#241: What We Can Teach Our Youth on Building Their Immune System
Re-thinking our own care, and those of our loved ones is essential in 2024.
It is that time of year in Canada, the weather is colder, there is less sunlight and we don’t get outside as in other months.
If you have not been hit with the flu bug recently or another round of Covid19, then you probably know someone who has.
In edition #241, we target a refresh on building up our immune system, for us and those under our care.
I recently started reading “Outlive”, by Dr. Peter Attia (you can find it on Amazon). It is a book on longevity and best practices for living a high quality life as we get older. Early in the book, Dr. Attia talks about Medicine 3.0 as a way of thinking differently about our health. Medicine 3.0 (paraphrasing from Dr. Attia), has the philosophy of treating us when we get to a certain level of illness. It is care prior to getting to the point the our doctor starts to treat us. Before we get sick, or have high blood pressure, or diagnosed with one of the multitude of ailments that can hit us.
For us and our kids, the starting point is our immune system.
Our bodies’ ability to hold off illness.
It gets beaten down, and it is getting beaten down earlier and earlier in life.
· Our food supply quality is not the same quality it was once was. Big business has interfered with our food supply so it is extremely difficult to get all our essential nutrients from food. Pesticides in our food supply is at an all time high, and there is a growth of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in our western culture.
· Our air quality is not the same as it once was. More than 95 percent of world's population breathe polluted, dangerous air. https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-pollutionhttps://www.conserve-energy-future.com/various-pollution-facts.php
· There is an unprecedented level of stress in our culture. 60-80% of primary care doctors visits are related to stress. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1392494
· Many of us and our kids are sleep deprived. 35% of Americans do not get 7 hours of sleep per night. Since 1985, the percentage of adults who get less than 6 hours of sleep has increased by 31%. Sleep deprivation costs the us $411 billion annually. https://www.thegoodbody.com/sleep-statistics/
Edition #240 covered this here in case you missed it.
It is not limited to our culture. Half of Japanese in the prime of their life are getting less than 6 hours of sleep per night.
· Exposure to WIFI and Bluetooth is having a major impact on our health.
· Grief at some point hits us all (including our young people) and takes a toll.
It is all taking its toll on our immune system.
Weakening it.
Sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly.
A weakened immune system exposes us to illness. Our bodies can not fight off viruses.
Virus. The word of the decade so far would you not say?
A virus develops in the air, in food, through stress or other factors.
It targets our immune system.
The weaker our immune system, the higher risk of illness.
The battle to keep our immune system strong takes on a new level of importance.
Does this now become the most important thing for us and our loved ones?
A strong immune system?
Gone are the days when we assume, we have a strong immune system, until the doctor tells us we don’t.
It is now time to look at this the other way around.
We are exposed to so many toxins, it becomes a matter of time before we get sick.
UNLESS……
UNLESS we shift the mindset to one of building our immune system. Proactively.
This is the message from a growing number of healthcare practitioners, led by Dr. Attia.
Drinking filtered water, eating vegetables, minimizing sugar and alcohol, getting our sleep, meditating, and daily exercise become critical in building ourselves up.
Similar to investing for retirement. Building up our body requires us to pay ourselves first, and build up the stores that allow our bodies to fight off the toxins. To increase our chances for good health for as long as possible.
The corona virus has caused so much grief, and panic and fear. It continues to be a legitimate threat to our collective health. It strikes our society at a time when our immune systems are at a very low point. Almost a surprise attack.
But is it?
Is it surprising we are not as healthy as we should be?
The feeling of fear and concern is real.
Have we not been warned of this for years?
The level of obesity rising ?
The level of inactivity?
The level of sleep deprivation and its impact?
Climate change and the toxins released into the atmosphere?
Are we feeling this virus is a random act that we can not do anything about or is it a warning that maybe we need to think differently about protecting ourselves and our loved ones?
Is this enough to cause a movement towards resurrecting a commitment to our collective health.
To refreshing our immune system, and realizing that without our health, we have nothing.
In the 1950’s and 60’s the exercise promoters like Jack Lalanne were considered freaks.
The push for organic food was seen as extreme in the 1990’s.
We rolled our eyes when our mom told us to eat our vegetables.
Sleeping 8-9 hours a night was a sign of being lazy or unmotivated said the productivity people at one point.
Perhaps now, we will be scared into not taking our health for granted. To realizing that we do have some control.
It’s not fancy or sexy, but getting our sleep, our daily physical activity, our vegetables and sources of protein and seeing a professional to make sure your liver is working are not luxuries.
There are health care practitioners that can help us. Naturopathic doctors are one. They specialize in making sure our system is working before they prescribe any additional nutrients.
However, the simplest strategies are not necessarily easy. We are tempted at every turn to do more, eat quicker, sacrifice quality of choices, take on the quick fix of fast food etc.
Its time refresh our perspective. There is an awful lot at stake.