What’s Up With Your Health?

Quick Quiz - put the following in order of the most important to you:

  • Your family
  • Your personal health

If you put your health first you already know that with all the health based attention in the media at the moment it’s more important than ever to keep yourself in top condition and give your body the best chance it has of dealing with anything that comes your way.

If you put family first you are also correct. And to be in a position to do your best for your family your own personal health must be at it's best. You can only provide the high standards you want to if you are firng on all cylinders yourself.

Our bodies in their current form have been about for many millenia and we’ve done pretty well in all that time with our naturally developed immune systems.

Unfortunately over the last few hundred years, and especially the last few decades, we have lost a lot of our original advantages.

Technology and medical science have allowed us to become weak versions of ourselves. We have modes of transport that require no physical effort, more and more of our jobs involve staying still for long periods, drugs of various sorts come in and hammer the bacteria and viruses and other causes of illness so that our bodies either don’t need to, or are prevented from, being able to fight the invaders off for themselves.


This despite the fact that we all do the best we can for ourselves with the information we’re presented with. It’s just a sad reflection that much of this information is incorrect. That’s just how things are with science. We think we’ve got the right answers and then something comes along to show that what we thought was right actually isn’t at all.

Take for instance the structure of the atom.

At one time it was thought it was like a fruit pudding with all the protons and neutrons just randomly in there. Then it was shown through experiments that there were electrons orbiting a nucleus of protons and neutrons. Then a smart guy with wild hair suggested it wasn’t anything of the sort but was actually interactions of energies. Step 2 of this is the one still taught in schools but step 3 is the one that (currently) seems more correct as corroborated by another smart guy in a wheelchair.

Now - to get back on topic - one of the most important systems of our bodies is our immune system. It's also the one on everyone’s mind right now.

We actually have more than one immune system - the innate and the adaptive immune systems. You could think of the first one as a generalist that simply hits anything that attacks us fast. It rushes in and fights off anything that shouldn’t be there (often making us feel rubbish for a little while). It’s strong and powerful and does an incredibly good job at the drop of a hat. Yes it's a blanket fire weapon but it's a very effective one...

Then there’s a more specific system - the adaptive system - which is armed with the information to deal with each specific invader. Once recognised it sends in the troops for that specific case and fights it off in a more targeted way. It does need teaching (which vaccination can help with in a weak way) but once it knows what to do it can do the job well.


Both systems need looking after and both systems need some basic tools and materials to allow them to work properly. They’re also both quite delicate so if they don’t get the things they need then they’re not going to be able to do their jobs to any useful degree.

Four of the key areas to focus on when you want to work to repair and build up your immune system into robust bug and disease busting machine are: stress, inflammation, sleep and diet.

  • Stress
  • Inflammation
  • Sleep
  • Diet

I cover these specific topics in more detail in other articles but the broad headlines for these are:

Stress

Your body and mind don't know which is which where stress is concerned. Mental stress will have a direct impact on your physical health and physical stress will have a direct impact on your mental health.

This goes far beyond the idea of getting butterflies in your tummy when you're nervous. It's more than just a set of trite sayings and old wives' tales. It concerns the all important Vagus Nerve.

The vagus nerve runs all around your organs including connections to your heart, stomach and brain. It transmits signals both ways which means an upset stomach will affect your mood, a tough situation at work will ramp up your heart rate and a racing heart can make you feel sick and a whole host of other effects to boot.

On the other hand, sitting quietly whilst focussing on breathing can reverse these unpleasant sensations. It can bring your heart rate down, lighten your mood and settle indigestion.

The action and reaction of the Vagus Nerve is just one of the clear and known mechanisms that relate to stress moving all round your body and messing things up. And quiet controlled breathing to restore equilibrium is equally well known.


In historical times the stress response was there to protect us - it ramps up our ability to run away from danger, or to fight it off if cornered. In modern living there is less need for it but small confrontations at work or arguments at home, dealing with heavy traffic, getting scared of people breathing germs on us and all the other symptoms of everyday life will add to a small amount of stress hitting us all the time. We call it chronic stress, chronic essentially meaning ongoing. It's this ongoing, or chronic, stress that is very bad for us.

So looking at all the little things that cause it and dealing with them is a vital part of regaining control of our health.

Inflammation

Inflammation is a major cause for many diseases. For example, anything ending in 'itis' means it's an inflammation. Tonsillitis for example is an inflammation of the tonsils. It is an important reaction to invading bacteria so is a positive occurrence in kids - better Tonsillitis than a chest infection. Arthritis, Rhinitis, Tendonitis etc - they're all an inflammatory responses to the exacerbating cause. Some inflammations are slight and beneficial. Other are more violent and need to be avoided or controlled.


For instance, slight inflammation is a trigger to strengthen our bodies. If we exercise a little beyond our previous capability a slight inflammation is the usual result. Our bodies know to repair and build in these areas in case we need to repeat the action. This is a basic component of training plans.

Inflammation has many triggers including stress, poor diet, environmental toxins, excessive activity, accidental damage etc. Given the number of causes it would be a long list of recommendations that would reduce it but there are things we can do to prevent major inflammations.

Get physically strong and fit and you will stave off physically triggered inflammations.

Build up your immune system and it will deal with most things before they become a more serious inflammation.

Sleep

Our bodies go through a daily repair process both physically and mentally. They do this primarily when we're asleep. Our brains shut off the slow and cumbersome parts (the conscious bits essentially) and get on with making sense of the day unencumbered. While systems that are needed during the day get shut down, or at least reduced, the physical repair and rebuild processes can kick in and do their jobs without interruption.


For instance, have you noticed that you generally need to wee as soon as you wake up? That's because you generate a little cortisol on waking to help you get out of bed and become alert. Cortisol also wakes up your bladder and urinary system in order that the build up from the night is ready to be released. The system was shut down overnight as being unnecessary which is why you didn't wee then. If you do wake to wee in the night it is likely you're too highly stressed and need to get this under control.

The right amount of sleep varies from person to person but is generally somewhere between 7 and 9 hrs per night on average. Whatever your amount, you need it to be quality and go through all the sleep cycles. A sleep monitor can help you identify whether your sleep quality is good.

Diet

Diet means different things to different people. As everyone is a little different so are the variations of ideal diet so it's important to find yours. The main things that will make any of them optimal are to work towards fresh ingredients with minimal processing and for that to be the most consistent part of your dietary intake. Quantity is also important to maintain a healthy weight but it's likely that if you're eating the right things then you'll not over or under indulge anyway.


If you need help working out your ideal diet or any of the ideas above get in touch and I'll work with you to find the solutions you need.