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He who cures a disease may be the skillfullest, but he that prevents it is the safest physician.
Thomas Fuller
Wear a mask and social distance (use the force instead).
Monetary abundance and poverty. Vegetables and Twinkies. Exercise and binge watching. One prevents problems and the other causes problems. Which do you deserve? Pick your poison because coronavirus isn’t a picky poison. It loves everyone equally. In coronavirus’s lack of eyes, we are all warm and squishy inside. Time to arm yourself and prevent it from lung lounging and cough coasting.
Prevention 101
How does no cost sound? Money is tight. Hard to fit in your pockets if it was free flowing and loose. First prevention strategies are easily accessible to everyone. Reason being these have no cost attached. If you want to pay money, the next post will tell you where to spend it.
Solar Rays
Vampires hate it. Superman adores it. The sun. source of light and life on planet Earth. It emits pleasing colors to the eyes, and harsh penetrating rays of death called UV. An early article by homeland security has said that “sunlight kills the virus quickly”.[20] On a surface, exposed to direct sunlight for three minutes, coronavirus was undetectable. The virus becomes unstable at higher temperatures. Even in droplets, the virus stands no chance basking in the glory of the sun’s face.
UV light eradicates DNA. This is how UV light leads to skin cancer for example. Coronavirus is no exception as evident in the preliminary results of the Department of Homeland Security. Go outside and get some sunlight. Humans can tolerate a little UV light. More than enough to kill viruses. Nonetheless, listen to your local laws and get some sunlight rich in UV.
UV exposure is associated with higher nitric oxide levels.[21][22] Yes, UV light kills viruses, but nitric oxide inhibited replication of the SARS virus [23]. It stands to reason that coronavirus has the same weakness.
Should you go buy a UV light to disinfect yourself and everything around you? No. First off these are prevention methods with no cost attached. Second off the UV used in those concentrated lights is called UV-C. That stands for Uh-oh Very Cancerous. UV-C is one step below X-ray radiation. Do not do this unless you want cancer and loss of eyesight. Enough talk, time for action. Grab a weapon or two. It’s go time.
Basic Weaponry
Exercise. Are you doing enough or any at all? Most of us think we do enough when we don’t do enough. Want to suppress your immune system?[1] How about achieve chronic inflammation from not exercising?[2] Not exercising = over exercising. Pick one and you win immune suppression.
The Chinese have a saying “still water breeds poison” Stagnant water becomes a swamp. A stagnant body will result in disease when lacking motion. Get up and move! Exercise improves blood flow, the roadway used by the immune soldiers. Exercise improve your immunity in many way. For example exercise:[3][5]
Improves aerobic capacity (this makes it easier for the lungs).
Improves heart function.
Regulates the nervous system response.
The Sympathetic nervous system is the active/crisis system. It helps the body be on high alert. Whether the high alert comes from a heavy load, a tiger chasing you, or a virus the results are the same. High alert.
Parasympathetic is the consuming system (feeding) and conserving energy. It tells the you to be at ease. Relax, after all you escaped the tiger or dropped that heavy load.
Guess which system activates during exercise? High alert. High alert is necessary to hold the overhead heavy iron weight. Not being on high alert, means the weight of the world will crush you. While running, high alert is important. Running unconsciously with cars around? Then I have bad news for you.
Keep those wheels running. Lift something, even your body counts.
Overdoing Exercise
If your idea of exercise is lying in a puddle of sweat panting and lifting limbs that feel heavy as iron, bad idea. Overdoing exercise=over activating the high alert system. You tell your body there is a crisis. The body listens. What causes this?
Exercise promotes lactic acid, the burn. No pain, no gain? More like “more pain, insane”. Exercise is a stress on the body compounded by lactic acid, another stress. Lactic acid decreases your antioxidants creating more stress. The antioxidant system cannot keep up with the acid bursting forth.
Excess lactic acid increases oxidative damage. Antioxidants cannot keep up and lose the fight. lactic acid gets a free pass and steals from your cells. This causes you damage and accelerates aging. It makes you more susceptible to respiratory infections.[3][4] Covid-19 anyone? It impacts and lowers natural killer cells count. Do not kill your own immune soldiers. Start slow if you don’t regularly exercise.
What To Do
Light aerobic such as walking is perfect. You get fresh clean air, sunlight, and aerobic exercise. Biking and swimming work wonders too. Avoid chronic cardio. Running all the time day in and day out jogging endlessly and burning out. Just walk. That’s a good start. Don’t go from couch hero running at zero to a marathon dasher disaster.
Lift heavy. Hard to do with no iron. Use a kettlebell. Do body weight exercise. Tension is tension. The body knows not the difference. Does your body know the difference between mashed potatoes made at home or from a box? Both cause equal gains around the waist. Resistance training makes you harder to kill.
Stay alactic. That means avoid the burn like it’s the coronavirus. It keeps the antioxidants safe for when you really need it. Could be tomorrow or in a few hours. Never go to failure. Always keep a rep or two away from failure. When your form fails, (you slow down) that’s when you stop.
Rest
This is important. For example, muscles grow during rest, not during exercise. Likewise, the body needs rest. Real rest! What does rest look like? Answer this carefully there is only one answer.
Doing nothing.
When a dog rests, does it check Facebook? No, it curls in the corner and stops moving. Yes, a dog does not have opposable thumbs for clicking the like button but it won’t play with its toys if it wants to rest. If it needs electricity or a battery, it is not for resting. If it is for entertainment purposes, it is not resting. In between exercise sets, after exercise, after working and in the evening rest.
Draw the curtains, play some soothing music and do nothing. This is true rest. Light reading is acceptable, the more boring the better. Can’t sit still long enough? Here is a solution accessible to everyone.
Meditate. This counts as resting and lowers the stress response [6]. Yes, you are “doing something”, but your mind is at ease. The body is still. Sit down, breath into your nose. Focus only on that. Repeat for 20-30 mins or for hours. Meditation provides adequate rest. Hate sitting? There’s a solution for that too.
Moving meditations. Tai chi, Qigong, and others are good meditations as well. The more relaxing it is, the better it is for resting. Avoid anything too stimulating like Ultra Pilates Yoga.
Sleep.
We touched upon this before, now inspect it closer. Sleep has many impacts on the body. Sleep repairs and prepares the body for the next day’s despair. A king once asked a holy medicine man in China, to boil his knowledge down into one distilled answer. His question was what the most important medicine, or remedy was. The answer? Sleep.
The body goes into repair mode. Without it, incidences of colds rise due to lowered immunity.[7][8][9] Get appropriate shut eye. Remember, lights out means lights out.
Mind
A great leader controls the actions of his troops. The brain is central command. It communicates with the endocrine system using. hormones like cortisol. The brain also controls the nervous system like the sympathetic, high alert, system and parasympathetic, relaxing, system.
An overburdened leader is an inefficient leader. That leader cannot command adequately. Stress and mood have the biggest impact, second only to sleep. Sleep is self-regulated, when you are tired, you feel it. Mood and stress are sneakier. They will grab hold tightly and not let go, unless commanded.
Emotions can cause immunity suppression.[10][11][12] Think of stress induced from fear. Something frightening occurs and the body recognizes the threat. Adrenaline pours out and immunity is reduced. People who are chronically depressed also have lower immune function. Meditation helps with the emotional response. [13] Reduce the stress in life, it starts with you. Rein in those emotions. Show them you’re the master. Who is in control? You are. Do not let them control you!
Water
What’s the number one substance the body contains? Water. Without it nothing occurs. No blood flows, no muscles contract, no digestion occurs. Life fails. Drink adequate water. Food water is not enough. Most of us are dehydrated and do not know it.
Drink clean pure water. Avoid common toxins in water.[14] They disrupt the body’s immune system and affect the immune soldiers waging battle. Avoid polystyrene (Styrofoam) as it is an endocrine disruptor.
Air
What will kill you quickest if you lack it? Not food, nor water. Air. You can last maybe minutes without air. Get some good quality air. Go outside. Make sure your face covering allows you to breath some air. After all, no one wants to smell their own breath all day.
Recirculated air can harbor molds and allergens. After all, there is no wind to blow the bad guys away. Get some fresh air, open the windows. Let out the stale air and B.O. The lesson presented earlier “still water breeds poison”, also applies to air. Air that’s stale is deaths exhale.
Remember meditation? You can double down efforts and do Pranayama to enhance this. This will save you time, although we have lots of time currently. Qigong and Tai Chi are versions of pranayama as well.
Breathwork is best done early around 5-7 am when pollution is lowest, and oxygen is highest. Plants exude oxygen. Get some indoor plants or open the windows. Get it in while you can. Clear out those lungs.
Eat some good stuff.
Food
The most important aspect of the immune system. This provides the building blocks for the immune system. Remember toxins disrupt and preoccupied the immune army. Toxins can enter via the mouth. Mercury in fish[15], BPA[16][17] and organophosphates[18][19] (endocrine disruptors), and refined carbs/fried foods (toxins[20] and rapid blood sugar drop) are all stressors.
What is the best diet? During times when war is raging within; eat a high antioxidant and high in good fats diet with adequate protein intake. Eat a low to no refined carbohydrate intake and an adequate amount of complex whole carbohydrate intake. Avoid a diet “label” and eat foods that agree with you. Closer to nature is best. The fresher the better too.
Food List
List of Vegetables:
All of them. (be aware of starchy veggies and nightshades)
Fruits. (all of them, limit yourself to a few servings a day.)
Grains. (whole, unhusked is preferred but white rice is acceptable in small amounts.)
Despite eating well, getting enough nutrients can be difficult. Eating well is the foundation, supplementation is partial salvation. Eat appropriate foods to help the immune army fight. Supplements cannot replace real food, only enhance. Like how TV caters an event to your eyes, the cheap imitation (TV) cannot compare to feasting your eyes on the in-person event. Nourishment is everything. A multivitamin doesn’t replace a bad diet, it only enhances.
Prevention 101 is over. Next class is 102. Don’t be late or hesitate.
Want to read the beginning of this series? here is part 1 and part 2.
Look towards the facts.
How High Is Your Risk?
How much will you be affected? 81% of cases will have no symptoms, to mild symptoms. [1] Of those, 14% will require hospitalization and 5% need ICU care. People admitted to an ICU had some other underlying disease present. [2] Those most at risk are patients with one of the following: diabetes, heart disease, immunosuppression or lung disease. Anyone over the age of 65 is also at risk. [3]
[4] This study talks about the people most at risk of dying and compares them to those who survived. Those over age of 65 and with underlying health conditions (in this case heart disease, kidney disease, and lung disease) fell into the high mortality group. Coronavirus may enter the blood as these patients had no secondary infection but showed signs of sepsis, a blood infection. These people were also the ones who were the most ill and their outcomes were not great.
How Deadly Is It?
The data from Italy shows, the fatality rate from infection was totaled as 3.3 percent.[6] Not all of this is doom and gloom. Most of us will do fine. The death rate of the disease is being questioned. According to this study,[12] in China the death rate was .32% for anyone under the age of 60. Those older than 60 but younger than 80 had a 6.4% and those over 80 a 13.4% mortality. This is great news for the majority of young people. Our older population needs more safeguarding.
What About Testing?
The nasal swab method of testing is called RT-PCR. It tests for fragments of the RNA of the virus to see if you currently have it. No test is 100% accurate. Nothing is. Even alcohol or antibacterial soap has a .1% of microbes it cannot kill. Bear in mind, the RT-PCR test has a false negative rate of 30%.[7] Therefore, out of 100 people tested for the virus, 30 people will receive a false negative result.
What About Antibody Testing?
Antibody testing is still in a testing phase. Its accuracy is being questioned. Several tests are sold and deemed accurate. The FDA is not regulating these tests. NPR mentioned recently that these tests are prone to error as well. [8] These tests may falsely state that the person has antibodies to coronavirus. This is a false positive.
How does this affect us?
The main testing method has a false negative rate of 30%. That means the number of people who are infected is higher than the current number of confirmed cases. This in turn brings the death rate down lower.
In Los Angeles, the University of Southern California has conducted a study.[9] The study indicates that anywhere from 2.8% to 5.6% of people had exposure to coronavirus. Adjusting for error, the number of people exposed to coronavirus is between 221,000 to 442,000. As of 4/25 the total number of deaths was 913. That means the death rate is between 0.2% and 0.4% for all ages.
In Santa Clara county, the number of those with antibodies was between 2.5% and 4.6%. Representing at least a 50 fold increase over their confirmed cases. [10] This significantly drops the death rate in Santa Clara as well. With summer around the corner, things are looking brighter.
Anthony Fauci authored a paper where he states “the case fatality rate, may be considerably less than 1%”. [11] This puts COVID-19 and it’s coronavirus thugs around the level of deaths from flu. This Lancet study mentions that in China the infection fatality rate was 0.66% across all ages. Anyone over 80 had a rate of 18.4%.[12] Unless you are in the high risk group, odds are on your side.
He just washed his hands.
How can we cure or kill it?
There is no internal cure for Coronavirus. Your army, the immune system, will do it’s best to fight it. We can give it a helping (clean) hand. Know this one thing. Yes, you can prevent coronavirus but the virus can be killed. There are the CDC recommendations [5] that are great for preventing and slowing the spread, but let’s look at handwashing a little more in depth.
Soap kills the virus.[13] Alcohol will dry coronavirus out like how toilet paper hoarders emptied store shelves. Alcohol is not as effective as soap. Remember coronavirus is surrounded by a layer of lipid, a.k.a. a fat or oil. This lipid holds the RNA, the guts, needed for replication in place until it is time to be injected in our cells.
Soap contains amphiphiles. These small fat-like structures can bind to the lipid layer of the virus. Soap binds to water as well as competing with the structures of the viral shell. What you get is a ripping apart of the virus, effectively killing it. Alcohol works similarly, but is less effective especially at concentrations below 60 percent. It sounds like messy work, but it has a great perk. A clean getaway. Who knew a cheap bar of soap could wash your worries away.
The takeaway is when soap is around wash your hands; if there is no soap alcohol will do.
Enough about coronavirus, next we will cover (no mask needed) prevention strategies. With the odds in our favor, it doesn’t hurt to do more. This is most helpful for those at risk as well. After all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Right now, that cure doesn’t exist.
Aliens, invaders, killers, coronavirus. All names for what ail us. Invisible forces wrecking war wantonly. An enemy that knows no sleep. A force driven by desire. “Living” between life and death. How to fight off this “zombie” apocalypse? Know your enemy coronavirus. Learn them well, and you can succeed. Deep diving into Coronavirus and the disease it causes, covid-19, will constitute part of the war plan. “speak softly and carry a big stick” in this manner, you cannot be perturbed.
Coronavirus, the poison of our times. What is it exactly? Coronavirus has spikey projections extending from it, hence the name corona. The spikes are important and play a role we will discuss later. Viruses are built in a simple manner. Our particular enemy, coronavirus, is gift wrapped neatly in what is called a lipid (fatty) layer. This thin layer of fat keeps the guts of the virus inside until the time comes to plant its seed.
There are a few Coronaviruses in the world. The more commonly known ones are SARS and MERS. Lesser known ones are HCOV, OC43, and HCOV 229E, all are responsible for the common cold. In fact, anywhere from 5-30 percent of common colds are cause by a type of coronavirus. [1][2]
Coronavirus is responsible for causing the disease COVID-19. Similar to HIV being a cause of AIDS. A virus is neither alive, nor dead. It reacts to stimuli in the body and can evade pursuit. Make it hard for the enemy to infiltrate you.
Symptoms of COVID-19
What are the signs you may have this Coronavirus? General, nonspecific symptoms are present. Fever, malaise, fatigue, a dry cough, shortness of breath (harder to breath) and a sore throat. Less common symptoms are diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. Be aware. These signs mean that you have been invaded. This Coronavirus is sneaky and tends to lie in wait for 5-11 days or longer before symptoms present. [3][4] what adds to this level of stealth is that this virus may not cause symptoms in some people. Maybe even 78% of us are walking around unknowingly aiding the enemy.[5]
How does the enemy infiltrate us?
Viruses have wanderlust. They travel from person to person; like people travel from country to country. A virus will hitch a ride from a person actively shedding coronavirus. Once coronavirus has touch terra firma, a.k.a. your skin, it lies in wait. It either enters the territory of another or it enters your inner sanctum. Coronavirus enters by contact or droplets jettisoned out from a nose or mouth.
Being a respiratory virus, anything to do with breath has potential to form droplets. These escape pods give the virus an opportunity to enter new territory and cross borders. A cough. A sneeze. A contaminated surface caressed unknowingly by a hand. Even talking produces droplets that enter hyperspace at warp speed to reach you. Droplets may land in front of your face and be inhaled or swallowed as it mingles within you. A hand that’s been touching all over the place, does not belong in your face.
How does Coronavirus replicate?
A virus is either RNA or DNA based. The COVID-19 causer, coronavirus, is RNA based. It will enter a cell and release its RNA into the cell. This hijacks the cell into becoming a virus creating factory. The cell will replicate viruses over and over until they overwhelm the cell and burst forth like the extraterrestrials from the movie “Aliens”. These viruses are now freely roaming and each one will infect a new cell. Imagine 1 virus creating 10000. Then each one of those creating 10000. The situation can get ugly quickly.
The infection process.
Our enemy coronavirus latches onto something called an ACE2 receptor. It reaches for this using it’s spiky projections and has a love for these receptors. [6] These receptor are located in lots of tissues in the body. Most notably in the lungs, small intestines, heart, liver and testis. [7] This in part explains why some people develop heart issues [8][9] or digestive issues[10].
Home is where the lungs are.
Coronavirus prefers the lungs over anything else. This is party central for coronavirus, like college students at the beach during spring break. The virus will congregate and replicate swiftly in this area. The virus prefers to enter lungs cells from the apical side. This apical side is in direct contact with outside air. That side of the cell also has a higher density of ACE2 receptors present. Coronavirus will exit through the same entrance it used. This virus loves to go viral. Exiting with a bang while exploding outwards. Now it further infiltrates other cells or deeper into the lungs.
Our viral opponent strongly infects cells that are more specialized. The more specialized, the higher the count of ACE2 receptors. In this case any cell that is ciliated, meaning the cell has small hairs that assist in filtering and removing waste, are at high risk of infection. However, there is another specialized cell at risk the alveoli. Alveoli are like “balloons” inflating and filling with each invigorating breath and deflating on exhalation.
A good look at the lungs and the alveoli “balloons”.
Alveoli? is that a swear word?
These alveoli are responsible for the gas exchange that occurs in the blood. It is where oxygen enters the blood and carbon dioxide exits the blood. Funny enough, the densest concentration of ACE2 receptors in the lungs are the alveoli. [11] Coronavirus desperately prefers to be a lower respiratory infection [1]
The virus, once attached in the respiratory system, causes damage akin to a psychopath with no regard for anything but itself. The damage to the alveoli causes fluid to rush into the lungs. This reduces the oxygen exchange, leads to shortness of breath, and can lead to hospitalization or death.
Healthy lung becoming more diseased as the infection overpowers the body. Notice how air cannot reach the blood as well in the bottom of the picture. ARDS is discussed below.
What makes it so deadly?
The affinity for ACE2 receptors. ACE2 regulates something called Angiotensin II from being too high. ACE2 has been found to protect the heart against heart failure [7] lung damage and prevent what is known as Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) [12]. Worst case scenario, coronavirus, with its crushing force will cause ARDS and from there marches towards death.
It is deduced that, due to the horrific onslaught upon the ACE2 receptors, the virus obliterates the lungs with ease. Look at this study. Mice with no ACE2 receptors succumbed to death from fluid buildup in the lungs. In contrast the mice who did have ACE2 receptors has a better survival rate. [13] The mice with no receptors showed a high level of angiotensin II associated with lung edema a.k.a. fluid buildup.
Big deal, so what?
Remember the highest density of ACE2 receptors were in the alveoli. Damaged alveoli were associated with: fluid buildup that is protein rich, inflammation, cytokines (signalers of the immune response ) and reactive oxygenation species. In other word it lead to ARDS. [14] ACE2 receptors protected against ARDS; but if more of your shield is eaten away, the higher your risk of wasting away.
How truly deadly is it? What are the outcomes and odds? What can be done to prevent an invasion into your territory? Can it be cured or killed? We will cover these answers in the next post. No need to hold your breath; you have a mask on, don’t you?
“When you are ignorant of the enemy, but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If you are ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril. If you know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never lose.”
Want a quick overview with recommended supplements? If you want to skip to the good stuff, click here for the cream of this series.
Enemy of the state number 19 coronavirus a.k.a COVID-19
War, a brutal match. Two opposing forces. Blood. Violence. Eradication. This is war. War occurs every day in plain sight or hidden. It wages in you right now. War, a balancing act between two forces keeping each other in check. One rises, the victor, the other overstepped their boundaries, or lowered their guard, the loser. The lore of the body’s war rages in you.
Illness. Plague. Contagions. Miasma. All names for the same thing. A disease that spreads by sneeze. An invisible enemy we don’t see but feel. We can’t hear but fight. A raging war inside you. Coronavirus a.k.a. COVID-19 has no heart and no cure. Two options are present before you. Learn to use your army while learning to fight COVID-19 or let COVID-19 relish as you perish.
How strong is your army? What do they do and what troops do you have? After all are you not the commander? Do you know the enemy COVID-19? Well enough to take matters into your own hands? Have a plan? By your hands you will safeguard yourself. Purell won’t cut it either.
Immune system
The beginning of it all. This is your army. Your own personal protection against COVID-19. An army that learns and adapts against enemies. Tirelessly watching over your territory and keeping those infringers out. Never expecting thanks or payment. They only want the supplies they need to win. Sever the supply line, good bye blood line. The supply line gives life to those on the frontlines. The immune system does not react, it acts, communicates and stands guard. A brief description of the army entails. Learn well. Be well. Give the enemy hell.
Two types exist. The innate immune system, a general one, and the acquired system, a specialized one. The innate system has several parts, a well-oiled machine. Physical barriers exist to prevent entries. The skin, for example, is a wall with barbed wire. On its surface exists, sweat, oils, and other “traps” to prevent unauthorized entry or unauthorized life. Remember the best defense is a great offense make no expense.
The Innate immune system.
Phagocytes. These are eating cells. Gorging on invaders and chomping on dead cells. They are the clean up crew. Located amongst high traffic areas like a military or police check point. They haul off the bad guys. Natural killer cells. They take out viruses and bacteria mercilessly. Using a substance called interferon, they tear and rip apart diseased cells or viruses. Interferon is like a grenade bombarding baseless bandits and villains.
Other minor supporting roles exist. Cytokines, like radios that communicate to central command, the brain, when something is spotted. Antioxidants, the bullets of the body. They immediately neutralize and take down harmful substances whether alien or not. With this “basic” army how could you lose?
The specific immune system
The adaptive system. Like the Navy Seals of the body. Two heavy hitters take center stage. T-cells and B-cells truly a great team. Working with a complex system called humoral, a.k.a. antibodies. Antibodies are the ninjas of the immune system. Patrolling in secret. Upon finding their specific target, they ensnare and imprison them to be disposed of by the T-cells. They are specially trained against a specific enemy. They cannot lose. Do the same, you can achieve the same level.
Ancillary systems
One is fever. Fever, although a mild discomfort, plays an important role. Fever starts the response responsible for fighting the invaders. It is a siren signaling the body to prepare for war. Fever plays an important role, do not suppress its function.
Invaders like to steal from our supply lines. They are after our precious metal, iron. Extra iron is bound by the body so the invaders are unable to use it. If your supplies are kept in a vault, the enemy cannot access it. If the siren known as fever is prevented, this may not occur as quickly or as effectively.
The last is inflammation. A war time rule that opens roads and paths into the area of interest where the enemy is hiding. If the lungs become inflamed, the enemy is there. This pours our soldiers, the white blood cells into the fight more easily. Inflammation brings more blood to that area. That means more tools, weapons, and soldiers.
How the system works
When an invader is found, the patrolling system sends signals (cytokines). Nearby cells are warned and begin to activate their sirens. Central command (the brain) is notified. Fever may take place to start mobilizing troops (natural killer cells) and inflammation occurs to bring more phagocytes (cell eaters) and other soldiers to fight. If the battle wages longer, the Navy Seals (adaptive) take over and start to fight the invaders. The T-cells will destroy invaders while the B-cells begin to make anti bodies to ensnare the enemy so they cannot escape. Best case scenario is complete eradication of the enemy. Antibodies will circulate keeping watch incase that enemy tries to invade again.
A few more key notes. Healthy tissue is never inflamed. Any tissue that remains inflamed is like the boy who cried wolf. The body will ignore it as it’s always there. Do not suppress these responses to the best of your abilities. There is a reason for a runny nose, that is the enemy being dumped out. Help remove them. Do not prevent the dumping of the enemy.
Cortisol is released after a stressful event. Whether it is a virus, a tiger, or your boss cortisol will show its face. Cortisol reduces inflammation in the body. If cortisol is always present, the body tunes it out. The army never eases up on the situation and tensions stay high. Cortisol helps mobilize Phagocytes. If their signal is constantly on, they will eventually ignore it as background noise. This allows inflammation to linger, making a heated situation worse.
Speaking of heated, fever starts the process of fighting off the enemy. A fever that stays under 102 degrees F can be managed at home if no other issues are present. Though uncomfortable, do not stop the fever directly. Take a cool bath if needed but trust the army in you to do their best.
What can disrupt our platoon of soldiers that fight for us? It’s possible that our comfortable lives free of worries have weaken our soldiers.
Where it can go wrong
During times of peace, is when one must be most ready for war. Have we let our guard down? How so? Colds should last no more than a week. In some people, it is 10 days or 2 weeks. Why is it that we are getting more ill? Why are newer and stronger diseases, like COVID-19 showing up? Are they stronger, or are we weaker?
Coronavirus. COVID-19. Many people who have died by this enemy also had other issues present. There was a man who died of this virus at 21. The same day he was found to have had leukemia. With so many invaders attacking from different places, his army was scattered and could not keep up. He passed. For some of us it is inevitable to avoid having such conditions. However, many conditions can and should be avoided. Here is what lowers our guard/immune system.
Malnutrition. A form of starvation. Not eating enough calories or not eating enough micronutrients like vitamins or minerals counts as starvation. The basic building blocks of the battalion A.K.A. the immune system. No ammo, No fighting. Try winning a gun fight with a knife. You can be fat and yet still undernourished. Accept no substitutes, your soldiers deserve the best you can provide. Include high quality food to improve this. More on this later, no questions yet.
Pre-existing chronic conditions. Any illness preoccupying your soldiers weakens your army. Less soldiers are available to fight when a new enemy shows up.
Chronic stress. A child screaming, rush hour, and the news are stressful events. Occasionally, not a problem. Every day and all the time, it breaks you. A constant cacophony of chronic cortisol rising stress. No better than propaganda. It lowers the morale of your army. It forces constant hypervigilance only to lower themselves back to a normal state. One cannot always be on high alert without consequences.
Sleep. This is major, no rest equals an aggravated and inefficient army. Overworked soldiers without adequate rest will collapse. Get some shut eye. Lights out means lights out, not screen time.
Toxins. Poisons of the environment. Remember the immune system is also a cleanup crew. Constant pouring of toxins into you means someone must remove it. Poison is similar to being overwhelmed by more than one enemy. Mutagens cause cell changes, the body will dispose of it. PCBs and other chemicals must be treated. The body will dispose of them. Heavy metals, pesticides, alcohol, and drugs both prescription and illegal. The body will dispose of them. Do not make the army work harder than it needs.
Aging. You cannot fend off this one forever. Death forever stalks us. You can delay its arrival and thus improve the situation but avoid accelerating it at all costs! Accelerated aging is playing into the enemy’s hands.
Part one of Basic training is done. Part two is next. Weapons class comes later. First we must discuss coronavirus in great detail. In learning of COVID-19, we better arm ourselves. Sun Tzu said it best himself. In order to win every battle, know yourself and know the enemy.
