One thing the COVID19 pandemic has done for us its to expose a number of things about our current model of healthcare:
- The costs of being unhealthy, both in monetary terms for society but also in terms of unnecessary suffering and death.
- We have been using a reactive disease care system which treats symptoms rather than addressing the root cause.
- There is a need for a radical transformation in WHAT healthcare is and HOW we deliver it. Perhaps now is the time for Functional Medicine to become more mainstream!
It has been amazing to see how quickly communities came together to support the most vulnerable people showing how important being part of a supportive community is.
As well as finding an effective vaccine to coronavirus we need to build IMMUNE RESILIENCE in the population. This is just one infection and there are many more out there to potentially infect us. It makes sense to provide our bodies with what they need to combat all infections as it would be difficult to vaccinate against them all.
To develop immune resilience we need a whole person approach which empowers and equips people to take charge of their physical and mental well being so that they can be the best version of themselves.
This is where Functional Medicine ticks the boxes. Our emphasis is on healing rather than cure (as our bodies inherently know how to heal) and our team approach addresses not only the clinical side but the physical, emotional and spiritual too. There is no one “magic bullet” but a combination of personalised interventions which shift a person gradually from the disease end of the health -> disease continuum towards health.
Resilience = the ability to adapt successfully to stress and adversity.
Immune resilience = the body’s ability to deal with a biological pathogen successfully without resulting in chronic infection or inflammation.
We need to have both immune tolerance and immune resilience.
With immune tolerance you don’t have food intolerances, chemical sensitivities or autoimmune diseases.
When tolerance is lost the immune system becomes hyper vigilant and mistakenly reacts to foods, chemicals and even self tissue.
Loss of tolerance suggests immune resilience is already impaired but it also further impairs immune resilience.
It is so important that our immune system is balanced so that it recognises infections and tissue damage appropriately and is able to clear the waste from this efficiently without triggering the immune system to react to self tissue.
Remember with a viral infection the disease is not the virus. The disease is how an individual’s immune system responds to the virus. We cannot change the virus but we can change how our immune system responds. The most important factors as you will see are lifestyle and environmental factors.
Factors which disrupt immune resilience and tolerance:
- Nutrient and fibre poor, processed food diet
- Poor blood sugar regulation
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Poor sleep
- Stress
Factors which support immune resilience and tolerance:
- Microbiome diversity - look after the healthy bacteria in your gut. They love fibre and vegetables
- Nutrient dense, brightly coloured foods - remember “Food is Medicine”, so try and "eat the rainbow" of fruit and vegetables
- Balanced blood sugars - cut back on obvious refined sugars, add protein and healthy fats, eat complex carbohydrates that release their sugars over a longer time
- Regular exercise - it doesn't matter what sort of exercise it is as long as you move regularly. Start where you are and gradually increase. If you have problems with fatigue it is important that you exercise at a level that you can repeat it every day without feeling increased fatigue or pain.
- Adequate hydration - drink enough to make you pee a pale yellow colour, usually 2 litres pre day is enough
- Good sleep - 7-9 hours
- Stress management techniques - breathing exercises, mindfulness, meditation
Other interventions may be considered e.g supplements after an individual assessment and possibly testing .
The 4 pillars of immune health to address:
- Stress and hormones
- Food, food, food!
- Gut health
- Toxicity
Making such healthy changes can see overwhelming at first. Start by picking an "easy win", something you feel can be put in place without difficulty. Lots of small changes add up over time to make a huge difference in how you feel!
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