How to Stay Well - Even When No One Else Is
….Long long ago, in the time before 'The Pandemic’, you may recall that there was just being “sick.” This blog speaks to the good, old-fashioned practical approach to support our healthy immune state. This is helpful to resist and recover from all kinds of illnesses. As always, don’t hesitate to consult with your own trusted health care experts.
Let's talk about how to hold on to your health, even when you're being continuously exposed to 'what's going around'. I myself once had these three rather serious exposures in close succession:
INFLUENZA A: When laboring mama couldn't breathe through her serious and lingering respiratory illness, we transported to the hospital from a planned homebirth. After many hours, the hospital culture came back positive for Influenza A; they immediately set up the hazmat outfits in the hall for entering her room. Whoops, too late for me.
GHASTLY PUKES: Teenage son #1 started puking at 2 am, and then a total of 19 more times in the next eight hours. Son #2 puked twice that day also, and spent most of the day on the toilet with the other end version. The next day - I accidentally mistook his toothbrush for mine, and USED HIS TOOTHBRUSH. Yuuuuuck!
HORRIBLE GI: Homebirth client and her family came to late morning prenatal, mentioning in passing that her toddler woke with throw-up in his bed. But he was acting fine and dandy that morning, no signs of illness. Ok. Except that evening I got a text that most of the household was seriously ill with nonstop puking. "I've known my husband for 10 years, and he's never thrown up. Today he's been locked in the bathroom for 6 hours."
So here is what I did to stay in the game, and how you can dig in when you absolutely CAN NOT get ill. Even in the year or two before the pandemic, many families had been cyclically ill for weeks and months. It's VERY worth your investment of time and money in your health to stay above the germ free-for-all.
#1: DON'T 'PUSH THROUGH'
when you know you've been exposed to an active contagion, or when you are run down in cold & flu season. No matter how much you can't spare the time for a nap or leaving work early, if you were to become horribly sick for a week, or more, what level of regret (and inconvenience) would you experience?
#2: KEEP WARM, DO NOT GET CHILLED.
Warm necks with scarfs or turtlenecks, all of it. Under no circumstances do you stand out in the blustery wind at the gas station without warmth wrapped around you! Take a hot shower or hot bath to warm up if this unfortunately happens.
#3: SLEEP.
Naps, early bedtime, whatever. Our bodies restore and repair in sleep, in ways that don't happen much other times. This one is free, and many of us are out-of-the-habit of self-care.
#4: MORE WATER, and preferably NOT tap water with it's gut-disturbing chlorine. More on water here. Being dehydrated, and many of us are chronically dehydrated, handicaps our immune system's effort to move the bad guys out.
#5: MOVE YOUR LYMPH. "The primary function of the lymphatic system is to transport lymph, a fluid containing infection-fighting white blood cells, throughout the body." It ONLY moves through physical movement that creates at least a bit of impact-think vigorous walk, jumping jacks, light bouncing in place, or bouncing on a mini-tramp. I was in the basement daily on our 'Rebounder', and also whenever mild symptoms started to creep in (scratchy throat, achy, off digestion). Immediate improvements, every time.
#6: VITAMIN D - SUPPLEMENT & SUNSHINE ON YOUR FOREHEAD IN THE MORNING
(which stimulates your own Vitamin D production.) Even cloudy winter skies have UV that comes through. You'll be amazed at the positive immune & mood effects of even just 3-5 minutes bundled on the balcony or front porch! Doc’s are commonly suggesting supplementing 5,000 IU’s in summer and 10,000 IU’s in winter if you live in the limited sun areas like we are in Michigan.
#7: LOAD UP ON IMMUNE SUPPORT SUPPLEMENTS!
Wish Garden Herbs has herbal combinations for immune support cannot be beat for the quality + effectiveness + results. During the decade Indigo Forest was a storefront, customers returned for Wish Garden over and over, and always when their rough season began, “This is the only thing that really helps!”.
Nature's Sunshine is a supplement company with great quality, and I’ve used this combo below a number of times with success. Here's a list of these and a few other favorites from them.
Vitamin C - essential for immune boosting.
Protease Plus Enzymes - “eats up foreign proteins in the blood”, which are those bad guys.
Charcoal capsules - absorbs toxins on their way through the GI tract, got this health hack from one of my clients.
Probiotics - restore/maintain healthy gut micro-biome, the 'seat of our immune system'‘.
'Immune Stim' - herbal blend.
#8: AVOID SUGAR AND CAFFEINE. Yah, I'm sorry about this. But that bowl of ice cream just invites the little beasties to set up camp in your ears, throat, and lymph. And coffee makes our blood and bodies much more acidic, which typically help pathogens thrive. People can usually feel how much more congested or 'clogged up' they are afterwards. How about 'treats' that can help you out instead? How about the anti-oxidant and immune-boosting qualities of fresh organic blueberries?
No matter how simple and annoying some of these suggestions are, their effects cannot be underestimated! The benefits of these lifestyle and supplement choices are that they also nourish and help to build us up over time, not just swat at the germs when we're down. When in doubt, take a nap. Good luck!
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