Your body is a temple. Or so my godchildren remind me every time I reach for something they know would not be the healthiest food or drink choice for my body. This simple sentence is one they were taught in elementary school, by a visiting lecturer on the appropriate healthy lifestyle choices we need to make every day in order to be the best versions of ourselves. They were taught the sentence to understand that God wants his children to treat themselves well, so that they may be happy, healthy and full of life, and also to demand the same respect towards themselves from others (as well as to give it).
Our bodies are designed to innately self-heal. We've had this conversation before, but it is a good one to reiterate from time to time. Can you imagine what life would be like if you had to consciously heal every paper cut, bruise or hang nail you've ever had. Aside from the fact that we would probably die from those minor incidents before we were mentally capable of understanding the mechanism by which we healed them, the time-cost of the experiences alone would be astronomical. And that is just for minor issues! Lucky for us, we have a built in software package that handles it for us!
Now, this may be a bit of an exaggeration from the above article. I doubt most people are calling 911 for a simple paper cut or bruise. But what the article is trying to point out, is that we sometimes rush to eliminate symptoms of underlying conditions, and that is not always a good thing to do for our bodies. In fact, it's pretty counter intuitive! Take a fever, for example. Let's say you somehow contracted this year's strain of the flu. Common symptoms include whole body aches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy. And fever. Nobody on this planet enjoys feeling that way. I get it, you want to know how to feel better, and fast. Well, did you know that those chills, that fever, the vomiting - all of it - is a sign that your body is HEALTHY? It's true! Your body uses those mechanisms to FIGHT for you. If you did not experience those things, your body would truly be at risk, and you'd probably just die without warning, when your body finally became so overcome with the flu virus that it simply could not continue to operate your basic cellular functions required for sustained life.
Taking all this under consideration, I've been seeing a lot of articles from major research universities floating around the internet lately. These are all pointing out that 'new' research is showing we should just let the symptoms rise. In fact, an article I read the other day reported that people experiencing the flu had symptoms for an average of 8.1 days when they took fever and muscle-ache-fighting medications, whereas people who did not take the medications had symptoms for an average of 5.3 days. Your body uses those sometimes uncomfortable mechanisms to get you healthier faster - when you try to interfere by playing doctor, or going to a doctor for prescriptions, you're often delaying your recovery. In no way am I saying that you should suffer through these symptoms. It is and always will be a personal choice. But next time you are unfortunate enough to experience a flu (or any ailment), ask yourself if you'd rather let your body handle recovery on it's own, or if you want to risk being ill for a longer period of time for a little bit of relief in the short term. In either circumstance, please nourish your body with extra water, fruits/veggies and stay away from sugars and refined foods while fighting infections, as those just feed the bugs more than they feed you. And as always, GET ADJUSTED. Unleash the innate power of your body to heal itself by ensuring that the communication pathways between brain and body are functioning optimally!
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