PHOTO: ADOBE STOCK

I am on day 17 of what I thought was the nastiest cold I’ve ever had.

If I had bothered to go to the doctor on, say, day 11, I likely would’ve learned some helpful information: My assumed cold is, in fact, bronchitis, and I’m not likely to sleep it off. After finally talking to a medical professional, I received a prescription for antibiotics and began actually healing.

Before that, though, I was mostly sleeping. Quite a lot. I’m used to seven hours a night, like clockwork.

When I caved to this infection’s demands over the past week and a half, however, I found myself remaining unconscious for up to 10 hours. What an indulgence! What a luxury!

What a necessity, too, when illness strikes.

Something occurred to me when I emerged, bleary-eyed and ignoring a rapidly mutating to-do list, from these long pre-winter naps. This is, I think, what we’re supposed to be doing when we get sick: resting. Not merely working from home, not taking phone calls from the couch — actually resting.

The general increase in workplace flexibility and growing ability to work from home has made many of us more adept at staying isolated when ill; fortunately, plenty of our employers have made this adjustment as well (if only to keep one sick employee from becoming a dozen). That’s a very good development; no one wants sick folks around them at the office, and the last thing that helps a cold or flu is trudging into a cubicle for no pressing reason.

That allowance, however, has come with a decrease in actual rest. We no longer spend our sick days lying on the count and watching “The Price is Right.” Instead, we wrap blankets around our shoulders and answer emails from the most suitable armchair, a pile of tissues discarded at our side.

Sometimes, this makes sense; after all, you don’t necessarily have a ton to do when you’re laid up. But some illnesses, like my sleep-demanding bronchitis, require us not only to stay put but also to actually take it easy. There’s more to that than just cozy blankets; we need to give our minds and bodies a break.

Remember breaks? You lie down, you put the TV on, you don’t particularly note whether you’re asleep or awake. Actual breaks.

The pandemic era taught us to stay isolated when ill, but we forgot that isolation is only half the battle; the other half is real and proper rest. There are other lessons we’ve forgotten as well — remember proper hand-washing? I haven’t seen much of it in public bathrooms as of late — but this is a big one. It’s not a crime to slow down, and when you’re sick, it’s absolutely necessary.

In fact, it’s not a crime to slow down when you’re healthy, either. That’s more of a societal illness than a personal one.