Buteyko Clinic USA

When news of swine flu began circulating, I thought what can we really do to protect ourselves? Swine Flu (H1N1) and SARS, Avian flu (H5N1) are the most recent scares in “When will the next pandemic strike?” question.  So why do these respiratory viruses occasionally make such BIG news?

Advances in medicine have created more or less effective weapons against bacteria and fungus – antibiotics and antifungal medications.  While bacteria is a single cell organism that could be killed with selective poison (antibiotics),  viruses are tricky – they are much smaller, primitive human cell “parasites” that are not exactly alive by themselves.  And it is not easy to combat what is not acting alive unless inside of infected host cell.  Viruses  can enter us through the nose, mouth or breaks in the skin. Once inside, they attach to a host cell. Cold and flu viruses will infect cells that line the respiratory or digestive tracts. Inside the cell, viruses become “alive” and reproduce. 
Our immune system has to have time to “recognize” the virus and “decide” the best defense. That’s why we have cold or flu symptoms for a few days. Once the immune resistance is working, we begin to gradually feel better.

If there is no effective offense for viruses, we have to mount our own defenses.  To date, vaccines and anti viral medications are our two options.
The scare of new flu pandemics lie in the fact that unlike for example measles, mumps or chicken pox viruses, flu viruses mutate often and different strains could vary significantly in severity.   Therefore, the best defense again viruses we know – immunization – might not always work with the flu. It takes time to identify the virus and to create a vaccine.  By the time vaccine is ready, virus can mutate to a different form for which that specific vaccine is useless.
And that’s why yearly flu vaccine don’t hold an absolute protection, and might be powerless against a particular strain circulating in a current year.

Antiviral medications like Tamiflu don’t prevent or cure the flu, but can help to lessen the duration or the severity of symptoms.  However, they are not always effective.

And then there are common sense prevention rules.  Hygiene guidelines, like frequent hand washing  or sanitizing, sneezing and coughing into your elbow, wearing a mask if you are sick etc. are all helpful measures, but …

What is the only protection that won’t fail?

36,000 people in the US die of influenza each year. The statistic tells us that the absolute majority of those people are the ones with weakened immune system.  So the only real defense is the strength of our immune system.

What exactly is the immune system and how can we strengthen it?

The immune system involves a synergetic work of a number of body organs and systems, which organize a complex defense mechanism against foreign “invaders”.  From the respiratory part of the immune system, your first protection is your nose.  At AsthmaCare workshops we teach about the importance of nasal breathing at all times.  The nose is a natural filter for viruses, bacteria, allergens and pollutants. Unfortunately, our lifestyle increasingly turns us into habitual mouth breathers with costly health consequences.

At AsthmaCare workshops  we work on breathing correction that allows you to normalize metabolic functions in your body to the point  where your immune system functions at its peak. This way even if you are exposed to a virus you are either unlikely to get infected, or the duration of your cold / flu will be shorter and the symptoms less severe. You’ll also significantly decrease the chance of complications, like bronchitis, sinusitis or pneumonia.

Health officials are worried  that the Swine Flu (H1N1) virus might reappear in a more severe form at the beginning of the next flu season.  Asthma sufferers are often hit harder due to already compromised immune system.

Start your Buteyko course now to be ready to meet the challenges of the next flu season.

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Buteyko Clinic USA offers unique breathing rehabilitation programs that result in long term drug free control over asthma, allergies, COPD, rhinitis, chronic cough, snoring, sleep apnea, anxiety, panic, chronic hyperventilation syndrome and other chronic conditions. Contact us today for a free consultation.