Traditional Chinese Medicine for Colds, the Flu and Lung Congestion

The following information has been gathered and compiled through personal experience while traveling, teaching T'ai Chi, Qi Gong, Chinese Herbal medicine, martial arts and contains feedback from students and anecdotal information from readers of my columns. The following are my opinions and deductions from those sources.

Late fall, winter and early spring are the most likely times for colds and flu. Being indoors can exacerbate the problem. Last week we experienced the first real blast of cold air. Life has been very busy and I hadn't turned on a TV more than twice in the last 6 months. When I did to find out what the overnight temperature was going to be and to get an idea whether the next day was a sleep in or a get up and go for a run day. The first thing I saw, after 2 car ads, an ad about refinancing your mortgage and another about why "now is the time to buy that RV", plus a few more, was an interview with someone about the "inevitable" colds and flu to come.

The interview was just before a few more ads about different drugs to control your cough, lower a fever and make you feel so good, you'd be able to go back to work.

One of our body's defenses against airborne contamination, and that includes viruses and bacteria, is to cough it up or blow it out. If your body is giving your mind messages that say. "there's something in here that doesn't belong," you need to listen and do something about it. Suppressing your natural defenses puts you at odds with your immune system and your immune system is your first line of defense against all diseases, including colds and flu.

For every degree of rise in body temperature above normal, white blood cells double their speed through the system. Put another way; this means that if you have a temperature of 104 degrees, your white blood cells travel 64 times faster than at normal body temperature. "So What?" you say.

White blood cells are the killers that prowl your blood stream and cells looking for invaders: something that isn't you. The whole procedure is instigated by the immune system. It's a complicated process and has a lot of long words but goes something like this.