#037. How to Not Get Sick

A Traditional Chinese Medicine principle to help you stay healthy

I don’t really get sick. But to be clear, it’s not because I’m special. Rather, I learned something about the immune system from a clinician-instructor over a decade ago that forever changed my awareness. The key to not getting sick is understanding the signs before the symptoms.

But before I share what that means, I want to share what the collective knowledge of the internet, aka ChatGPT had to say about the topic. I prompted it with, “Explain how to not get sick” and it responded with this:

“Avoiding illness involves several strategies to maintain good health and prevent the spread of infections. While it's impossible to completely eliminate the risk of getting sick, following these guidelines can significantly reduce your chances of falling ill:

1. Practice Good Hygiene

2. Maintain a Healthy Diet

3. Exercise Regularly

4. Get Adequate Sleep

5. Manage Stress

6. Stay Vaccinated

7. Avoid Close Contact with Sick Individuals

8. Cover Your Coughs and Sneezes

9. Clean and Disinfect Frequently Touched Surfaces

10. Practice Safe Travel Habits

11. Stay Informed

Remember that everyone's immune system is different, and some people may be more susceptible to infections than others. If you feel unwell or are experiencing concerning symptoms, it's essential to seek medical advice promptly. Additionally, consult with a healthcare professional if you have specific health concerns or conditions that may affect your susceptibility to illnesses.”

Yes, prevent microbes from entering the body. ChatGPT - tell us something we don’t already know! And also, #8 is more a public service announcement to not get others sick rather than personally not getting sick.

Here’s a bold statement.

You can follow the common knowledge of the internet and still get sick if you ignore this basic principle of the immune system:

Microbes enter the body through a compromised barrier - mechanical, chemical, and biological.

On a large scale, our bodies are long tubes - think of us like pool noodles. The outside of the tube is what you can see - the skin, the face, the scalp as well as the inside of your nose, sinuses, and ears; the inside of the tube is the inside of the mouth/throat and the rest of the digestive tract like the esophagus, the stomach, the small intestine, large intestine, the urinary tract, the reproductive tract, etc.

The human tube

On a smaller scale, the skin is a mechanical/physical barrier that blocks microbes from entry, the stomach and stomach acid is a chemical barrier that dissolves microbes, and your nose and its mucous are biological barriers that trap microbes in slime until they can be ejected. Thank the heavens for boogars!

The key to not getting sick is maintaining the barriers between “self” and “not-self”.

We’re all just pool noodles, noodling around.

How do you know if the barrier is compromised?

Dryness! This can mean both lack of water or lack of lubrication.

For example, skin that is dry produces cracks; when you are dehydrated, the stomach cannot produce enough acid to dissolve the microbes or mucous to protect itself from the acid; when your large intestines are dry, your poop can be really hard and difficult to expel.

Sympomatically, we experience dryness on the outer barrier as itchiness, scratchiness, redness, or irritation; on the inner barrier can look like indigestion, heart burn, constipation, lack or urination or really yellow urine.

So, what’s the key to not getting sick?

Before you ever get sick, you will notice dryness. So here are some things to help you keep hydrated and moisturized:

1. Use a humidifier to keep humidity levels at 40-60% RH during dry windy weather.

2. Keep nasal passages moist with a nasal spray or similar.

3. Keep throat and mouth moist with fluids or throat spray.

4. Breath through your nose not your mouth especially when you sleep or exercise - respiration (not sweat) is the primary cause of water loss.

5. Keep skin moisturized with an natural oil based product (Avoid mineral oils that are made from petroleum).

6. Drink mineralized water or add electrolytes to help absorb water into your cells. Otherwise, you pee out the water before it gets a chance to be absorbed.

7. Take Vitamin D to maintain both skin health and the immune health in the intestines.

8. Avoid refined sugar products as that forces your kidneys to try to get rid of the excess glucose, losing fluids in the process.

9. Avoid overeating especially at night time. The digestion process (hydrolysis) uses up water; the storage process from extra calories to cholesterol (dehydration synthesis) excretes water. Both processes . You may notice having to wake up to pee or being more thirsty the day after having too much to eat.

10. Add insoluble fiber and plant protein to your diet. Insoluble fiber in beans, asparagus, and apples helps your body absorb water.

So there we go, hydration and moisture - your keys to staying healthy. By the way, you may notice how I didn’t mention that you need to drink X oz of water per pound of body weight, and that’s because this process is more dynamic and explorative than it is prescriptive.

I like to think the body is more of a puzzle than a black box. The more awareness we have, the more appropriate actions we take to have more health, more productivity, and more life.

But hey, people still get sick, including me. I have another list for that, if this topic is interesting to you, please let me know and I’ll write more like this.