Oh no! Little Jimmy has just sneezed all over Susie – Now she’s going to get sick!
In our modern world, there is undeniably a great fear of disease and illness. We have shots before we have learnt to sit up, before we can even be exposed to the diseases we are vaccinated against. We fear ‘catching’ illnesses from others, and are told to sterilise our environments in order to reduce the risk of infection by social contact and dirty bench tops.
But you know what? We’ve got it all backwards.
“We have shots before we have learnt to sit up….”
Instead of being afraid of viruses and bacterias that are always in our environment, no matter how much we bleach the dining table and wash our hands, maybe we should be afraid of poor immune systems and diet. Yes, you can transfer viruses from person to person, but unless your body is susceptible to illness, your immune system should be able to deal with these intruders as a part of its day-to-day work. Its when we’re run down, tired, or stressed that our bodies may become acidic, our immunity is lowered, and our immune cells struggle to do what they normally do.
If you’re stressed about a move, or little Jimmy starting school, or even about an argument with the next door neighbour, you become more susceptible. If you’ve had late nights finishing that assignment, waking up to Jimmy’s nightmares, or doing the 3am worry about the meaning of life, you become more susceptible. And if you’re tired and drinking more coffee to keep going, eating whatever you can find or grab on the run because dinner has become way-too-hard-basket, and skipping on nutritious snacks and whole foods – yep, you got it – you become more susceptible.
We’ve all been told that a good nutritious diet, exercise, adequate sleep, meditation and slowing the pace of life down are superbly beneficial to us, but they are also wonderful medicines we can implement at home. In addition, homeopathy can help with what we can’t control – helping with anxiety, sleeplessness, stress and general run-downness by unblocking the effects these things leave on us, raising our strength and strengthening our natural immunity.
So, before you consider that flu shot this year, maybe you could make some differences at home instead to your diet, get some long walks on the beach and meditation in, say ‘no’ to those late nights at the office, take care of yourself as if you were a treasured loved one, and see how you fair this winter.