the steep incline and sheer number of stairs in my house, we have moved our bed from our upstairs bedroom to the main floor, in the living room. That way, at least I am in the midst of the hubbub of our daily life, instead of locked away, all alone, in my bedroom all the time… I am even able to go outside and walk around our yard, when I feel up to it. I feel like I have so much more freedom now that I am ‘downstairs.’” — Donna-Jean I.
• “ I try to keep myself busy with things I can do while laying down. Recently I started crocheting, It’s a really nice distraction and most of my finished projects I give away to people that deserve it.” — Lenthe S.
• “I’m home all the time. I write a blog and encourage women who are going through difficult times. I have over 170,000 followers. Helping others with their pain helps me deal with my pain and illness.” — Jenny W.
• “I love my Kindle Fire. Not only do I read on it but I can also use it for games and Netflix.” — Kim M.
• “Do everything you can to limit cabin fever. I keep many low-maintenance houseplants. I love to play nature videos from YouTube. There are many that are over three hours long… Almost any landscape you could want. It really helps to bring the outside indoors.” — Liberty W.
• “Get a home health aide! I am disabled due to autoimmune neuropathy. If it weren’t for my aide, I would be so alone! Besides helping me with personal care, she helps keep my apartment clean. She is also a great companion!” — Kathy A.
• “Video games! Even if you’ve never played before or feel you’re ‘too old’ (you’re never too old). They keep your mind busy, and are good for days when moving around isn’t possible.” — Kaitlyn M.
• “I’m not housebound overall, but I also don’t get out *a lot* and have stretches where I can’t really go out at all. My biggest ways of getting through it: positive TV shows (nothing that’s too emotionally heavy or intellectually demanding for how you feel at the moment). Making your house beautiful. You’d be surprised how even something small like switching from dingy white bedsheets to rich purple ones or getting a houseplant can brighten your mood. I try to make as many things I own as possible be beautiful. [And] spend time looking outside, standing in the porch or balcony, or something like that, even if it’s only for a few minutes a day.” – Sheila V.
• “Keep your mind [as] busy as possible! It helps so much. I write, read, work, watch TV, snuggle with my dogs — all from bed. I think not being alone and having my dogs help me from not getting so down! They cheer me up and lay with me when I’m in so much pain. And I know they can’t talk back but they hear me.” — Bianca M.
• “Rely on friendships and relatives to vent and visit. It can be very alienating to be homebound. So very important to stay connected with other people outside of the home.” — Llana H.
• “Google Express and Amazon Prime as they deliver most basic household products directly to your door within two days.” — Danielle M.
• “In warmer weather I put a camping chair in the garden and sit out there reading or just listening to the birds (with suncream, hat and sunglasses on!).” — Sarah L.
• “I am learning how important lumens are! When homebound (which is more often than not) I open the window coverings and let in as much natural light as possible.” — Denise L.
• “A good quality eye mask for napping or a bad migraine. I don’t know what I would do without one (or several!)” — Jessica S.
• “I joined a guild in an online game I can play on my phone, and I’ve made some really good friends over the past year playing it. I can be social on the game when I want to, and I can avoid it when I’m not able to engage with people.” — Sarah L.
• “Keep a daily routine. Whether it’s light bed exercise and brushing your teeth or full shower and beauty routine. Even just one or two things. It all helps and it’s all important.” — Beth D.
• “I keep a blog so that I have an outlet, but I keep it positive. I don’t let it be a venting place as much as a way to plan how to take care of myself, and a place to record all my medical experiences so that I can remember and let others learn from them.” — Sarah L.
• “Books, movies, comfy PJs and a heated blanket. No guilt.” — Christi V.
• “For me our rescue [pet] has changed my mood so much. She’s my companion and I am no longer lonely while my husband and kids are away during the day. Also I make sure to step outside for fresh air, have a comfort blanket, and craft to pass the time.” — Sarah M.
• “Joining Facebook groups not related to your illness but instead a hobby/interest is also really good. For example I like decorating my planner with stickers, Washi tape, etc. and I also love Harry Potter. There’s a Facebook group called Harry Potter And The Order Of The Planners plus a spin-off dedicated to reading called HPOOTP-Flourish and Blotts. I love it because there are tons of active members and it’s not focused on my disability. On the flip side it is helpful to join a group that is related to your illness/disability for the support aspect of it. For example, the group I helped start: Happy Planners: Chronic illness & special needs. I like having both options available.” — Rebecca P.
• “[I use the] Overdrive app on my iPad so I can borrow audiobooks from the library. Sometimes it was the only thing I could do in the dark due to my debilitating headaches from CSF leak. Reading on the iPad is also a lot easier on [my] eyes.” — Ingrid S.
• “I use doTERRA essential oils to give me some comfort while at home. I also have a Sobakawa cloud pillow for my head whereas I could never use a pillow under my head before.” — Mindy P.
• “ I read books to transport me away from my house and my own situation to whole new worlds and characters!” — Sarah L.

The Mighty Asks

What advice do you have for people who are housebound due to their illness? Share in the comments below.

Erin is the former senior editor and chronic illness editor of The Mighty. She joined The Mighty in 2015 and previously worked at Inside Weddings magazine, Mic, and The Huffington Post. She was also the features editor at The California Aggie, UC Davis' student newspaper. She is honored to be a part of the Mighty community!

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Should You Work From Home While Sick?

For many people, working from home while they are sick is a convenient option, as long as their employer allows it. Working from home may not be the best choice for someone under the weather, but that depends on how sick you are and whether you can get anything done at home.

For example, if you have a cold and you don’t want anyone at work to get it, you should probably stay home. During the flu season, that becomes much more important. Avoiding work while fighting influenza can keep the whole office healthy .

But, what if you have some other illness?

Many will wake up with a sore throat, jump in the shower, take a throat lozenge, and head for work . This may not be the best way to go, since a sore throat is often an early sign of a cold, and as we all know, colds are very contagious.

A study from the Canada Life Group Insurance Company looked further into this occurrence. They found that nearly 90% of employees have come into work while sick.

Bosses will always worry about the employees who call in sick despite being healthy. But, a larger number of bosses are more worried about people showing up to work who are sick and contagious.

With the “always at work” mentality, people who work from home still stay in touch with their projects and fellow workers. This might be a counter-productive situation when you’re sick and need to work at home with some peace and quiet.

It’s no secret that many offices encourage the “always on” mentality. This means employees will find it difficult to ask for time off when they are sick, and are often encouraged to work from home instead.

If you are one of those who grapples with the idea of whether you should take time off when you are sick, it’s important to come up with a contingency plan to help you decide. You should stop and think about the long-term effects of your decision.

If you decide to go to work while you are sick, you should at least think of a place at work where you can isolate yourself from others. Although, if you decide to work from home, think about what you might be missing by staying away from work.

With the cold season ahead, workers are coming down with fevers, headaches, and runny noses. The CDC reported that your chances of getting sick this year fall between 5% and 20%, which is relatively high.

And after falling ill, employees are left with that debate: stay home or go to the office. The problem with staying home is that it might cause more stress due to the amount of work you lose. When you return to work, you could be faced with a pile of paperwork and past due projects.

But, why do people go to work when they are sick?

If you are one of the lucky people who has plenty of sick time saved up, you don’t have to worry about calling in sick without jeopardizing your job.

But, this often isn’t the case.

A 2014 survey by the National Survey Foundation (NSF) concluded that 4 out of 10 Americans say they come to work sick simply because they don’t have much choice. Approximately 10% of those surveyed said they go to work sick.

As a rule, it’s always best to stay home when you are sick. So, the next time you wake up with a headache, runny nose, and a cough, stay home.

Are you looking to keep your office healthy this flu season? Passport Health can help! Give us a call at or fill out a contact form for more information.

Written for Passport Health by Jerry Olsen. He has over 15 years of combined experience as a writer and editor in Salt Lake City. Jerry’s writing topics range from health care, travel, life science to medical technology and technical writing.

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Got cold symptoms? Here’s when kids should take a sick day from school

An AP analysis of data from 40 states and DC shows school absenteeism got worse in each one except Arkansas from 2018-2022.

FILE - Fifth graders wearing face masks are seated at proper social distancing during a music class at the Milton Elementary School in Rye, N.Y., May 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

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PHOENIX (AP) — As schools reopen for another year, they are focused on improving student attendance. But back-to-school is hitting just as COVID-19 cases are increasing, raising the question: When is a child too sick for school?

School absences surged during the pandemic and have yet to recover. Nearly 1 in 4 students remains chronically absent, defined as missing 10% or more of the academic year, according to the latest data analyzed by The Associated Press.

One reason for continued high absences: After years of COVID-19 quarantines, parents are more cautious about sending children to school when they might be contagious with an illness.

When a child misses school, even for an excused absence like a sick day, it’s harder for them to stay on track academically . So schools and health experts are trying to change the culture around sick days.

Here’s what they want parents to know.

COVID guidelines have changed

During the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged people who tested positive for COVID-19 to isolate at home for a set number of days and to quarantine after exposure to the coronavirus. In some settings, people with any mild illness were urged to remain home until symptoms were clear.

Those standards, and the caution behind them, remained for years after schools reopened to in-person instruction. That meant children often missed large portions of school after contracting or being exposed to COVID-19 or other illnesses.

This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.

This spring, COVID-19 guidance officially changed. Now, the CDC suggests people treat COVID-19 like other respiratory illnesses , such as the flu and RSV.

Fever-free for 24 hours

If a child has a fever, they should stay home, no matter the illness.

A child can return to school when their fever has been gone for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication. Other symptoms should be improving.

What about other symptoms?

If a child doesn’t have a fever, it’s OK to send them to class with some signs of illness , including a runny nose, headache or cough, according to schools and the American Academy of Pediatrics . If those symptoms aren’t improving or are severe, such as a hacking cough, call your child’s doctor.

The guidance around vomiting and diarrhea varies across school districts. Generally, students should remain home until symptoms stop , according to American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines. Older children may be able to manage mild diarrhea at school.

“Unless your student has a fever or threw up in the last 24 hours, you are coming to school. That’s what we want,” said Abigail Arii, director of student support services in Oakland, California.

Guidance from the Los Angeles Unified School District says students can attend school with mild symptoms such as a runny nose or cold, but should stay home if they have vomiting, diarrhea, severe pain or a fever of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) or higher.

School districts across the U.S. have similar guidance, including in Texas , Illinois and New York .

When to wear a mask

The CDC says people should take additional precautions for five days after returning to school or other normal activities.

Masks and social distancing are no longer mandated but are encouraged to prevent disease spread. Experts also recommend plenty of handwashing and taking steps for cleaner air, such as opening a window or running an air purifier.

School districts say parents should keep up-to-date on all health examinations and immunizations for students so they don’t miss additional days of school.

AP Education Writer Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco contributed.

This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well .

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org .

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Why do I feel incredibly sad/lonely when I do homework?

For a while now, whenever I sit down and do my homework I suddenly feel incredibly lonely and upset. This can make it extremely difficult for me to bring myself to do homework sometimes. It feels like I'm the only person in the world when I'm doing work, as dramatic as it may sound, but it really does. This makes me upset, and I find myself having difficulty concentrating. I see homework, professors, school in general as threats. It feels as though everyone connected to school, including fellow classmates, are against me and deep down want the worst for me. I don't know how to fully explain the sadness, stress, and anxiety I feel when I study for a test, I don't even have the vocabulary for that. I get all A's but it comes at such a huge price for me, everything is confusing and there are times where I stay up all night just to do well on a big test, and it makes the lonely feeling last for hours. I try to turn on the tv or videos, talk to friends, but it doesn't go away. I have to check due dates and assignments, study sheets and assigned books/textbooks over and over to make sure I don't miss something. How do I stop this?

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Gen Z is actually taking sick days, unlike their older coworkers. It’s redefining the workplace

The sound of an errant sneeze, sniffle, or cough in the workplace is enough to make any employee’s hair stand up on the back of their neck. Sure, workers are still showing up to work when they’re under the weather, but Gen Z is leading the charge to change that—and the generation’s changing attitudes toward taking sick days is, in fact, contagious.

Sick leave in the U.S. increased 55% in 2023 compared to 2019, according to new data from human resources platform Dayforce, which collected data from more than 1,500 of its clients. While all age groups are taking advantage of sick days, employees younger than 36 are leading the charge, with a 29% leap in the amount of sick leave they took from 2024 compared to 2019. Those older than 36 saw a 16% increase.

“When I was just out of high school, I was scared to death to call in sick,” Jamie Lynch, a 34-year-old manager at a real estate photography firm in Ontario, Canada, told Fortune . “But now that’s just not the way of the world.”

Lynch works with employees across the age spectrum, but has noticed her younger employees taking more time off to preserve their health. “We really have to take care of ourselves and fill our own cup,” she added. “Gen Zs were just the first ones who didn’t have the fear that we had to call in sick to protect themselves.”

Using sick days is just another way Gen Z has hung onto pandemic-era work culture shifts. It’s the generation that has championed hybrid work and quiet quitting , as well as pushed dress code boundaries in the office. But as Gen Z breaks old work norms , their workplaces are beginning to coalesce around them, forming new ones.

The COVID generation

Gen Z’s tendency to pioneer workplace trends including taking more sick days is a result of both their developmental stage and the unique social and technological environment in which they came of age, said Lindsey Pollak, workplace expert and author of The Remix: How to Lead and Succeed in the Multigenerational Workplace . She posits that every workplace has a set of unwritten rules by which longtime workers abide. In many workplaces, not taking sick days—even if they were allotted by an employer—is one of those rules. 

But for Gen Zers, who are largely just beginning to enter the workforce, those unwritten rules may not apply—simply because they don’t know what they are.

“Until you’re in the workplace, you don’t know what you don’t know,” Pollak told Fortune . “And that happened to me as a Gen Xer, and that has happened to every generation.” 

All generations experience an uncomfortable adjustment to a new workplace culture. But what separates Gen Z from previous generations is the amount of information Gen Z has at its fingertips. “They have grown up entirely in a world where every single piece of information and guidance and rulebook was available to them in their pocket on the internet,” Pollak said. 

As a result, Gen Z can be literalists. They see that their prospective workplace has a sick-day policy, and they are inclined to abide by it, regardless of an unspoken work norm that indicates otherwise. Their status as digital natives is what has driven them to seek out health information during a global pandemic, leading them to prioritize their own health and well-being, according to  a McKinsey & Company report. While 40% of U.S. survey respondents said fitness was a “very high priority,” that percentage leaped to 56% for U.S. Gen Z respondents.

Gen Z’s penchant for taking sick days and prioritizing mental health can be traced back to their pandemic-informed health consciousness, but COVID had also an outsize impact in shaping Gen Z’s work attitudes, likely for decades to come. 

“I know a lot of people who first started working in 2008, 2009, the height of the Great Recession, who are still not past that feeling that the rug could be pulled out from under them,” Pollak said.

Because Gen Z entered the workforce in a time of changing norms—the rise of remote work and flexibility that the time period required—they have internalized the message that workplaces can be nimble and favor employee boundaries, Pollak said. If something to the contrary is asked of them, young people are likely to push back because they know those more flexible systems can work.

Young people’s early work environment has also resulted in a tenacious generation of independent thinkers, said Roberta Katz, senior research scholar at Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

“They want to understand why something is done in a certain way. They’re very pragmatic,” she said in a Stanford Report article . “When an older person says to them, ‘This is how you should do it,’ they want to check that out for themselves. It doesn’t mean they’re always right; it’s a different way of understanding.”

Gen Z trendsetters 

While Gen Z’s foray into the professional world is unique to them, their preferences have started to wear off on their more seasoned coworkers. Lynch, the Ontario-based manager, noticed more workers following Gen Z’s lead and taking time off for illnesses in the past couple years, an initiative they likely wouldn’t have taken a decade ago.

“At first it did really aggravate people,” she said. “But then I think people saw the world didn’t stop running. Businesses didn’t all shut down because of it.”

For Lynch, it’s a good change and something she wishes existed when she was first cutting her teeth in the professional world.

“There were times where I was putting myself through school and working two jobs, and I should have called out sick for like, weeks at that time,” Lynch said. “Because I was so stressed and working so hard, but it wasn’t an option.”

This generation of managers is more lenient, Lynch said, as they see firsthand that Gen Z is creating a new reality they couldn’t conceive of a decade ago. A September 2023 report from marketing consultancy Edelman found 93% of more than 7,000 respondents were influenced by coworkers in their twenties.

Workplaces have a long history of shaping and being shaped by their employees, Pollak said. It’s how they’ve survived in times of bedrock-shaking change like the pandemic and recessions.

“I’ve never heard anyone at the end of their career say, ‘You know what made our company so successful? We never changed at all,’” she said. “I think you need to adapt and grow and evolve.”

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