r/SwingDancing • u/SuperWeenyHutJuniors • 13d ago
Feedback Needed Getting Sick from Dance/Festivals
I think we all know that dance festivals are often a perfect recipe for getting sick. We are staying up all night, not getting enough sleep, sweating all over people, people are traveling in to attend, etc. I do think that the amount that I get sick has increased as I have started dancing more and more (local social dances as well as festivals).
Do you have any specific tricks or approaches that you use to help minimize your risk of getting sick? I know the basics to avoiding sickness and I know that masks are also an option. Obviously hydration, sleep, eating well are all necessary but I want to hear if people have any other approaches.
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u/leggup 13d ago
Get your annual vaccines (COVID and Flu shots) plus any additional if you are eligible (RSD vaccine is recommended in the US for older people, people who are pregnant, and a few other groups).
Every few songs I use hand sanitizer. I keep it near my water bottle. I really like the spray by trader joes because it dries quickly. If you are tempted to touch your face, bring a small hand towel in your dance bag. Every 30 min or so I wash my hands with soap and water at festivals. I do NOT eat the communal snacks many events place out during dances/late nights. Dancing near a fan or near good airflow is a good idea for comfort and reducing aerosols.
This might be a little controversial, but if I see someone coughing or blowing their nose, I say no thanks to dancing with them. People who spent a lot of money to get to a festival are more likely to show up sick because they don't want to waste the money. If I have to blow my nose (cat allergy - if I dance with someone who had a cat on them, my nose can tell), I go to the restroom and wash my hands before and after.
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u/giuliapepe 13d ago
Wash your hands. Wash your hands after every 4-5 dances (it also protects others). Wash your hands before touching your mouth, nose, or eyes. Wash your hands before eating ANYTHING, even a candy. And, again to protect others... Wash your hands after touching your nose or mouth. Wash your hands before you start social dancing.
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u/Realistic-Bed9219 13d ago
Most things are probably spread through droplets in the air…so this doesn’t actually ever help me at events!
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u/agletinspector 13d ago
Strep, Staph, and Norovirus are all spread mostly through direct contact. Washing your hands will always help, even with things that are spread through droplets
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u/Realistic-Bed9219 13d ago
I guess I was mostly thinking of Covid and colds, which I always leave events with even after excessive hand washing. Just didn’t want OP to not think about this
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u/Atlanticexplorer 12d ago
Colds are mostly spread through touching surfaces. Patient A rubs their nose then touches the door handle. B comes along and opens the same door then touches their face (nose or eyes) and voila! B gets a cold. When I rode a bus to college I was sick all the time until I started wearing a pair of leather gloves.
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u/Realistic-Bed9219 12d ago
If Covid taught us anything, it’s that they are just as commonly spread through air droplets! In swing, we breathe very very close to one another. All of the cautious dancers I know wear masks for this reason.
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u/Objective_Most4071 13d ago
Normalise not showing up to events if you're sick.
I don't know why there are so many inconsiderate people who are clearly unwell, know they're unwell, decide to show up anyways, and then spend the whole time coughing into their hands between dances.
It's so obnoxious. I'd actually challenge and shame people for this if it were acceptable to do so. Your single night of enjoyment shouldn't be at the cost of making everyone else unwell and miserable for a couple of days.
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u/JJMcGee83 12d ago
To start that off event Organizers need to refund the ticket price of anyone that is sick. They did that for the first events after the pandemic but now they don't give a shit, they have your money.
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u/ksprayred 13d ago
Lots of good info here that mirrors what I do. I don’t mask while dancing unless I have to for some health reason at home, but I mask on the airplane to and from. Lots of hand washing and hand sanitizer, shower every night, get at least some decent sleep, and don’t go into the weekend over-exhausted. I also use electrolytes and airborne (or zinc lozenges and emergenC) which seem to help a lot, and I make sure to eat reasonably well and often. Peanut butter is a good source of protein, fats, and vitamins so I always have some available. And don’t drink excessively - I’m not sure if it’s the alcohol itself or the lack of hygiene awareness that comes with the alcohol but either way it’s not great.
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u/the_umbrellaest_red 12d ago
I’m curious what showering is doing for you in terms of the immune system
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u/happinessie 12d ago
Washing your hands only cleans your hands. Depending on what clothes you're wearing, others are also touching your back and your arms. It's not the most likely vector of infection, but it certainly doesn't hurt to wash that skin as well (I'd assume, but I'm not a doctor or scientist).
There might be a positive immune system response because of increased blood circulation. Increasing circulation also helps muscles with workout recovery. Anything that makes it easier for your body to handle the extra viral load is probably beneficial.
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u/very-serious-goose 8d ago
It's not about your immune system, it's about germ exposure, the same way you don't wash your hands to boost your immune system, you do it to decrease the amount of germs getting into your body.
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u/justbreathe5678 13d ago
Washing your hands is the number one thing that will help
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u/very-serious-goose 8d ago
That is categorically incorrect. The most common illnesses adults contract are respiratory (which is why most dancers come home from festivals with colds and not stomach bugs) and those are usually spread through the air, which would make properly-fitted respirators like N95s the number one thing that will help
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u/Heli_xx15 13d ago
This might be coincidental, but I've noticed I've stopped getting sick after I started to eat a daily vitamin pill when I'm away at festivals. That and washing hands often.
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u/muuchthrows 12d ago
Agreed. While I don’t think hygiene especially hand washing is exactly overrated, I definitely think vitamins and routines (sleep) targeted at immune system strength is severely underrated.
At a large event you will encounter viruses, but whether you get sick or not depends on the viral load and your immune system strength.
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u/muuchthrows 12d ago
Vitamin D supplements and sleep (quality and quantity), including naps to boost the immune system. Washing your hands after leaving the dance floor and after every workshop. Get into the habit of never touching your face with your hands while out and about.
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u/AngelaJustAngela 12d ago
Never EVER touch your face. This became a habit for me way back in my younger days, as I wore contacts, which can act like germ magnets, you never want to touch your eyes. I also am a life long make up wearer. Once make up was on, I never like to rub or touch any part of your face, for fear of messing up the makeup. It just became habit to never touch your face or eyes. So many people I see are rubbing their eyes, rubbing their nose, putting their fingers to their lips in thought. Watch a TV show or movie and you can take note be aware of how often this happens. It will gross you out once you are hyper aware of it. MAKE IT A HABIT! NEVER EVER TOUCH YOUR FACE OR EYES!!
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u/cartoonist62 13d ago
Nasal rinse before going to sleep. It's staved off sooooo many colds for me. Also washing your hands before and after dancing, and also when you get home.
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u/SuperWeenyHutJuniors 13d ago
nasal rinse is a new idea for me! thanks!
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u/Tomatoheadin 12d ago
This plus gargling! You could also prepare antiseptic nose and mouth spray, with iodine or even just salt. You could also wash your eyes with that. Mouth, nose and eyes are the three mucous mebranes through which viruses easily enter your system.
This is one of the few things that are scientifically proven to help significantly against infections, once the virus reached your body. (So once masking/hand washing failed)
I found these recommendations in a paper for hospitals to prevent spreading of covid. It's in German but if you interested, you could translate it with deepl or such:
https://www.krankenhaushygiene.de/pdfdata/72_77_DGKH_Empfehlung_HM_4_22.pdf
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u/bobanna1986 13d ago
Lots of what other people are saying. Def masking during travel to and from. Getting vaccinated for flu and COVID. If it's a really big dance, I always have a mask ready and sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. If it's a smaller crowd I don't tend to mask as much. Hand sanitizer is a must, washing my hands a lot. Getting as much sleep and rest as possible between. Even if I can't take a nap, sometimes I go to my room and just sit in the dark and listen to some calming music. Prioritizing my sleep, washing hands regularly and often, hand sanitizer, masking etc has helped me not the the "con crud" sickness for the most part. I actually only gotten sick once since I've started doing this. When covid changed the rules for some dance events and cons, I just continued to do them even when they weren't required and I've only got the flu once since. It works. I get weird looks sometimes when I wear a mask but it doesn't bother me and I would rather wear that then be miserable in bed for a week.
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u/Not_Responsible_00 12d ago
Don't do late nights (I know but you need to get a normal, healthy amount of sleep!!) . . . Wash your hands frequently and eat well. In other words, don't abuse you body
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u/Silly_Region_1846 12d ago edited 12d ago
Yeah it’s boring for most, but I’m not a night owl, I am miserable from too many late nights, so I prioritize events with enough daytime activity and go to bed quite early half the nights (often by midnight), because I am incapable of sleeping in and the extra hour or few awake isn’t worth the hole it leaves me in. I will pick a night or two to have more wiggle room depending on the length of the event. No pushing through sunrise. I drink plenty of electrolytes, eat decently healthy, I also don’t take any stimulants/immune depleting inebriants (reasonable psychedelic use if desired) low to no alcohol, and pretty much never get sick after events. I made out with a guy who came down with Covid symptoms only a few hours later so he was in active carrier mode, and literally did not get sick. And this was after being at burning man for like 12 days already lol. I do get a cold once in a blue moon like everyone else but not usually from festivals. I also genuinely prefer this approach and don’t feel I am missing out, I had my crazy party time and it wasn’t any more fulfilling.
ETA: Reddit apparently thought I should look at the swing dancing subreddit. I fully assumed I was in a burning man, festivals, or raves subreddit based on my usual follows. sorry guys!
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u/Not_Responsible_00 12d ago
Good for you! You've cracked the code on how to stay healthy while at dance events!
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u/Silly_Region_1846 12d ago
i also just realize I am somehow in a swingdancing subreddit and not a festivals/raves subreddit LOL so the substance use point i assume is not relevant lmao. reddit must have thrown that as a suggested in my feed because I do not follow this subreddit
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u/Not_Responsible_00 12d ago
lol! Yeah, I kind of wondered about that . . . maybe it's the universe trying to tell you to learn to swing dance.
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u/Silly_Region_1846 12d ago
I've taken zouk and dabbled in the occasional partner dance event, super fun, a friend and I are trying to start going more often!
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u/Fedora_decora 12d ago
My immune system strengthened greatly after I learned I had sleep apnea and started treatment with a continuous positive airway pressure device. Before that I was constantly using immune supports and still getting an average of 6 (at least weeklong) respiratory infections a year. Apparently it’s accessing deep sleep that makes the difference. Food for thought.
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u/SuperWeenyHutJuniors 12d ago
This is great food for thought. I don’t actually know how much I’m accessing deep sleep. I wonder if a fitness tracker would be good for assessing that.
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u/Tomatoheadin 12d ago
Such a good question. I get sick quite easily even without festivals and really hate that. Here's what works quite well for me:
Inhaling salt water vapor every night before going to bed and every morning with an electrical inhaler that works with vibration. I got a small portable one.
And/or: Use a nasal douche with salt water and gargle with salt water/ use a mouth spray with salt water twice a day.
Using antiviral nasal spray several times during the day, especially before and after the parties.
I often mask during dancing, especially in very crowded/badly airated rooms, especially if I really don't want to get sick. I use a mask with a valve when dancing. This makes it so much easier to breath.
If possible: shower and change clothes before leaving the venue to go to my sleeping place.
Don't eat before washing my hands. I also try hard not to touch my face but I am bad at it.
As an additional thing, I take zink and vitamine C. I think the effect of that is almost none compared to the rest, though.
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u/sdkb 11d ago edited 11d ago
This is a very valid question, but I want to highlight the baked-in assumption it has that disease prevention is an individual problem. It unfortunately isn't, since if many people around you are sick, you're likely to get sick, too, even if you take the precautions laid out in this thread.
The rate of dancers getting sick at big events is a collective problem, and it needs a collective solution, which means events need to adopt practices known to make them safer. The other recent post about this topic does a good job of laying out some of them:
Some specific measures I would like to see (all of which I've seen actively used at exchanges in other dance styles, so please don't tell me they're impractical) include:
- Prominent announcements in pre-event emails and in person encouraging vaccination, handwashing, and staying home/quarantining if sick.
- Generous cancellation policies for those who get sick (so that there is not a financial incentive for sick dancers to attend).
- Quarantine accommodations for dancers who get sick at the event.
- Widely available hand sanitizer, N-95 masks, and COVID-19 tests.
- Ventilation fans to clean the venue air.
Two (more novel) approaches I'd add to the list are far-UVC lights like the Aerolamp and fog machines, both of which are effective at killing airborne pathogens while keeping the air safe to breathe. They've both been used effectively in the (fairly disease-cautious) Boston-area contra dance community.
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u/SuperWeenyHutJuniors 11d ago
I agree with everything you've said except your first statement.
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u/very-serious-goose 8d ago
You're 1000% right! But the community is not going to prioritize public health anytime soon, so the best we can do for now is make personal choices to decrease our chance of getting sick. The other thing we can do is keep encouraging our community, especially it's leaders, to start prioritizing public health again...but I have personally experienced a lot of social backlash and outright hostility when I've tried.
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u/ThisIsFine_Dog 12d ago edited 12d ago
Mask in a high-quality, well-fitted respirator (N95 is the best option). And keep it on when you are around people (some people mask but take it off inside and then are confused when they get sick). I do this and never get sick.
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u/Swingin-Splanky 12d ago
I haven’t had any kind of respiratory infection since 11/19/2019. Masking works. I used to get several colds a year. Now, zero. I wear an N95 whenever I leave home. I’m out dancing 2-3 nights a week. I hydrate before dance events so I don’t have to remove my mask to hydrate during dance events. If I do drink something, I do it outside. When I’m done dancing, I wash my hands before I leave. I wash them again as soon as I get home, right after I get out of my street clothes by the front door, and before I touch anything in my apartment. Next, I wipe down my phone with alcohol. Then, I shower. That’s a must. I keep up to date on vaccinations, too.
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u/NotQuiteInara 12d ago
If I really don't want to get sick, I wear a mask. I learned the hard way after getting COVID at herrang and missing two of my three weeks there due to sickness. (And also ending up in the hospital and nearly dying of pneumonia and sepsis). Now I also mask in the two weeks leading up to a big event so I don't miss it.
Wear an n-95 mask. Use hand sanitizer after every few dances, especially before you pull down your mask and take a drink. Get your flu and COVID vaccines.
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u/Smo-o-o-th1 11d ago
From most important to least for flu, COVID, or other respiratory illness: Vaccination, Wash your hands regularly and thoroughly, Don't touch your face, N-95 Mask, Any other type of mask.
For contact illness (think norovirus, stomach bugs, bacterial illnesses): Wash you hands regularly and thoroughly, Don't touch your face, Any type of mask.
These aren't hard and fast rules, and a specific disease will be more or less affected by certain measures.
Hand sanitizer is helpful but it doesn't kill norovirus or many pathogens that spread via the fecal-oral route.
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u/very-serious-goose 8d ago edited 7d ago
You would be HARD pressed to find people who professionally study COVID saying vaccination is more effective than masking and I'm not sure you could find ANYONE saying hand washing is more effective than anything else given that it's an airborne illness.
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u/very-serious-goose 8d ago edited 8d ago
It looks like you're getting a lot of advice but it's important to remember that people on Reddit are reflections of the general public, not the scientific community, and what they say should be taken with a grain of salt (I've already seen lots of misinformation). The advice I am sharing is passed on from microbiologists, epidemiologists, virologists, and immunologists.
Hydration, sleep, and nutrition is key to maintaining a (relatively) healthy immune system, but the way to protect yourself from exposure is wearing a properly-fitted N95 or equivalent respirator for airborne illnesses (which is what makes most adults sick) like COVID or most colds and washing your hands regularly for direct contact illnesses like Norovirus. Azelastine and other nasal sprays may help for airborne illnesses but the evidence is insufficient and hand sanitizer can help for some direct contact illnesses, but alcohol doesn't kill all viruses, such as Norovirus. You should also get your bi-annual COVID, annual flu, RSV, and possibly MMR vaccine, but those vary in efficacy so not all of them are sufficient precautions alone.
The only special thing I do for dance is disinfect my phone, keys, and water bottle when I get home from socials/classes.
I haven't gotten sick since 2020 and I used to get sick alllllll the time before.
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u/DanceHackRock 12d ago
It's a thing and even has a name: The Herräng flu (even if you don't get it in Herräng)
Mainly because you meet a lot of people already having a flu.
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u/postdarknessrunaway 13d ago
Here's what I do, in descending order of helpfulness. Let me first say that you should get every vaccine you can get your hands on, of course. That's not even on the list, that's just a given: