Over the past few months, I’ve been travelling a fair bit, spending lots of time on airplanes, trains, and so forth. All of this has occurred right in the middle of flu season, but until recently, I have been fortunate enough not to get sick. I have, however, noticed a disturbing trend among my fellow travellers. It might just be one of my many quirks that I find this disturbing, but I have noticed that the etiquette of coughing into one’s elbow is gradually eroding. An unusually large number of people seem to be walking along with their mouths wide-open coughing directly into the air of people around them. It seems to happen more often with people who are walking than with people who are sitting, but on many recent occasions, I have encountered people who cough or sneeze without covering their mouths while sitting right across from me, behind me, and so on. I personally can’t even imagine expelling a bunch of air from my mouth in a violent, forceful push with people around me without preventing what comes out of my mouth from spreading all over those people. Particularly with what we know about the spreading of flu and other viruses. Wondering if I was just being judgemental and alarmist about all of this, I did a little searching and found some information from a recent article about coughing and the spread of flu virus. Apparently, a significant number of people spread the flu virus simply by breathing into the air of those around them. Coughing is not entirely necessary. This news was both reassuring and disturbing. If you’re sitting on a plane with a bunch of people packed in very tightly, you have a good chance of breathing in air containing potentially infectious viruses. I can also say from experience that some people will literally blow on your face. Sometimes, they seem to be aware that they’re doing it, but they do it anyway. And, although coughing may not be necessary to transmit disease, I have to believe that it accelerates the process! So, long story short, please cover your mouth when you cough. Further, don’t do it with your hands. And, don’t blow on others’ faces. At the risk of sounding in this blog like mindfulness is the key to everything, I think we could all probably be a little more mindful about our personal hygiene practices. Being mindfully aware that we are about to cough or sneeze might provide us with a little bit of space to think about the comfort and well-being of others around us.
I should say that, despite my aversion to being coughed, sneezed, or blown on (or smeared, slathered, sprayed, and so on), I’m not actually a hypochondriac, nor do I have OCD, and I’m not particularly afraid of getting sick. When I was very young, I spent quite a bit of time being sick. I had severe asthma, got pneumonia and horrendous fevers on more than one occasion, and spent time in an oxygen tent, so I know what it’s like to be sick, and I’ve lived through it many times. As an adult, I rarely get sick; however, I recently came down with the nastiest cold I’ve had in years. Although it was certainly inconvenient, I did try to use the DBT skills of checking the facts to re-conceptualize being sick. I had gone through an incredibly busy period of work, travel, etc., and being sick actually offered me the opportunity to simply lie around and re-spark my love of high quality British crime dramas. Unless we’re very old, have compromised immune symptoms, or have other problems that make it very dangerous to get sick, most of us probably just don’t like the discomfort and inconvenience of coming down with a cold or flu. I think that, rather than seeing this event as a catastrophe, it can help to see it as an opportunity. Maybe, when we are sick, our bodies are allowing us the opportunity to slow down for a bit, rest and recuperate, and to not always have to get stuff done all the time. That said, I will probably continue to give coughers, blowers (and close talkers) a wide berth! ~Alexander L. Chapman, Ph.D., R.Psych.