How To Catch a Cold

Want to catch a cold? Follow these easy steps!

Some people seem to expect a bout with a cold or the flu each year. If you haven't had your quota yet, here are some things you can do:

1. Eat a poor diet. If you want to catch a cold, make sure your body lacks the vitamins and minerals it needs to keep itself in good repair. Eat lots of processed foods, stripped of their nutritional value. Avoid fresh vegetables and ingest lots of high-fat snack foods.

2. Avoid adequate rest. After neglecting the quality of the raw materials your body needs to repair itself, deprive yourself of adequate rest. Stay up late and reduce the time you sleep as much as possible. Use tobacco, coffee and other stimulants to fool yourself into thinking you have plenty of energy.

3. Stop exercising. To catch a cold, make sure you reduce the effectiveness of your immune and lymphatic systems. Unlike the circulatory system with its pump (the heart), your lymphatic system depends upon exercise and physical movement to circulate these valuable fluids with their germ-fighting abilities.

4. Rarely wash your hands. Increase your chances of catching a cold by compromising your personal hygiene. Remember to use your dirty hands and fingers to rub your eyes, pick your nose or wipe your lips.

5. Think negative thoughts. Look for opportunities to imagine having a cold. Pay attention to news reports about outbreaks of the flu and pay close attention to TV commercials from drug companies that sell products designed for cold sufferers.

6. Invite stress. Stress yourself physically by experiencing extreme temperature and humidity changes. Stress yourself mentally with constant worry or fear. Stress yourself socially by encountering as many ill people as possible.

7. Become dehydrated. Avoid drinking enough water. Reduce the effectiveness of your immune system and other bodily functions by drinking water-removing diuretics such as caffienated beverages, coffee, tea and alcohol.

8. Forget your chiropractic appointments. Ignore the role of a properly operating nervous system, the master control of your immune system. Avoid all preventive strategies and shun our suggestions of periodic visits to help you stay well.

Of course we're joking! The only way to catch a cold or the flu is to make yourself a hospitable host to the millions of cold and flu germs around you every day. Include regular chiropractic care to keep you working at your very best so cold and flu germs aren't made to feel welcome in your body!

Allergic to Stress

There's a good chance the pollen isn't to blame for your allergies.

We often think that stress affects us only in a psychological or emotional sense, so much so that we overlook the physical effects of stress that can be both progressive and debilitating. But stress can trigger headaches, hair loss, irregular heartbeat, sleep troubles, neck and back pain, asthma and even allergies.

Many recent studies have confirmed what researchers have long believed, that psychological stresses can aggravate allergy symptoms. Gailen D. Marshall, MD, PhD, Director of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, and his colleagues conducted a study that concluded that stress increased the occurrence of asthma and allergies in a group of subjects who were taking their medical school exams.

Your nervous system constantly filters data and decides how your body should react to stressors. In response, your body produces different hormones and neurotransmitters, such as adrenalin, that affect the immune system. When your body is constantly reacting to stress, it creates an imbalance in your body. If it persists, it can have detrimental effects that cause or aggravate certain conditions, including allergies.

This is why regular nervous system checkups are so important. When your spine is working correctly, your central nervous system and immune system operate the way they were designed, improving your ability to withstand stress.

Remember, it’s not the pollen. It’s not the pet dander. And it’s not “allergy season.” It’s about how your body responds to these potential allergens. Antihistamines dampen your body’s response. Chiropractic care increases your body’s ability to accommodate the stress.

Which approach makes more sense to you?