By Dr Murray Grossan
If you get wet, getting out of wet clothes is essential; it is very important not to get chilled. If your hands/feet are exposed to extreme weather changes, you can get frostbite in five minutes! Please don’t touch metal with bare hands – they can get attached to the metal and cause serious injury.
Just as important, when you come in from the cold and step into an elevator or a classroom, you are subject to illness because your nasal cilia are not doing their job.
In the normal nose, you have millions of tiny oars in your nose/sinuses the beat at a steady rate to move bacteria/viruses out of the nose. Similarly you have the same system in your bronchial passages. If the cilia are stunned and not moving from the cold, they fail. Then the bacteria that lands in your nose remains in place.
Preventing Illness in Cold Weather
One method is to seek an area where there are few persons present when you enter the building. Wave your arms around and jump up and down to get your circulation moving. Once your physical nose has warmed up, then you can enter the elevator or classroom with good defense, because your cilia are moving bacteria/virus out of the nose.
Another method is to carry a hot thermos of green tea. Before you enter the elevator, drink the hot tea.
Raise Your Immunity
When you drink liquids, you have a means of diluting bacteria. When you fail to drink enough liquids, the nasal and chest mucus is too thick to move the bacteria/virus out of the nose/chest. Green tea is one of the best products for improving cilia function, as is hot chicken soup.
Yogurt and Probiotics are known to improve immunity. Similar products are Kimchi, Sauerkraut, Dark Miso and Kefir. The sauerkraut should be unpasteurized or raw.
Sleep and Dream
Your immunity is better when you get good sleep. Make a strict ritual of your sleep: Wash face, brush teeth, comb hair, count breathing, dark room, etc. The more fixed steps, the better. Going to bed with this ritual at the same time each night sets your sleep clock for better sleep. Even when you change time zones, doing the same ritual will engage your sleep clock.
Avoid Reflux
If you eat a full meal and try to sleep, you will get acid stomach and possibly acid reflux. Avoid eating three hours before sleep. Similarly, wind down before sleep.
Sleep Aids
It can be a dull TV show, a water fountain, either a real one or a recording. Various sounds help various persons – birds, musicals, etc.
When the Cilia Fail
The cilia may fail following extreme cold. You notice yellow green discharge. You can use pulse wave saline irrigation to restore cilia action. The Hydro Pulse™ Nasal/Sinus Irrigator is designed to pulse at a rate for restoring good nasal cilia. Usually, restoring the nasal cilia helps to restore the chest cilia as well. (Coughing takes over when the chest cilia fail.)
