Do you have friends who rarely or never get sick? Maybe you are one of them? Or are you in the group that gets every cold or virus going around, does the cold and flu shots and still gets a cold?
Let’s discuss what you can do to get yourself into the rarely gets a cold group and understand what you are doing or not doing to keep yourself healthy.
First, you must recognize that some of the beliefs you hold about health are outdated by over a hundred years. Take for example your belief about antibiotics. The advent of antibiotics created a revolution in health care. The belief was (and remains today) that it was now possible to eradicate those pathogenic bacteria that cause so much infection and disease.
Even back in the 1920s when antibiotics were first introduced, it was understood that the antibiotics had a side effect of killing both good & pathogenic bacteria. That was considered an acceptable risk then and still acceptable now. That was until about ten years ago when rapid DNA sequencing allowed us to fully understand the complexity and profound health consequences of the bacteria that inhabit our bodies.
That bacteria living on us and in us is collectively known as the microbiome. The microbiome is defined as the collective genomes of the microbes (composed of bacteria, bacteriophage, fungi, protozoa, and viruses) that live inside and on the human body. We have about 10 times as many microbial cells as human cells. So, to study the human as a "supraorganism," composed of both non-human and human cells and most important those nonhuman cells are essential to our health and well being.
Additionally, there is a macrobiome, meaning we (humans) are essentially guests in a bacterial world. Bacteria exist high in the atmosphere, and deep in the ground and oceans. And your microbiome is in direct communication with larger macrobiome. Fundamentally there is no way you can move in the environment without coming into contact with the macrobiome.
If you want to be in the rarely get sick group then you need a healthy diverse microbiome. Let’s look at how our microbiome can become compromised and allow us to be at the mercy of opportunistic infections.
Bacterial & Viral Exclusions on the body
- skin
- mucus membranes nostal, sinus
- mucus membrane gut
- about 70% of your bodies’ immune system surrounds the gut
Relative Risk vs Absolute Risk of Flu
Knowing that limiting how much alcohol you drink or exercising regularly can decrease your breast cancer risk is important. But you probably want to know just how much taking those steps -- limiting alcohol and exercising regularly -- can lower your risk.
Similarly, if you've been diagnosed and your doctor tells you that a certain treatment can reduce your risk of recurrence (the cancer coming back) by 40%, you probably want to know what that means for you.
Understanding the terms relative risk and absolute risk can help you better understand your own risk of breast cancer.
Relative risk is the number that tells you how much something you do, such as maintaining a healthy weight, can change your risk compared to your risk if you're very overweight. Relative risk can be expressed as a percentage decrease or a percentage increase. If something you do or take doesn't change your risk, then the relative risk reduction is 0% (no difference). If something you do or take lowers your risk by 30% compared to someone who doesn't take the same step, then that action reduces your relative risk by 30%. If something you do triples your risk, then your relative risk increases 300%.
Absolute risk is the size of your own risk. Absolute risk reduction is the number of percentage points your own risk goes down if you do something protective, such as stop drinking alcohol. The size of your absolute risk reduction depends on what your risk is, to begin with.
Wei Qi
Wei Qi is a classification of Qi that is otherwise known as our protective Qi. It is our first line of defense against external factors that cause illness. The stronger and more nourished our protective qi, the healthier and more resistant we are to external pathogens that cause illness. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), our protective Qi is controlled by our lung, a delicate organ susceptible to invasion of the exogenous wind pathogen. This wind pathogen is often paired with other factors such as heat and cold that weaken the protective function of the Wei Qi. When the Wei Qi is weak enough, these external factors wreck havoc on our health. Think of our Wei Qi as the dam trying to keep the water out. As long as you keep the dam strong, you can prevent catastrophe.
We have all heard this while we were growing up. Most of us ignored it and got sick. In TCM, this philosophy holds true. Covering up and dressing for the weather is one of the best things you can do to help keep your Wei Qi strong and to prevent you from falling ill due to a wind attack.
Common cold in TCM can be broken down into two basic categories, wind-cold, and wind-heat. A wind-cold attack will present with chills, fever, headaches, nasal congestion, running nose, itchy throat, and clear sputum. In this fall season, wind-cold is the most common wind attack seen clinically.
A wind-heat attack presents with fever, sweating, aversion to wind, pain, and distention in the head, productive cough with yellow/green sputum, congestion, and sore throat and thirst. Wind heat is often seen as the progression of a wind-cold left untreated. In TCM, it is important to take the proper steps immediately when you feel a wind attack affecting your health. Improper or lack of treatment can allow the pathogen to manifest more deeply and become harder to expel.
The microbiota
How the gut microbiota protects against pathogens is by directly blocking their movement and food sources, or indirectly by producing antimicrobial particles and fat particles, which can react to them.
- The gut microbiota (which is beneficial bacteria in the organism, already accepted by the immune system) also helps fight negative pathogens by using up space and nutrients that they could use to multiply and spread disease; while also bettering the person’s immune system.
- Bacteroidetes (which are a beneficial type of bacteria part of the gut microbiota) is more prevalent in individuals who mostly consume animal-based foods; while Prevotella is mostly seen in those consuming diets with plant-based foods.
- The adaptive nature of the gut microbiota allows it to adjust the host’s immune and metabolic pathways based on dietary habits and energy requirements; which in turn affects health or disease of the host.
- The changes seen with older age are an enrichment of Proteobacteria and a decrease in SCFA producing bacteria, correlating to a systemic increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines IL6 and IL8.
The skin barrier
The skin has its own microbiome and the gut microbiome appears to influence the skin microbiome as well. SCFAs resulting from fiber fermentation in the gut – propionate, acetate, and butyrate – are believed to play a pivotal role in determining the predominance of certain skin microbiomic profiles which subsequently influence cutaneous immune defense mechanisms. Additionally, intestinal microbiota exerts their influence on skin homeostasis through the modulatory effect of gut bacteria on systemic immunity. In other words, if there are rich diverse gut bacteria then the skin will be healthy:
- Bacterial diversity is also related to immunity, if the skin is healthy then you are more able to ward off seasonal colds and flu.
- The skin barrier has a protective effect since it has antimicrobial particles within the skin.
Certain bacteria provide relief for skin concerns that involve poor barrier function. The skin barrier function is located in the uppermost layer of the skin. Its function is to protect the body from excessive transepidermal water loss, as well as to prevent the penetration of compounds into the body via the epidermis. There is a symbiotic relationship with the bacteria that live on this uppermost layer with the skin providing nutrients for the bacteria and the bacteria protecting the skin from opportunistic infections, helping maintain a neutral pH and prevent water loss. Bacterial strains like S. thermophilus, S. hominis, and S. epidermidis, are all beneficial for patients who struggle with eczema and sensitive skin. The key characteristic of aging skin is that the skin’s pH increases and excessive water loss. This can allow the enzymes that break down collagen and elastin and lead to the visible signs of aging. We lose our ability to fight oxidation as we get older because we have a low number of antioxidants in our skin. Several beneficial strains have free radical scavenging properties, so they can help fight skin aging that way.
References
1. Cargal Warren L., Your Mitochondria: Key to Health and Longevity. Acupuncture Atlanta, Inc. (June 12, 2019)
2. Cargal Warren L., The Reality We Create: The Influence of Beliefs and Consciousness on Our Health and Longevity Acupuncture Atlanta, Inc. (July 24, 2019)
