This thing I'm gonna tell you now may feel hard at first, but it may actually be good to make you aware of what nobody seems to want to see and what the real options are:
Just to take a reference, this is the effectiveness of the flu vaccine in the USA:
| 2004 | 10% |
|---|---|
| 2005 | 21% |
| 2006 | 52% |
| 2007 | 37% |
| 2008 | 41% |
| 2009 | 56% |
| 2010 | 60% |
| 2011 | 47% |
| 2012 | 49% |
| 2013 | 52% |
| 2014 | 19% |
| 2015 | 48% |
| 2016 | 40% |
| 2017 | 38% |
| 2018 | 29% |
| 2019 | 45% est |
To me this is just not enough. If the coronavirus vaccine is likely to be as effective as the flu vaccine... we need more strategies to complement that.
It's strange to me that nobody points what has been saving our life through history: our immune system. Most people find the subject too abstract or just marketing-for-hipster-smoothies, but ultimately the vaccine is just trying to activate your immune system to beat this damn virus. But please, let me repeat that it is only your immune system that will get the job done in any case. Vaccines don't kill the virus themselves. I hope you keep that in mind.
You can directly boost your immune system... and I'm not talking about diets or things that you "buy", or pills that you take, and just sit on your hands.
Before getting there, let me make some points about respiratory illnesses that I've learned over the years as a professional vocalist, where colds and the flu are well known annoying friends:
- Most people are breathing too much (bad breathing habits), and that lowers the cellular oxygenation and suppresses the immune system, which at this moment is actually the only real defense you have against this coronavirus. Good news is there are easy ways to turn this around (keep reading for solutions)
- A simple thing as breathing through your mouth (another habit most people have), it is actually diminishing the natural ways in which your body stops this viruses. By breathing unconsciously through your mouth through the day, your throat is dry and colder than it should be, which facilitates the virus getting down into your lungs (where the infection actually happens)
- On the top of that, breathing through your nose filters the air already and allows the gas "Nitric Oxide" (NO) that is produced in your paranasal sinuses to act as an antiviral that actually stops the replication cycle of the coronavirus (that was the conclusion of a study with the previous coronavirus SARS CoV in 2005). Someway it seems that this gas is vital to the protective role of the white blood cells in killing certain microorganisms. Another study (Lundberg, E Weitzberg 1999) showed that this gas is the first line of defense against infection. If you breath through your mouth you are also blocking that natural defense. More studies
- Good breathing practices are also the easiest way to keep your Heart Rate Variability top notch. HRV feedback is a direct way of affecting your immune system consciously Most people still think that you can't affect your immune system directly, that is a function exclusively involuntary in your body, but if you check it you will see that this approach have been backed by science consistently (not just breathing....compassion and optimism also directly affect your immune system in this way!)
So, feel free to find your own way to boost your immune system, (it may work too, from praying to diets), but what I'm about to suggest are breathing techniques, that I think it is most effective in this case due to the nature of the illness:
- Wim Hoff Breathing technique: Wim Hof is a lovely crazy guy. But he proved what he preaches with his own body with his list of Record Guinness and it's starting to be recognized by science. It's trendy too (Lady Gaga does it). More and more people swear by it, but he is not just selling you a course, he is a man on a humanitarian mission and you will find his content for free if you have interest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzCaZQqAs9I
- Patrick McKeown (Buteyko): I've been practicing Buteyko oriented exercises (reduced breathing techniques) for years, and I swear by it, it WORKS. The downside, although is damn easy, it takes time and practice. This have been proven very effective for breathing problems, and they have been working every single time for me. This guy has a book I can recommend (The Oxygen advantage) and here is a simple youtube video to get a start, although the book is way better.
- And the time tested Yogic breathing techniques (Pranayama): You and I know that Yoga is polluted with marketing and false guru's. But if you do your research you can find proper teachers. My recommendation is Swami Rama, who was properly tested and proved that he preached with the example. Here is a simple introductory technique on Youtube that may take you months to master =P
Additional points:
- Your chances to get this "bad cold" are around 50% (experts say between 35% and 75%). No matter how hard you try, the masks and all this preventive behaviors (that make your life an obsessive nightmare) are just delaying it, but not really stopping this. Don't panic, is not that bad. As humans, we developed immunity to many viruses before this one successfully without vaccines... but you need to keep your Immune system on peak performance to ensure this adaptation.
- Please wash your hands and do social distancing still, it's not about you dying it's about the social health system collapsing and not being able to take care of the unfortunate people with a weak immune system. If you are in normal health, there are 99% chances that you will resume a normal life after just a "bad cold", the economical/social crisis will probably affect you more. But as it is not an economic crisis really, when the threat is gone, the economic recovery will be doable in my opinion.
- If you panic for toilet paper or for watching the news, your stress is lowering your immune system...
If you find this information useful, please share it
Thanks for reading so far!
Ed Richwood
Thank you very much for your opinion. I wasn't aware that breathing techniques could help but I was/am sure that the our immune system is the actual key to health! The current hysteria hast streched to far ans people need to be educated!
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