Susceptibility to Disease
added to the NHAND Articles & Essays archives on 9 Dec 2008
“Susceptibility” to Disease
by Pamela Herring, ND
Did you ever wonder why, in a room full of people who are exposed to the cold virus, only a few will actually come down with the bug? Or why you can be fine one minute and then you get a chill and “wham”, you are sick all of a sudden? Or why someone can be active and healthy when they suffer the loss of a loved on and within a year they are diagnosed with cancer or some other serious illness? All of these scenarios have to do with susceptibility.
To be susceptible means “liable to be stricken”, “especially sensitive” or “highly impressionable”. We become susceptible when our immune system is weakened from any one of a number of influences, like cold damp weather, or over-exposure to germs and viruses. We can become susceptible when we have an emotional trauma or a grief. Likewise, if we have a physical trauma such as a car accident, it can affect our whole constitution and causes us to be vulnerable or susceptible.
What can we do about susceptibility? Quite a lot. A good start is to fortify our immune system with the highest quality organic vegetables and fruits with their abundant anti-oxidants. Add to this fish and free range or grass fed animal foods and pure water. This will give us the best nutrient value. Next, we can avoid the things that pollute our bodies, such as “bad food”: trans fats, sugar, white flour products and food chemicals that are toxic or of no value to our system (colorings, flavorings etc). We can do a periodic “Cleanse” or detoxification program to assist the body in ridding itself of some of the accumulation that is inevitable.
Our emotions can also “pollute” our delicately balanced system. We manufacture chemicals right within our bodies that are harmful when we are chronically angry or sad or anxious. It is important to get things in perspective as far as our emotional health is concerned, to find ways to relax and see things as part of the universal flow- cause and effect, on some level. By helping others, say with volunteer work, and with a positive attitude- working in the spirit of service even in our paid jobs- we are strengthening that inner core of ourselves- our spirit.
We don’t have to sit back and be victimized by our surroundings. By implementing a few of these simple life-style changes we can fortify ourselves from illness and reduce our susceptibility. One other tip… put on a happy face to the world and you may be surprised at how much joy gets reflected back to you. All this is healing to our spirit, which gets reflected to our physical being.
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