Covid-19: A Solution Based Approach
Nature’s Pharmacy has you Covered
Inflammation, Immune System, Influenza
Fear is insidious and more contagious than any virus can ever be. There are countless research studies
Covid-19: A Solution Based Approach
Nature’s Pharmacy has you Covered
Inflammation, Immune System, Influenza
Fear is insidious and more contagious than any virus can ever be. There are countless research studies confirming that stress (e.g. from fear, anger, worry) impairs the efficacy of our immune system
Firstly, what is inflammation?
You feel a cold coming on: some muscle aches and pains, sniffles, fever. Your throat and nose turn red, forehead warms up and nasal passages start to become swollen. You feel slightly sick! Why does this happen?
- Pain and discomfort serve to alert you to the problem so that you can soothe your throat and nose, and allow your body to rest.
- The swelling puts pressure on nerves to make sure you cannot ignore the injury to your mucosa.
- The redness signals your body to send blood to the site of injury. The blood carries the healers, it is like an ambulance with emergency personnel on board. Lots of blood = redness and heat (fever)
All these are the characteristics of the fire associated with acute inflammation. Your body’s inflammatory response is vital to the healing process. Inflammation commands the Immune System Troops to deploy and each one of the squad members have a specific role to play in healing your cold.
Once the immediate threat is over, you should start to get better. If, however, the troops do not get the command to retreat, because of some unknown break in communication (e.g. overwhelming stress or panic), the squad keeps on working. This is when inflammation turns from friend to foe: worsening or ongoing infection.
Our own fearful thoughts become the silent trigger for ongoing dis-ease, as it gradually destroys our immune cells’ function at a time when we really need an optimally functioning immune system.
Enter: The Immune System
The current frenzied panic around the Coronavirus (Covid-19) has shown once again how fear will lead to renegade inflammation, leading to a suppressed immune system. This virus is part of the influenza (flu) group of viruses affecting the respiratory system.
What is a virus? A virus is a simple organism that carries a code, a piece of information, to replicate itself. ‘It is a biological agent that reproduces inside the cells of living hosts. When infected by a virus, a host cell is forced to produce thousands of identical copies of the original virus at an extraordinary rate’ – Wikipedia.
Statistics: To date of this writing, the coronavirus has led to more than 100 000 confirmed cases and more than 3 000 deaths worldwide. Compare this with the flu, also called influenza: in the US alone, the flu has caused an estimated 34 million confirmed cases, 350 000 hospitalisations and 20 000 deaths this season (US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention).
Maintain perspective: even at its worst projected morbidity rate (and we still don’t have precise figures), 97.5 percent of those who get it make a full recovery.
Reported symptoms in patients with confirmed Covid-19 have varied from mild to severe, and can include fever (found in all infections as part of the body’s natural inflammatory immune response to support recovery), dry cough and shortness of breath, muscle aches and pains, headache, and sore throat. It is quite clear that all respiratory viruses cause similar symptoms, therefore do not panic if you experience any of them – it might be influenza or even the common cold. In any case, there are many solutions!
By supporting your own immune and respiratory systems, you will be able to prevent pandemics (global epidemic), colds, influenza (flu) and allergies. After all, your body’s natural state is to be healthy!
To minimise the spread of any infection, including usual colds and flu, we should try to keep our immune defences optimal and our exposure down.
Prevention is the best cure
Viral pandemics, including cold and flu viruses can be transmitted in the following ways: touching respiratory secretions on a person’s skin (when shaking hands, for example) or environmental surfaces (such as doorknobs, kitchen counters, wash basins or handrails) and then touching the eyes, nose or mouth; also by inhaling infectious particles in the air (from a cough or sneeze).
- Health Education is key for employees, colleagues, friends and family members. We facilitate workshops/talks and seminars on Immune System Health, incl. how to improve the functioning of it, to be able to fight off any infections (including the Covid-19). Click here for more info on our Workplace Wellness Solutions.
- The best way to break the chain of infection is by practising basic hygiene, such as frequent hand washing (soap and water will suffice!) and not touching the nose, eyes or mouth. The inner, mucous lining of the respiratory tract is the body’s first line of defence against cold and flu viruses.
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