At this time of year, as schools begin to wind down for the festive season, the excitement of meeting family and friends to share celebratory moments, bring gifts and Christmas cheer starts to dominate. So too do seasonal colds and flu.
With shorter days and colder temperatures seasonal and opportunistic bugs take the opportunity to spread virulently. Those with a weak immune are the first to go down. Supporting and boosting the immune system to avoid falling victim becomes important and for the weaker members of society- children and the elderly, perhaps even urgent.
How can you boost your immune naturally to avoid or minimise the impact of all too familiar seasonal bugs? Immunity can be compromised in many ways – nutrient dead eating, feeding ourselves on the hoof, lifestyle habits, including lack of fresh air, lack of sleep mental/emotional and or physical stress and over exposure to the elements through inappropriate dress for the weather.
Once a cold develops there are several things that can speed up recovery. Starting quickly when feeling "not yourself", you may be able to beat a cold or flu and throw it off quickly. If the virus has already established itself it may take 3-7 days to throw it off completely.
Be Proactive - Prevent Colds and Flu
A more effective strategy than dealing with a cold or flu when it hits, is staying healthy to make sure it goes around you, rather than through you! A healthy liver, as liver energy is essential to maintaining wellbeing, irrelevant of time of year. There are several therapies that can strengthen an organ system and focus on freeing liver energy helping it flow smoothly and evenly. The most obvious is exercise and movement as it frees up liver stagnation by increasing energy, stimulating metabolism, clearing dampness, and improving sleep, digestion and elimination.
Movement can be any activity that physically moves the body and can also be fun. If you want to move liver stagnation and increase energy the fun part is critical in expressing your unique being. When it becomes a chore whether dancing, swimming, hoola-hoop, cycling or walking, movement will no longer release stagnation and stimulate energy, defeating the objective.
Laughter, is the best immune boost of all. It affects the heart by improving blood circulation, mental functions, sleep, as well as uplifting the spirit. Laughter can also dispels anxiety and sadness.
Singing another fabulous, fun therapy is extremely beneficial to the spleen, the main organ of the immune system, in stimulating metabolism and circulation while helping digestion. To sing you don’t even have to step out of your own front door! Try singing in the shower, along to the radio, your favourite music or just sing!
What if the cold or flu has caught you? Natural herbal remedies for colds and flu, work by assisting the body rather than suppressing the symptoms, as in conventional medicine. Natural medicine can make the symptoms worse, or appear to worsen temporarily. The body’s defense mechanisms are responsible for this reaction, for example fever, often considered as detrimental is infact the body’s attempt to bring out the virus, and thus defeat the it through opening the pores on the skin and eliminating pathogens and toxins via sweating. (If the fever is higher than 40 degrees C, conventional methods are required to bring it down.)
Drinking hot herbal teas that are warming and stimulating diaphoretics for chills and lowering fevers, such as ginger, cinnamon bark, and cardamom will help eliminate pathogens. On the other hand if feeling little or no chill with a more intense fever, mint, lemon balm and elder teas are cooling, stimulating diaphoretics. Drinking plenty of fluid is essential during a fever and when suffering from a cold, as it is the fluid that you sweat out that is helping the body eliminate pathogens through sweating.
Laughing and singing sounds good to me. If you don’t like the way you sing – at least you can laugh at yourself, and who knows if you do it in public, perhaps you will even cause someone else to laugh! Anyone for Karaoke?
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