Recurring colds in adults – why?

Do you have another cold? Why you? Why again? Nothing happens by chance and getting frequent colds is not incidental either. Below you will find a few missing pieces to your health puzzle.

If you are currently battling with another bout of a flu or cold don’t hesitate to use the natural remedy list from the downloadable chart below. These remedies have been clinically proven to be the simplest and the most effective solutions for acute infections such as a common cold or a flu. 

Do frequent colds indicate weak immune system?

If you have recurring colds and frequent bouts of flu, does it mean your immune system is weak? Not necessarily. There are many different circumstantial factors that can play a role in how your immune system reacts.

I have dedicated a special post on the signs of a weak immune system. You may also be interested in a post on three lesser-known weak immune system indicators or a post on less known symptoms of low immunity.

You may also want to check the following shortcuts:

• Low immune system causes
• Foods that boost fighting power
• 5 quick ways to boost immune system
• 7 rules on how to make the body stronger

Why The Cold Virus

Common cold is caused by a virus. The most common cold virus is called rhinovirus. 1 Not that it makes any difference to your symptoms however, it is worth knowing what to blame your sniffles for.

You don’t have to know anything about the virus to ease the frequency of your colds, except one thing: the cold virus likes to keep cold.

Lower body temperature a hidden cause for recurring colds

However if your body temperature is lower for some reason, you may suddenly become wonderfully attractive to a common cold virus. You may even become a host!

What’s your body temperature? You don’t know? Ok, but try not to assume too much. Feeling fine does not mean your body temperature keeps at 36.6°C or 98.6°F. You can’t tell body temperature without measuring. 

If you don’t have a thermometer, get one! But make sure you get an accurate thermometer. There’s no point of using a thermometer if you question its accuracy.

You can check your body temperature at any time, but if you haven’t done it so far, do it at the first opportunity. 

BBT, your tool against recurring infections

Checking temperature at any time is great, but to be really accurate you need to use a technique called BBT.3 

BBT stands for Basal Body Temperature. It is measured on waking, the time when the body temperature is the lowest. This is how you test BBT:

When you wake up, don’t move too much. Don’t go to the bathroom, sit up to reach for the thermometer, or prop your pillow. Any motion increases your body temperature, so keep still.

Keep in bed under covers, do nothing, just relax. Reach for a thermometer (should be under the pillow or next to you on the bed). Test.

Can foods contribute to common colds?

Yes, they can. They can make the body feel colder. In Western countries we know how to cool ourselves with icicles and ice tea, but Eastern countries made body cooling into an art… and medicine.4 

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) all foods have either a cooling or warming properties. Those that cool the body down are good in hot climates and hot conditions. Those that warm the body are good in winter and to treat cold diseases. 

A good TCM doctor would treat recurring colds by prescribing lots of warming foods and prohibiting excessive use of cooling foods. Here is a downloadable chart with foods that cool. 

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Constant colds and foods that chill

Lettuce is cooling and that’s why you should not focus on salads during snowy winters. Instead, you should make a huge pot of chili with warming spices and meats. 

Below is a short list of cold foods to get you started. Please limit those when prone to frequent colds: 

• wheat,
• tomato,
• citrus,
• banana,
• yogurt, and
• cucumber.

Replace the above cooling foods with the warming foods listed below: 

• garlic,
• ginger,
• cinnamon,
• oats,
• lamb,
• trout,
• coconut.

What’s the fastest way to cool the body down and make frequent colds even more frequent?

Use cooling foods excessively. This is somehow obvious, yet many of us, do exactly the opposite. 

Here is a common example of healthy foods that aren’t healthy for people with frequent colds due to their cooling properties: 

Yogurt for breakfast, a green salad for lunch, and a wheat sandwich in the evening. That menu may be great for hot flushes, but it’s not for warding off common colds.

To find details on food energetics, antimicrobial- and immune-boosting properties of foods as well as simple methods of transforming a weak immune system into a strong-one, follow the steps outlined in Ousting Sniffles, a great read that will teach you how to gain control over your own physiology. 

Basement living and frequent colds

Basements aren’t usually warm and cozy. They are more frequently the opposite, damp and cold. If you live in one of them, chances of you getting frequent colds definitely goes up.

Environments play a large role in maintaining our body temperature. That’s not rocket science. You most likely won’t want to go to Alaska or sit under an air conditioner if your body is freezing.

However, there are a few things that may have slipped your attention. These little things may especially be important if you get colds frequently. Is your air conditioner blowing on you at work? Do you turn one on when driving? Do you sit in a drafty room? Do you jump into a cold room after a shower? 

There are many more examples, but you know what i mean: stay warm. 

3 other reasons for getting sick frequently

Let’s say your BBT is low, but you don’t live in a basement and your foods don’t seem to be excessively Yin. Where do you go from there? How do you trace the reason for your cold body? 

Exogenous cold may not be the only reason for low BBT. There are at least four that you should check. 

1 – Low Thyroid

Sub-clinical hypothyroid is extremely common. Just because your doctor did not mention it, you should not feel immune. Doctors don’t test for sub-clinical hypothyroid. They only look for only obvious hypothyroid cases. 

Sub-clinical means that there aren’t  any obvious hypothyroid symptoms and the blood work is normal. 5 That means your doctor diagnoses a healthy thyroid when a thyroid actually is sufficiently slow to lower the body’s metabolic rate. 

Despite its innocence, sub-clinical hypothyroid can substantially contribute to low immune system by slowing down the metabolic rate  and make your body colder. 6

When should you suspect that low thyroid is related to recurring colds? When not only BBT is low, but also your your heart rate. 

You can thoroughly assess your thyroid health with this 4-parameter thyroid test. Treatment may be as easy as taking a few drops of thyroid-supporting nutrients. 

2 – Hypoglycemia

Low blood sugar, also called hypoglycemia is another reason for lowered body temperature. One doesn’t have to be a diabetic to experience blood sugar swings. Poor diet alone is capable of changing glucose metabolism.  

But don’t think that low sugar in the blood is due to low sugar diet. It is not. It is due to liver’s inability to release glucose granules on time. 

Low blood sugar frequently occurs in people with sugar cravings and people with excess weight. Low blood sugar symptoms strongly contribute to recurrent colds, because it substantially lowers body temperature.7

Blood sugar can be tested at home. You won’t need to set up any clinic appointments. All you need to do is to order a blood glucose testing kit and use it any time you suspect your blood sugar going down: in between meals, when you feel hungry, and when you have strong urges for eating sweets.

• Nutritional Rules for hypoglycemia
• How to spot pre-diabetes symptoms

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When sugar isn’t the cure

Did you know that the most common reason for low sugar state isn’t fasting, but a body reaction to food? 

Reactive hypoglycemia can happen when a body goes into a low sugar state in response to ingestion of specific foods.8 This does not have to be anything toxic. You may have had reactive hypoglycemia many times. Your 3 pm habit of nibbling on a muffin may be flagging a blood glucose dip after lunch.

Abnormal sugar swings are very common in people with either excessive or low body weight. The best way to find out how your blood sugar behaves is to start journal-ing energy patters throughout the day. Note down any low and high next to your diet diary.

Once you figure out your patter you will be able to reduce blood glucose ups and downs through dietary adjustments. Better sugar regulation throughout the day can make a big difference to frequency of recurring colds.

Hidden food sensitivities

Low blood sugar does not have to follow a sugar binge. Hypoglycemia can also show up after ingesting a food you have allergies/sensitivities to. 9 If you suddenly start yawning, feel sleepy, or feel that your energy dipped down, suspect your sugar may have just dropped.

If you have the glucose testing kit, use it. If you have a blood pressure monitor, see what it says. If you have a thermometer, test your temperature, as well. See if it either one is off. 

Keep a list of foods that cause alteration in your blood sugar, blood pressure, and body temperature. Don’t eat them. Eating foods that cause stress to the body isn’t wise. Minimize those foods and minimize the frequency of colds.

Alternatively you can test for hidden food allergies. This may be a simpler way to create a diet that is supporting your health. Don’t be fooled to think that all healthy foods are healthy for you.

Unless you test you won’t know whether you are reacting to almonds, banana, blueberries, yogurt, cheese, soy or something else. Here is a test you should use to uncover hidden food allergies.

3 – Low Blood Pressure

Low blood pressure also can contribute to more frequent infections. It’s because low blood pressure causes poor circulation, and poor circulation makes the body colder.

Pay attention to your hands and feet. Are  they cold frequently? Cold hands and feet may be one of the first signs of circulatory insufficiency.

What’s your blood pressure like? Many people actually don’t know and usually won’t care unless their doctor tells them about hypertension.

But hypertension is not what you should worry about. You should worry about hypotension, a condition that can increase your chances for catching a cold. 

If you are not sure about your blood pressure, get yourself an accurate monitor and start testing yourself at any time you feel weak, fatigued, hungry, anxious, and sleepy.

If you see that your blood pressure is consistently low, your best bet would be to look for the underlying causes as well as the simplest, the most effective solutions. See the book Revived! for instructions on how to normalize your blood pressure. Good circulation is a prerequisite to a perfectly working immune system. 

Do you know enough to stay in Peak Health?

 Ref:

1. https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/common_cold_causes
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10223554
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_body_temperature
4. https://www.healthline.com/health/yin-yang-nutrition
5. https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/86/10/4585/2848862
6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3577771/
7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10877209
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactive_hypoglycemia
9. https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-12652/5-signs-that-you-have-an-undiagnosed-food-allergy-or-sensitivity.html