I sneezed a few times at work yesterday and my co-worker blessed me. I mumbled something about allergies and she looked at me and said "Ahh, these allergies. I had never heard of this growing up". She is Romanian. She said until she moved to the United States she had never heard of a food allergy or hay fever, any of it. Interesting.
I myself grew up in the country of Oregon and I didn't seem to suffer as much hay fever there as I do here in the suburbs of NYC. Again it is not to the extent of some but I do get the itchy eyes and sneeze at times. Perhaps my body was better equipped to handle the invasive particles living in the country.
There was a study that happened in 1989 when the Berlin wall fell and a team of scientists were taking a look at asthma in Leipzig (formerly East Germany) and Munich (formerly West Germany). According to the scientists, Munich was much more hygienic than Leipzig which is full of factories billowing smoke and the results were that asthma was much more prevalent in Munich which is the opposite of what they had expected. And of these the most allergic were the kids from Munich with one or no siblings while the least allergic were the East Germans with two or more siblings. There was a similar study out of Britain that determined that the younger children with older brothers and sisters who were exposed to bacteria and infection early on were not as likely to have asthma or eczema.
There are a lot more studies and hypothesis that have happened in the last twenty years or so. It's not that allergies were never around before. There is evidence of ancient Chinese medicines to treat them. But overall they just seem to be so much more common than they ever were. I have always been a firm believer that if you don't expose your kids to dirt and air that has been sneezed in they won't develop immunity to them. I got my kids out and about fairly early on as much as possible and *knock on wood* they don't get sick very often. I can't remember serious illness and even colds, etc..don't seem to occur regularly. I truly hope I didn't just jinx myself. :)
But even when I was a little girl, I don't remember hearing about the food allergies we have nowadays. I can't tell you one classmate that had a peanut allergy. I drank out of the garden hose, ate my moms peanut butter cookies and I think all schools allowed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in lunch boxes. I got very sick once when I accidentally inhaled poison oak that my grandfather burned in a pile of brush. It gave me internal poison oak which is very dangerous. But I survived and ironic I don't remember ever getting poison oak since then. Perhaps inhaling it gave me immunity??
And then experts come out with books about what to do to keep your kids safe and hygienic. Don't feed them certain foods until they are old enough. And then the popularity of antibacterial soaps and hand lotions. All evidence is showing that keeping our kids in bubbles and away from germs and certain foods are causing the allergies. My boys both ate peanut butter, eggs and other things on the early side and so far so good with that along with not having any major illnesses. They are 3 1/2 and 6 1/2.
Again this isn't going to be "certain" for everyone. My friend has a lot of allergies and grew up in NYC. So the theory that "dirtier" air comes with fewer allergies isn't going to apply to all. The reason we have allergies starts at birth when we are exposed to certain things. During the first few weeks of life your body is exposed to bacteria and dander and starts to learn what is harmful and what is not and develops a defense to fight the bad. Some babies don't make that switch and end up with allergies and develops allergy antibodies which cause the reactions. Genetics do play a part but scientists have discovered it's not one gene but a whole slew of them.
I just found this whole study to be interesting and it's good to know that they are finding a link with certain things. I always tell a pregnant mother to not be afraid to get her baby out and about. No, don't throw them in a packed area with a bunch of flu-ridden people. But taking the baby outside, fresh air, even for a walk at the mall or elsewhere where there are people...is not a horrible thing and can in fact help the baby develop immunity. I am not one of these experts or scientists but if the cleaner more hygienic kids with nothing around to make them "sick" are the ones who end up allergic to everything...........it does have to make you pause.
If you do seem to get sick a lot and want to charge your immune system, all it takes are very simple things. Washing your hands is not bad but simple soap and water is fine, get rest (as per my blog post yesterday!!), eat a well-balanced diet including a lot of fruits, berries and vegetables which are chock full of vitamins and antioxidants, drink that water, exercise (Sweat out the yucky stuff!). Also include zinc, ginger and probiotics into your diet. And learn to manage stress through meditation, yoga, etc. Stress is a huge culprit in a weakened immune system. These are just a few things you can do. I love starting my day with the warm lemon-water. 8 oz of water with the juice of half a lemon slightly warmed up. Not boiling hot. Just warm. Lemons are an amazing immunity booster with the Vitamin C and they help to alkalize the body as well. And if you can't handle citrus then berries, kale, bell peppers, guava, papaya and herbs such as Thyme and Parsley are all good sources of Vitamin C.
"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint" - Mark Twain
Have a blessed day!
Tam xoxo
Cooties exposure is a must...I really think the peanut allergy epidemic comes from the newer school of thought on giving babies soy-based formula. Just a hypothesis.
ReplyDelete