How to avoid seasonal illnesses

Cold does not automatically means illness

Reconnecting to the article How to control the perception of cold (and without repeating what we have already said) we want to start talking about the illness. The first thing to stress is that the sensation of cold must not be directly connected with the idea of illness (read Body control: the cold is just a feeling):

  • Each time that, as a precaution, we cover ourselves, we force our body to do not work properly
  • The fear of cold make us weaker day by day, whereas a healthy and well-trained person is effortlessly able to manage heat exchanges even in environments with 10°
  • Our organism tells us clearly when it needs an external apport of warm, we only need to learn to listen to its signals (read Advanced body control)

A note by Master Kongling – In a wider way of seeing external interventions, it’s always wrong to help what / who do not needs it because it means to make it unable to improve enough do by itself (this is true as for internal organs, as for humans, as for animals, both in physical terms, both in mental terms). The help should be given only to those who truly need it and proportionally to what they can or can not do by themselves.

What causes favorable conditions for the insurgency of illness?

It is not directly the cold (as we unconsciously think) to cause problems to our body defenses, the factors we must keep under control are:

  • The temperature imbalance of the body element
  • The speed of the thermal excursion
  • The level of humidity of the environment and the direct contact with a source of cold
  • The quantity and type of bacteria present near us
  • The pathologies and problems already inherent in our system
  • The duration to the exposition to limit temperatures

How to avoid illnesses

To guarantee us a good state of health, it is not necessary to do anything excessively strange, it is sufficient to:

  • Cover ourselves when and where we feel cold – When our body is in trouble, it concentrates the heat in the most important areas (near heart and brain); if this is completely normal under serious risk of hypothermia, it is not at all in heated environments (or in general in the presence of normal temperatures); we have to gradually increase our resistance testing (with rationality) our body; if we train correctly we will be able to recover our natural ability to fight the cold by burning calories
  • Protect ourselves in the correct way – When it is mandatory to act against the cold, it is 10 times better to concentrate our efforts on isolation instead of warming (whether we are talking about clothing or an environment); we have to cover ourselves in a regular and balanced way, the idea is to be uniformly isolated and dry so as to allow our system to automatically restore the internal temperature to its optimal level
  • Avoid that sensitive parts enter in contact with dirt – Bacteria usually struggle to cross the defensive layers of our body in bulk but if we offer them preferential channels (as when we touch with dirty hands eyes, ears, nose, mouth, wounds, etc.) it is very easy to get sick
  • Have a correct diet and shape – If we are too much above or below our ideal weight and especially if we feed on junk food, it is absolutely inevitable that our body is lacking the basic immune defenses (read Qi and proper nutrition); instead, providing all the right elements to our body is incredibly much easier for it to exercise its protective functions effectively
  • Avoid the abuse of medicines and integrators – Even if integrators and medicines are not to be put on the same level, the same reasoning can be applied for both of them, they should not be taken when there is no specific need (usually to be evaluated by a doctor, especially if we talk about antibiotics then); without particular pathologies and following a correct nutrition plan our body does not need anything
  • Avoid the abuse of alcohol, drugs (etc.) – This kind of harmful substances does nothing but weaken and limit the action of our immune system; to gradually reduce and then quit this abuse is possible and necessary (read How to stop smoking); we cannot connect our happiness or our tranquillity / performance / stability to something so artificial and humiliating
  • Drink regularly hot water / tea – Cold water should never be taken; the ideal is to drink fresh water when it is hot, slightly warm when it is cold and at room temperature when it is not cold; if we like tea (herbal, etc.) it is better to limit as much as possible the apport of sugar
  • Practice a daily physical activity – In relation to our age and conditions we should choose a constant activity to practice day by day (read How to start practicing 6DKF); in this sense it’s terribly wrong to spend long periods of inactive time (both in long and short terms, weeks, daily hours of work / study, etc.); movement makes us stronger in an infinite number of areas (read 10 things that change for 6DKF’s practitioners (physical))
  • Beware of when we stand still – If we move and do physical activity our body generates heat, if we stay still we cool down; special precautions must be taken in terms of insulation, temperature, clean air and humidity in all those moments when we remain almost immobile for a long time (during sleep, at school, in the office, etc.)
  • Avoid bad mental states – The mental conditions to which we are subjected immensely influence the conditions of our body; stress, anxiety, anger (etc.) are complementary factors of a bad health, the solution is to practice meditation (read Meditation method 1)

A note by Master Kongling – Obviously, all this does not make us completely safe from diseases (not even the most common ones) but it helps us to maintain a more than satisfactory level of health. Despite the cold winters of the area in which I live it is rare that, following these rules, I get sick (I have not suffered chilling for many years and I almost never wear any kind of jacket). All of this is not about superpowers, I am not talking about addressing prohibitives challenges like high mountains temperature or arctic water, it’s all about recovering faculties that could be reasonable for everyone (in good health).

In the next article of this series, we will see how to voluntarily warm ourselves.

In-depth articles

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

  • What are the reasons for getting sick in your opinion?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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