There is a lot of information right now about ways to protect yourself in today’s environment.
A lot of it is pretty basic and excellent advice, wash your hands, avoid sick people, don’t cough on others – all good advice as a first line of defense. The advances of hygiene over the last century or so can really not be overstated when it comes to the overall health of the population.
I don’t really have anything to add to that, which is not readily available over the internet.
However, I have been getting a lot of phone calls and emails from people concerned and therefore, thought I would put down my thoughts on something maybe not everyone has already looked at.
You, sitting here reading this, have the most exceptional, never been beaten, defense system ever developed. It’s actually astounding how good of a defense system it is.
What am I talking about? Not a bunch of rockets or some drug – no, I am talking about your immune system.
I have made this statement a number of times recently, and realized from some of the responses, that many people do not have the full concept of what they really have. Which is understandable, a lot has been written about the Immune System and how it functions. And the best sources are technical papers – which are rather technical. So while I’m not trying to write a detailed paper on it here, I would like to impart an understanding of its general function.
The human body, any living body, is composed of lots and lots of very small building blocks called cells. There are many different types of cells, and they generally have some things in common: they take in nutrients, produce energy, perform an action(s), excrete waste and replicate themselves at some point.
If functioning correctly, your body is an amazingly perfect machine.
When talking about the Immune System there is a specific type of cell that is important to understand – the T Cell.
This little guy is like a general and scout all in one. He identifies foreign attackers, or mutated natural attackers and says, “those are the bad guys.” More than this, he actually sends a message to let everyone know, “That is a bad guy.” He “paints em red,” so to speak. He then sends out a separate series of orders to create soldiers whose job is to go contain or attack the bad guys that he has “painted red.”
If everything is working properly those soldiers go on out and kill the bad guys, while leaving the good guys (your other cells that are functioning properly) alone.
Obviously we are talking about a cell here – the cell does not actually talk. But it does give orders. These orders, both the ones marking the bad guys and the ones telling what kind of soldiers to produce, are chemical orders. The T-cell creates various biological chemicals to send out his orders. There are a whole range of these biological chemicals that we know about (and can test for) and the general name for them are cytokines.
So – to recap: the T-Cell identifies agents in the body that do not belong, and produces cytokines to destroy or remove those agents.
This is what a properly functioning immune system does.
How does the T-Cell know to do this? All of that data is stored in your DNA.
Your DNA is a fascinating and extremely successful organism. It is alive in your body, it was alive in your parents, your grandparents, their grandparents etc. Just by the fact that you are sitting here reading this means you have one of the most successful, Tier One fighter, never been beaten, defense systems ever created.
That DNA has survived everything ever thrown at it. And it has done so for a very very long time.
My father, David L. Gann (author of the book Double Helix Water) had an analogy he liked to make. If you want to get a concept of the length of time your DNA has survived then picture this:
Take a football field, now go to the very end of that field and place a single human hair right along the goal line. Now take a real sharp knife and cut that human hair lengthwise 100 times. What you are left with is a very very thin strand of hair up against the goal line of that football field. Step on back and take a wider view – that football field is the length of time your DNA has been alive and has survived everything thrown at it. That 100th of a human hair is the time since the start of the industrial age.
Impressive huh? It’s almost mind blowing what your DNA has been able to survive and, in doing so, it has built up quite the defense mechanism – your Immune System.
So what should you be concerned about? How about: Is my Immune System functioning properly or not?
In general terms there are two ways it can malfunction. It can either fail to successfully attack the bad guys or it can attack the good guys (your healthy cells).
Your immune system can also be less effective or “worn down” by exposure to toxins, disease, lack of sleep and lack of nutrients among other things.
So – you have one of the best biological defense mechanisms ever created at your disposal. Well then, how to keep it in the best shape and functioning correctly is the question. Here are some general actions to keep your Tier One Fighter in top fighting condition.
1. Research Supplements
There are some supplements known to help the performance of the Immune System, there are actually a lot of them and I’m sure anyone could go to town researching them and find far more than I mention here, but a couple I like are:
(Garden of Life) Vitamin Code Raw Vitamin C
Elderberry
D3/K2
Probiotics
The bacteria in your Gut. Recently there has been quite a bit of research showing that having a functioning gut, or not having a functioning gut, has a very large effect on your Immune System.
At a quick glance this makes a lot of sense – after all, a lot of the nutrients your cells need, come through your gut. And the key to having a functioning gut is the bacteria that lives in it. Again, there are a lot of probiotic supplements out there, my favorite can be found here
But whether you look at using this one or find another – keeping your gut healthy is a great way to ensure your defensive mechanism is in good order.
2. Get enough sleep
I know it’s obvious, but a lack of sufficient rest plays a much bigger role in your immune system than I think most people realize.
3. Eat nutritious foods
Another obvious one – but part of this is drinking enough water. Most people do not do so and increasing your daily water intake to the recommended amounts is a very large factor in your immune system’s functionality.
4. Handle that Stress
Stress has been proven to play a huge part in a functioning Immune System. Stress can be broken down into physical, emotional and mental stress. I don’t want to come across as super bohemian here – but it is worth looking at, particularly in our current high-stress environment, to figure out what makes you happy or relaxed and set aside some time of your day to do that.
Something positive.
Make an actual scheduled effort to add a daily positive action to your life.
And on the reverse side of things, with physical stress it’s all about looking at removing it. What are common physical stress factors? Toxins – such as smoking or drinking excessively.
Eating unhealthy foods filled with various man-made chemicals. One could look over one’s environment, make a list of any toxins you are regularly exposing yourself to and take reasonable measures to limit your exposure.
5. Practice good hygiene
As I said at the start of this article there has been a lot written about this recently. But I mention it again here as its importance is hard to over-stress.
So those are some suggestions. A little research will find many more good ways to help your Immune System do its job.
I hope this has been of some help to some of you. Just remember, you possess one of the greatest biological defenses ever made.
And there are actions you can causatively take to keep it in good order. It is important. And there is something you can do about it.
Best Regards,
