As the Covid lockdown developed we heard more and more about how people with “underlying health conditions” are more vulnerable to catching the virus.

The translation of this is terms of natural health is what has been said for thousands of years all the way back to Hippocrates and other great naturopaths. It is that ‘prevention is better than cure”, or that a healthy lifestyle is able to keep us resistant from illness.

The Covid situation is in a way showing us so clearly that that we should look after ourselves on a daily basis so we are healthy enough to lessen the chance of “catching” a disease in the first place. I placed “catching” in inverted commas as we all in fact naturally carry 1000’s of viruses, bacteria and other bugs and so we aren’t necessarily “catching” them, as we may already have them. It’s more that the state of our health allows or resists the bugs from giving us a symptom or illness.

All of a sudden this virus is catching people out that are “vertically ill”, as in they are walking around but not in optimal health. Hospitals tend to only take in people that are “horizontally ill”; as in very ill! Often these people are then treated and helped so they are standing or vertical and are then released. But they not really are healthy and fit, they are just standing.

I have been thinking about this as soon as I heard “underlying conditions” being repeated consistently and I kept thinking too myself  “thats what we help! All these underlying conditions that are being spoken of”. Then it really hit me when I happen to see that the top Google search term over the last 3 months in the health category was “underlying health conditions and Covid”. Now I realised just how worried everyone must be that has any sort of illness because they see themselves as susceptible to this horrible virus.

In natural health one of our mantras is “Treat the CAUSE not the SYMPTOM”. Again this kept running through my head. Everyone is worried about their “underlying condition”, which really is the symptom their body is expressing, which gets named as a disease or illness. For example, I saw that Boris was saying he was more susceptible to Covid as he was over-weight.

Even excess weight can be seen as a symptom, which is the body actually doing something on purpose to protect itself. Everyone jumps on excessive eating or bad eating. But stress, toxicity, hormones and lack of sleep play a role. Do you think that Boris might have had these too!? These would make him gain weight but also lower his immune system and make him more vulnerable to a virus.

These lifestyle factors are the underlying causes of the underlying causes! Naturopaths look deeper and deeper to find the way to really fix a problem, not just the symptom. Having said this I’m also a bit of a fan of helping the symptom too, because clients usually come in based on a symptom and it feels good to get rid of it! Then the cause can be addressed so the symptom doesn’t come back.

I have also just read in the media that experts are recommending weight loss SURGERY to reduce risk of Covid. Can you believe it? The is absolutely what I am talking about. They going for surgery rather than lifestyle factors.

Let’s look at another example which is your vitamin D status. Research is really coming out now showing that the populations and counties / cities hit worse by Covid have in common a low vitamin D status. This couldn’t show better that what we preach about prevention being better than cure is true. We aren’t saying “take this vitamin D to kill the virus” we are saying “get your vitamin D status optimal all the time to reduce your chances of getting ill in the first place”.  

This is just one study extract:

“The current research compared average serum levels of vitamin D across 20 European countries with the rate of COVID-19 infection and mortality. The average amount of vitamin D in serum samples was (56 nmol/l), with serum values below 30 nmol/l deemed 'severely deficient'. Countries such as Spain and Italy, which were found to have lower than average vitamin D levels than most European countries, have experienced high COVID-19 mortality rates. The study reviewed existing demographic data and found worryingly low vitamin D levels in the elderly, the group with the highest risk for morbidity and mortality with SARS-CoV-2. Vitamin D status is known to deteriorate with age, due to decreased sun exposure and cutaneous synthesis. Institutionalised elderly are particularly vulnerable, with more than 75% being severely vitamin D deficient. While the cross-sectional study has several limitations, it highlights the need for studies investigating vitamin D status and disease severity in COVID-19 patients.”

Ilie, P. C., & Smith, L. (2019). The role of Vitamin D in the prevention of Coronavirus Disease 2019 infection and mortality. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, (0123456789), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-21211/v1

Supplements can obviously be used to assists increase Vitamin D levels and I do use supplements. However, as you know vitamin D is made by the sun hitting your skin, so it’s free! As a side note there are way more benefits from the getting the sun on your skin than just increasing vitamin D.

I have also seen studies with links to low selenium and zinc in Covid patients. And just today one study looking at gut bacteria as it affects the lung bacteria which will play a role in a catching a lung disease.

The message from this is, yes vitamin D is extremely important, but so are many other vitamins and minerals. You want them all to be at optimal level so your body’s immune defences are strong for PREVENTION.

On top of vitamins and minerals are many other lifestyle factors to address that play a role in prevention of these “underlying health conditions”. These are a few:

Sleep
Stress
Environment
Physical function and pain
Toxicity
Clean air
Clean water
Diet
Exercise and movement

It’s also worth noting there is a thought that the most hard hit areas by Covid are also some of the most polluted areas on the planet. This includes Woohan, Italy and big cities like London and New York . Although I am only reading this myself, just like you can, it makes sense to me as fresh air, fresh water, and toxicity are vital aspects of health.

Importantly, naturopaths look at these and ask our clients about them and other lifestyle factors to see if improvements can be made. Vitamin D has been the only natural thing I have seen in the mainstream media about health. Nothing about sunshine, fresh air, sleep, stress, relationships etc. In fact the lockdown has been anti these positive health factors in so many ways and I hope we can help everyone overcome any issues that have come up from lockdown. I certainly feel stiff in my spine from sitting far more than I usually would and can’t wait for a treatment!

There seems such a lot to learn from this virus and the lockdown in respect of natural health and prevention before cure. From vitamins and minerals, to lifestyle factors to prevent “underlying health conditions” to  environmental factors relevant to the whole planet.

All the professionals at The Perrymount are super eager to be back and helping you if you need. We will keep you up to date with how we open fully. At the moment we are able to start with our osteopaths seeing patients. If you would like a treatment or have any questions about any “underlying conditions” then please email me at christian@theperrymount.com.