At Primal Health, we don’t believe that you should have to catch a cold or any other illness. Colds, flu, diseases…all illnesses are not so much ‘caught’, as ‘created’. The book ‘Never Be Sick Again by Raymond Francis M. Sc.‘ delves deep into this way of thinking. Francis reiterates our holistic health philosophy that health and wellness is maintained by a strong immune system and compromised by a weakened immune system. Even according to the Textbook of Medical Physiology (p. 38), cancer is the result of a weak immune system that can’t fight our normally mutating cells. So even if it’s ‘cold and flu season’, and you can’t avoid sick people spreading their germs to you at work, school and on the bus, you do not have to catch a cold! Germs, virus and bacteria and all around us, sometimes more than others, but only when your immune system is weakened by an imbalance in your Primal 6, or key requirements for health and vitality, do you become susceptible to ‘catching’ illnesses.
Stress can make you more likely to catch a cold
In most cases, negative stress, whatever the cause, is a key culprit in making you vulnerable to illness. When the Sympathetic Nervous System is chronically stimulated by stress, this ‘fight or flight’ response leads to over-secretion of cortisol and adrenalin. These hormones are associated with stimulating the body, but when over-secreted, lead to a depressed immune system in the long term and that is when you will catch a cold every time it comes around you.
I rarely catch a cold anymore, but there are exceptions
Since I have taken responsibility of my own health and started following the Primal 6 in my daily life, I rarely ever have colds, coughs or flu, even in the ‘cold and flu season’. However, there are exceptions, and it’s usually after I become sick, that I can reflect back and see how my immune system became weak through stressful changes to my Primal 6. Recently, several factors accumulated to create my first cold, chest infection, and day off work in a long long time, and the first time I’ve taken antibiotics since I was a teenager.
Stressful changes to my Primal 6 –
Thoughts
– Worry over losing my investment property in regional floods.
– Worry for my parents’ home and lives, as they prepared for a massive approaching cyclone.
– Worry for dear friends and clients in Japan after a destructive earthquake and tsunami.
– Anger and frustration over my car engine ‘blowing up’ on the freeway far out of town, costing me a huge amount in towing and repairs.
Breathing, Water, Food and Movement
– Normal. Spending a lot of time on the foam roller and meditating more than normal. Drinking plenty of filtered water, and eating whole organic foods. Working in more lately, as working-out was making me too tired (as my system has been depressed).
Sleep
– Massive amount of sleep debt accumulating recently. My daughter’s sleeping patterns recently changed, her top molars seem to be coming through and she has definitely been feeling our stressors. She started coughing a lot and waking up every night for hours. To catch up on sleep, I had to start sleeping on the massage table at work!
You can see how my THOUGHT and SLEEP patterns were causing my stress levels to sky rocket. My immune system lowered, and I became sick. The bottom line is that there are bugs, bacteria and pathogens everywhere, everyday. You’ll never escape them. Your entire digestive system is even made of bacteria. The key to staying healthy is not trying to avoid bacteria and ‘catching’ illnesses, but to keep your immune system strong through the Primal 6. So the next time a cold or flu is making it’s way around your community, your body will be strong enough to NOT catch a cold.
It’s Up to You Whether You Catch a Cold or Not – February 2013
