‘Tis the season for sniffles, coughs, and viruses running rampant through daycare, schools, and workplaces. We are talking with our patients daily regarding whether or not to keep their appointments when they or a family member is ill.
Aside from active vomiting and/or diarrhea, or being so ill that you can’t move off the couch, we actually encourage our patients to keep their appointments when they or their kids are sick.
WHY on earth would we do THAT? Great question…let me explain!
First, symptoms of a cold or the flu are actually important, and serve a purpose beyond being annoying or uncomfortable for us. Its our intelligent body’s way of trying to eliminate the bug that is making us sick. An increase in body temperature, aka fever, makes the host less hospitable, and can kill the germ; increased mucous production to allow the immune cells to do their job, and expel the germ through our nasal passage, or down the throat to the highly acidic stomach; coughing to also expel mucous and germs from our airways; vomiting and diarrhea to expel the bacteria from our digestive tract. It all serves a purpose.
What controls this process? Well, in short, our brain and nervous system, that is housed in our spines! Our brain and nervous system control all of the hormones, markers, and biochemistry in the body to identify and eliminate foreign pathogens from our cells. So when our spines are being taken care of, it allows the intelligent nervous system to send the right messages throughout our body to fight, fight, fight and heal from this invasion.
Getting adjusted as part of your preventative tool box can also help our bodies stay the healthiest it can. Especially during this time of year with heightened stress, extensive travel, less than adequate sleep (talking to you, pull out couch!), and dietary choices that would make the Big Man in Red blush; all of these things reduce our bodies ability to adapt to the world around us, including all of the germs (that are honestly there every other time of the year, too), and our body, the host, becomes less resistant to foreign pathogens, and we get sick!
Moral of the story? Keep your appointments, get adjusted before, during, and after illnesses to keep your body at its best fighting shape so you and your family can have a healthy and happy holiday season!