How to Invite the Common Cold

How? By becoming cold. Recently I had a cold, you know, one of them. Nasty, sneeze and sniffle, sniffle and sneeze, burden on the family because of bouts of grumpiness, foggy head, just the right mixture to justify a break from writing and working.

Nothing surprising – except for the fact that it was my first in 15 years (Johanna said: “I remember exactly, because a taxi had to pick me up from the airport instead of you!”). That made me think: Why is it that statistically every adult suffers from the common cold three times yearly, children even up to six or seven times per year? What an incredible waste of quality of life, resources, general well-being and simple joy of life!

And the medical profession? What’s their take? Well, for the Common Cold they still prescribe pills etc. burdened with side-effects and long-term damage to the body. Some even commit the superblunder of prescribing antibiotics! That is equivalent to expatriating the entire garbage disposal personnel of a large city, because the mayor saw three rats crossing his path on the way to the office. Helloooo! Antibiotics kill only bacteria, but not viruses – the agent germs of a common cold.

So I thought some of you may want to learn the secret of how to escape the common cold, in some lucky cases until the rest of your days. Here it is, in as few words as possible:

1. Influenza and Common Cold – NOT two sides of the same coin. Those two things have almost nothing in common. To have the sniffles and tell the teacher or supervisor that you stay at home because of the “flu” is like having a pimple on your arm and complaining that your arm has fallen off. Coming down with real influenza is something that stops you in your tracks, ties you to your bed, sometimes for two weeks, gives you high fever and is dangerous, sometimes even life-threatening for people with preexisting chronic conditions. The common cold on the other hand is experienced in greatly varying degrees – from pulling out a handkerchief every now and then to feeling wretched overall and not wanting to move a muscle. To prescribe stronger drugs against it let alone prescribe antibiotics is close to committing a crime. That should be labeled as what it is – medical malpractice. With dire consequences for all of us when you think about the growing number of antibiotics-resistant germs. 

2. You never “Catch” a Common Cold. You can get sneezed into your face every day on your way to work in the subway and not “catch” it. It is not infectious in the normal sense of the word. The myth that a cold is “caused” by germs has taken hold to such a degree that you can see parents letting their kids go to school in T-shirts at chilling 45° F outside. Or you see babies in their strollers with no caps and naked feet at the same temperatures.

Approved quacks even tell parents that dress type and keeping warm cannot prevent a cold. Look around, the art of dressing adapted to the weather has been almost completely lost. Funny, but no one stops to ask just why this illness is called “Cold”. Nobody rings up the teacher telling her that the son has come down with “Germ”. In a word: To say that a cold is caused by viruses is just as intelligent as saying that electricity is caused by that “plug-in-the-wall over there”.

3. A cold is almost always “by invitation only”. If you catch a cold it is not because you “caught” it. You have invited it. And that is the really good news: To find out exactly how you extended that invitation puts you in charge! You decide if you want to run that risk or not.

Following is a list of the most common invitations to a cold. With each of these you say in effect: Please come in and make me miserable for seven days! And each of these are in your responsibility. You can stop it.

 First Invitation: The physical cooling down of certain key areas of the body:

The soles of the feet.

The kidney area.

The chest and the area opposite your chest on the back.

The neck area.

The top of the head.

 If these areas are kept between temperate to warm at all times, you have eliminated 80 % of all cold causes. This goes especially for babies and children. On a side note: The runny nose of many children is almost always due to an allergy to dairy products.

Second Invitation: Draft. Blow gently on top of your hand now. Then wet it a little with saliva and blow again, very gently. That is an example for draft and its cooling effect. Sweat a little on your neck, sit near an open window – and then rant about a stiff neck the next day or about a cold.

Third Invitation: Weakening your immune system. Any old way will do. Examples: Too many sweets. Dairy products in general. Eating after 7 PM. Too little sleep.

Fourth Invitation: “Cold” thoughts. Feeling lonely, desperate, rejected, etc. are conducive to colds, among other things. If these feelings entrench themselves and become chronic (depression, etc.) they act as invitation to more severe ailments.

Now you are back in charge. You can invite the Common Cold now much more successfully. Or do the contrary. Good luck!