Healthy Living with Anarres Natural Health

The 2009 'Flu (so-called Swine 'Flu) is fundamentally just like any 'flu. The common 'flu kills 4,000 people every year in Canada alone.

Viruses and bacteria are, of course, very dangerous to populations who have never been exposed to them. An estimated 90 million people in the Americas died of infections such as the common cold, spread by European explorers and invaders, just 500 years ago. The Spanish 'Flu of 1918 killed upwards of 50 million people worldwide. Those with underdeveloped or compromised immune systems are most vulnerable – flu can lead to serious illness in babies, children and seniors. 'Flu is also dangerous for those whose immune systems are compromised by poverty – chronic stress, malnutrition, lack of sanitation and clean water, and inadequate emergency medical treatment can be a death sentence in a pandemic.

The good news is that seniors may be experiencing protection against this version of the 'flu because they have developed anti bodies to similar 'flu strains over the course of their lives – according to a MedBroadcast article. http://www.medbroadcast.com/channel_health_news_details.asp?news_id=1790...

For us in Canada, who live in relative wealth, the 'flu pandemic is not as dangerous as prescription drugs. Adverse reactions to prescription drugs cause 10,000 deaths a year in Canadian hospitals when drugs are used as prescribed, Oakville MP Terence Young said when his teenage daughter died suddenly apparently from a prescribed digestive medication. Probably another 10,000 deaths occur outside of hospitals from prescribing errors and adverse reactions, he added, noting that less than one per cent of reactions get reported.

Conventional drug therapies, in my view, are a last resort and may not be very effective. Our Canadian public health dollars are much better spent in my view on ensuring clean water in every community and promoting hand washing and immune supporting nutrition and lifestyles. I find the emergence of “Swine 'Flu” and the worldwide scramble to stock up on TAMIFLU highly suspect. As one comment to a CBC article reads: Guess which one person gets 10% of each Tamiflu dose sold? Give up? Answer: Donald Rumsfeld Snopes.com has an informative article on the political aspects of TAMIFLU

Everywhere I go, it seems I am hearing about the 'flu - H1N1, the seasonal 'flu, vaccines, and advice on how to protect ourselves. I also hear a lot about people taking oregano essential oil orally, especially while doing my working hours at Karma Coop's cash. As a Registered Aromatherapy Health Practitioner, I need to tell you that ingesting oregano http://www.anarreshealth.ca/node/556 is not on my list of things to do to prevent getting the 'flu, H1N1 included!

This IS my list of things to do to prevent the 'flu!

1. WASH YOUR HANDS. Often. Before eating. Before putting your hands near your mouth or anyone else's! Wash with water, soap if you have it, hand sanitizer if you have to, natural hand sanitizer if you can http://www.anarreshealth.ca/node/601. Water and friction remove microbes from the hands. Drying helps.

2. SLEEP 8+ HOURS PER NIGHT. People who get less than 8 hours of rest per night get 4 times more colds and 'flus than people who get 8 or more hours sleep!

3. GET OUTSIDE! Being out of doors makes you fitter, lets your body create Vitamin D, and gets you breathing cleaner air. Your fitness, your vitamin D levels and your exposure to (generally dirty) indoor air are all factors in your likelihood of getting H1N1 and in avoiding complications.

4. SANITIZE YOUR AIR (AND HANDS) NOT YOUR GUT. 'Flus and colds are spread by droplet infection - microbes shot into the air at shocking speeds through sneezing and coughing. The microbes can stay for days on undisturbed surfaces. I recommend some comparatively mild essential oils to cleanse the air, such