There are two parts to any infection: the bug, bacteria or virus and the host it invades.
Whenever a bug passes through a population some people will be affected more than others. For example, if a cold ‘goes through’ a school, not everyone is affected. Although it’s likely that everyone is exposed to it the extent to which the bug affects us is a function of the strength of our immune system, overall fitness and energy levels.
Much of the global response to the current health challenge has focussed upon minimising the spread of the virus to ease the pressure on the healthcare system and rightly so.
Much less media-time has been given to what we can do to minimise the effect that this (or any other) bug might have on us. Improving our resilience has huge potential to take some of the load off our struggling health services.
Resources
Over the last few weeks we have been discussing what we can do to help ourselves, as potential ‘hosts’, as strong as possible. Here are some resources that I have listed previously and some new ones:
Dr Zach Bush has a few simple tips to help keep your immune system strong. You can link to his simple summary here.
Dr Mark Hyman and colleagues outline a functional medicine perspective to the pandemic in an online webinar. You can link to it here. And the resources from the webinar can be found by clicking here.
Dr Aseem Malhotra, consultant cardiologist, talks about how quickly we can turn our health around if we make a shift away from processed foods in this 5 minute BBC interview. View it here.
In brief we should eat whole foods, avoid refined sugars and reduce alcohol, get good (but not excessive) exercise, sleep well and minimise stress through relaxation exercises, time for ourselves, meditation etc. Supplementation with vitamins C, D and a probiotic are also beneficial.
I would add that using Somato Respiratory Integration (SRI) exercises and limiting our exposure to anxiety promoting conversations or media can also be of benefit.
If you fancy a deep dive into the nature of our society’s response to the global health challenge, I can highly recommend Rich Roll’s podcast with Charles Eisenstein (social philosopher and author of Sacred Economics and The Ascent of Humanity, amongst other titles). One of a number of topics they cover is how the current state of society is an intensification of what has been happening anyway; namely increased social isolation, commerce and education going on-line as a result of technology and an increase in paranoia about germs and fear of others. They do however talk freely about how this current hiatus to the status quo gives us the opportunity to break the habit of believing that we live separately from one another, and the biosphere that supports life. I think it’s a brilliant conversation, and even if you listen to it in bite-sized chunks, it’s worth a listen. https://www.richroll.com/podcast/charles-eisenstein-511/
SRI in Context
As many of you know, the framework of NSA and SRI is the book written by Donald Epstein The 12 Stages of Healing. He has been talking about these stages (and the exercises to help us connect to them) on Facebook and you can learn directly from him by clicking here.
I have recorded a quick 5 minute video explaining my take on the first 4 stages of the 12 stages of healing in the context of the current health challenge. You can take a look here.
Here to help
I am continuing to offer SRI workshops and 1-2-1 sessions online, please email me on info@brighterlifechiropractic.com to book a slot. As a chiropractic practice we are still allowed to be open for emergency care. If anyone feels they need some extra support call the office which will redirect to my mobile.
In the meantime we are still getting together for our online hub each Sunday evening at 8pm.
Remember we are here in any way we can be to support. Even if it’s just for a chat, or join us on a Sunday evening for the weekly get-together.
Yours Chiropractically,
Dave
