Mick’s up With Germs

Have you noticed lots of people out sick at work and school, during this past couple of months?  I have.  In fact, at our office, we've all noticed.  I overheard one of my coworkers ask, “Why is everyone sick right now?”  So, I decided this would be a good topic for a Mick’s up Life.

Let’s think about it for a minute. 

With all the many different celebrations going on over a 2 month period, candy and desserts are everywhere!  Not many of us can say we didn't sneak a candy or two from the Halloween bowl.  At Thanksgiving time, so many wonderful homemade desserts surround us (not to mention the carbs ingested before we even reach dessert), and then during Christmastime, we are bombarded from both sides, with candy in the stockings and punch and pastries on the table.

My neighbor friend and I were just talking about this.  Sugar is the main ingredient of those beloved confections, and as we know, sugar is an inflammatory, dragging down our immune systems.

Next, let’s step outside to take a look at the temperature.  With the chill in the air, some of us get scared inside to snuggle up (with a sugar-laden hot chocolate and/or latte, perhaps?), cozily soaking in the glow of the lights of the season… when we’re not scrambling for time to run the kidderz to their new school-year events, shopping for all those aforementioned celebrations, and running to parties, plays, and just plain busy-ness of the holiday season.  With all that happening, how many of us are keeping up with our exercise routines?  Plus, we are trying to cram so many activities into a day, we might not even be getting the amount of sleep (or at least not good sleep!) that we need.  Again, our immune systems are jeopardized.

Oh, can you step outside with me one more time?  When you feel that chill, what do you notice yourself doing?  Do your shoulders tense up?  Are you rubbing your arms to keep warm?  I am!  (In fact, I was doing that at my desk at work for a while, until the temperature got regulated.)  You know what else?  The season, along with my job, keep me at the computer longer.  Do I have perfect posture at the computer?  No!  Do you?  Maybe for a short period of time, but if you’re there, or in any position, for an extended length of time, you just might find your upper back and neck getting tight, stiff, and uncomfortable.

When we are tense in our upper backs and necks, do you know what might be going on inside?  There is more opportunity for our vertebrae to shift out of place.  Do you know where the nerves serving your sinuses and face and throat are directed from?  That’s right!  Those vertebrae that are being affected by the tight muscles have a very close relationship to those nerves.  Hmmmm… yes, you probably guessed it.  If there is pressure on the nerves in that region, you could be finding yourself having sinus issues, headaches, throat problems, etc.  For that reason alone, a visit to your chiropractor would be a wonderful gift to yourself, not to mention a boost to your immune system.

Yes, those things did happened to me this season, too.  I fought off a nasty cold and fever, but it was a quick, easy fight.  I got myself back on track (and drank lots of extra water!), keeping the immune system enemies at bay, especially sugar.  It’s really amazing how much quicker the healing process is, when sugar is taken out of the equation.

So, let’s try to be sure this is a jolly season. 

• Let's reduce stress during these months, no matter how crazy things get, and that includes minimizing physical stress (you know, the posture thing we were just looking at)… and remember to sleep… sleep well.
• Say “Merry Christmas” to you our chiropractors more often at this time of year.  (In other words, schedule more visits.  This can help with the sleeping, too!) 
• Make better choices of what snacks we enjoy, foods we prepare, and drinks we consume, in order to eliminate (or at least minimize) sugar (look for alternatives, and be sure to read all ingredients!).
• Enjoy our coffees (again, look for alternatives for flavorings)  healthier hot chocolate (make your own mix), but in moderation, because as we know, nasty things thrive in an acidic environment, which these yummy concoctions do, unfortunately, promote. 
• Finally, let’s remember to take time to do some quick interval exercising (only 15 or fewer minutes of your day!), and be sure to fit in stretches.  (The stretches can help with that upper back/neck tension thing we previously touched on.)

As it is said, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

"When it snows, 

she has no fear for her household."

Proverbs 31:21 (NIV)

~

Mick's Scoop on Sugar

"Sugar... aww, Honey, Honey.... 
Honey... aww, Sugar, Sugar...."
Sugar Sugar (Original 1969 Music Video) - The Archies
Do you want to know how hooked on sugar my honey used to be?  That song for the opening to this post was "our song..." well, one of them, anyway.  What was another of "our songs?"  Here it is: 
Sugar Shack (1964)
Written by: Keith McCormack & Faye Voss
Performed by: Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs
"There's a crazy little shack beyond the tracks,
And everybody calls it the Sugar Shack.
Well, it's just a coffeehouse and it's made out of wood,
Espresso coffee tastes mighty good."

Hmmmm... Do you see a pattern here?  Yes, sugar was his thing.  He wised up, though.  He's doing amazing at staying away from sugar, because he knows the consequences involved.

One of those consequences is a sluggish immune system.  I've been hearing this for the past year, but I want to get some more scientific information for you.  So, here are some links:
Sugar as Immune Suppressant:  "Sugar eating... decreased their responsiveness." - quote found in Mark's Daily Apple, and based on the following study:
Role of sugars in human neutrophilic phagocytosis: "These data suggest that the function and not the number of phagocytes was altered by ingestion of sugars. This implicates glucose and other simple carbohydrates in the control of phagocytosis and shows that the effects last for at least 5 hr." - The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 
Better Life Unlimited summarizes the study really well in their "Sugar And Immune Function" article.

We have a bit of an unscientific experiment going on in our household this week.  Unfortunately, too many variables changed recently to make it any more scientific than it is... not to mention, we're not scientists in this house... yet.

My daughter started getting the sniffles last week, and then the other three of us began feeling a little bit of something happening in our sinuses, too.  We ate well during the week, staying away from sugar and foods high on the glycemic index.  Then the weekend hit.

We splurged big time!  We had lots of different foods, sodas, coffee treats, snacks, etc. with sugar.  Not only that, but our chiropractic care has been put on hold, while we are transitioning to a new doctor.  Right there, we've changed more than one variable.  Not very brilliant, I assure you.

What foods contain sugar?  It's just in things like candy and desserts, right?  Check out Sugar Stacks. 

My daughter seemed to do OK with healing from the cold during the week, but her healing process was slowed down a bit from the weekend's events.  So, she still sounds stuffy.

My son, on the other hand, had a scratchy throat from sinus drainage at the end of the week.  Then he lost sleep Friday, due to his participation in our church's teen all-nighter lock-in, which of course, involved no sleep.  (So, that is a third variable that was changed.)  He informed me this morning that he feels he's healing just fine, even with the weekend sugar splurges.  Mom has a different opinion.  Obviously, he would have healed a lot faster without the sugar and without the messed up sleep schedule.  So, he still sounds stuffy, too, is grumpy, and has a cough... a productive one, but a cough, none-the-less.

On the other hand:
My husband and I are barely moving around the house, moaning and groaning and acting like babies.  Our heads are pounding.  We're grumpy, and my husband needs extra prayer this morning, for his brain to kick in to gear, so he sounds sharp and at the top of his game during his phone meetings today.  (Variables reach a total of no less than 5 for us, because besides the decrease in chiropractic care and the increase in sugar, add in stress and poor sleep, as well as poor sleep schedules.)

More on our progress later this week!  In the meantime, take our word for it (and that of the resources in the links mentioned above), and stay away from sugar, if you know what's good for you!

Mark Sisson of Mark's Daily Apple summarizes it well:  "So, sorry, Poppins. Keep your spoonful of sugar. It may very well help your spoiled wards choke down their medicine, but it could also make the problem – a weak immune system – even worse."

PS ~ I think my kidderz are catching on to this sugar vs. the immune system stuff.  Yesterday, my daughter was going to share her extra lollipop with her brother, but his answer was, "That's OK.  I'm sick, and I want to get better, so I don't want the sugar."  That makes a mom's heart happy!  I dedicate this song to my kidderz.  (It is actually the song we sing for my daughter, since her nickname before she was born was Baby Lollipop.  Yes, more sugar references.):  Lollipop (1958) - The Chordettes

~

"Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks...”

Nehemiah 8:10 (NIV)

This is what we did this weekend with our splurges,

eating sugary foods and drinking soda.

I don't recommend it,
when your immune system is already weak!
Blech!

~

You may also find interesting:  Mick's up on Your Immune System