What will you do when the next wave comes? Will you be immune prepared? Will you be immune competent? Or will you be among the immunocompromised that are at the greatest risk?

I am excited about our upcoming webinar: Inflammation Nation.

Anyone who suffers from any chronic condition may very well have a baseline of chronic inflammation that is fueling it.

It is quite timely as well, as it is associated with all the current risk factors for those who are the most vulnerable right now in our communities with the presence of the CoVid 19 threat.

I think it is important to recognize that in our modern culture we have engineered and normalized inflammation into our lifestyles and then have developed and normalized a conventional approach to manage it through medications.

This was the easy way out for all these decades:… just live around it… as opposed to the hard work of changing bad behaviors into healthy ones that eliminate the fanning of the flames of inflammation.

Well, now it is hard for those who do struggle with inflammation because it has created greater risk for a worse outcome when encountering the SARS Corona2 virus.

How did this all happen?

I believe a significant factor is the development over the past few decades of silos of expertise:

The allopathic model of Treating Disease with drugs and surgery to keep you alive is the first tier of our modern health care system.  The second tier is the Prevention of Disease to keep you safe, like washing your hands. These are distinctly different from the third tier which is Health Promotion: Wellness care means building and optimizing health.

Although all three tiers exist in our culture and 75% of the folks in our communities use all three approaches to some degree, in the governance of our communities, the wellness approach is in a separate and virtually ignored silo from the allopathic model as it comes from a very different premise.

Right now, in the state of emergency we have our Commissioner of the Department of Health directing the members of our community to be safe by social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands. But I am acutely aware that the silo where my expertise lives is different from the one he understands.

In the last 4 months the media has pummeled us with fear because it only has us trying to be defensive by running away from nature, to try to avoid any contact with the virus as if every one of us was as vulnerable as the most fragile of our neighbors. Little to no heed seems to be taken of the other health concerns that people continue to struggle with such as chronic inflammation.  The impact of only focusing on avoiding a single virus has impacted the health of everyone as the isolation and disruption of lives amplifies other health and social concerns.

Using encouraging calls to “be safe” by isolating and wearing masks, ignores the fact that these tactics come with their own harmful if unintended side effects just as the silo of treating disease with drugs and surgery always comes with side effects. (see the research about the harmful effects of mask wearing as well as the ineffectiveness of masks to protect the wearer or those around the wearer). Similar to the conscious choice to use a medication with side effects, there may be individuals who weigh the balance and choose to wear a mask. Choice is key here as with any medical protocol.

All the while, in the silo of Health building, the answers to how we can make our community stronger and less vulnerable are ready for the asking.

I think about all the energy that has been expended, how lives have been disrupted by trying to avoid any encounter with this virus in the name of protecting ourselves and or our loved ones and wonder how things would be right now if four months ago we had put this much energy into building health for everyone. Imagine how much less vulnerable folks would be and how their levels of fear would diminish. Every time I hear the phrase “Be Safe!” it has such a tone of fear that comes with it. It is a very stressful, even if well intended comment because it assumes that the only way is to wash hands or wear masks or social distance… but hang on… if my immune system is strong then I already am safe!

The strength of the virus is not the problem. In fact, the CDC has now calculated that 99.74% of us will come through unscathed. The problem is our fragile health care system that has come from the silo where the only way to deal with health is to wait for one to get sick, then try to keep you from dying. This model has resulted in treatments that have left many people very vulnerable because they have allowed them to continue to live with chronic inflammation by managing it with medications.

Who is vulnerable? The immune compromised. Chronic inflammation is associated with stressed physiology and stressed physiology is associated with a weakened immune system.

For those who have been building health over the last few years, you have the best chance of being immune prepared and therefore safe because you have immune systems that know exactly what to do with any virus, novel or otherwise. The more immunocompetent folks who encounter the virus, the better, because these are the folks who will build the natural herd immunity that ultimately is the best protection for those in our community who are the most vulnerable.

I have heard folks speak about their concerns about a second wave. I see this as a second chance to do this differently this time around. What if we all just started to build health right now and we stayed strong with our health building practices for the rest of the year. We would all be entering “cold and flu season” stronger than ever.

What will you do when the next wave comes? Will you be immune prepared? Will you be immune competent?

Join us for our webinar of Inflammation Nation to learn what you can be doing to understand and conquer inflammation so you can finish the year strong.