[우리문화신문=유용우 한의사] A cold is a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract, including the nose and throat, and is one of the most common acute illnesses in humans. Symptoms such as sneezing, stuffy nose, runny nose, sore throat, cough, low-grade fever, headache and muscle pain appear, but usually get better on their own without special treatment.
Viruses that cause colds are always around us, but they are not easily expressed thanks to the body’s immune function. Then, the infection appears in areas where the immune system is weak or the defense is weak. It usually appears as a runny nose a cold cough through the respiratory tract, a body cold with chills and fever through the skin, a cold due to a urinary tract infection, and a cold that reveals pain when urinating.
1. Our body has an impeccable defense system, but
Human beings are in constant activity to maintain their existence. Inside, it develops to sustain its own life activity, and outside, it constantly communicates, protects, absorbs, and emits. Human activities to protect and develop oneself while interacting with the outside can be called breathing, digestion, and immunity. These human activities have completed adapting to nature over many years, and progress is still being made in the direction of development.
In oriental medicine, under the assumption that “a human being is a microcosm,” it sees that the truth and rules of the universe exist in your body, and that human beings themselves mean perfection. If my body is intact, it means that I can cope well enough even if a virus attacks from the outside.
In other words, human beings were born so that adequate protection can be achieved in the skin as a channel for communication with the outside. It is said to be born so that sufficient cushioning, protection and immunity are achieved in the respiratory tract, and faithful digestion and immunity are achieved in the digestive mucosa. Even if an intrusion is allowed due to a temporary burden, it is possible to eventually defeat the intrusion and lead a normal life because there is a built-in defense system that can resolve it. Without this defense system, human beings would not be able to suffer even for a single moment due to the invasion of countless viruses and bacteria roaming in nature, and survival itself would be difficult, and the current survival itself proves that such a complete system.
However, being infected with a virus can be considered a virus strong enough to disable my defense system, or a situation where my body’s defenses are not working.
The situation in which human beings exist when communicating with the outside world is a process of constant warfare and can be said to be a continuous back and forth. Humans survive by winning most of these battles. And even if you lose, you overcome it with a way to solve it. They only need help when they are old, overworked or seriously injured and have become insurmountable circumstances.
And in normal conditions in everyday life, the majority have the ability to protect against the invasion of all bacteria and viruses, but infection occurs when the protection is lowered in a certain situation. This decline in protection occurs when the general condition deteriorates and becomes helpless. Infection occurs through weak gaps formed by the absence of partial defenses. These gaps are caused by the external environment or by internal circumstances.
2, catch a cold when external environmental factors create a gap
The cause of a cold is believed to be caused by an external factor that invades the body, expressed as extrinsic or pungsa in oriental medicine. In fact, more than 200 different viruses cause the common cold. Among them, 30-50% are rhinoviruses and 10-15% are coronaviruses. The Corona 19 pandemic situation over the past 3 years can also be called a cold caused by a mutant corona virus.
Adults catch colds 2 to 4 times a year, and children 6 to 10 times a year. The cold virus enters through a person’s nose or throat and causes an infection. When secretions from the nose and mouth of a patient with a cold virus come out through sneezing or coughing, the cold virus in it is present in the air and spreads by touching the mouth or nose of a healthy person. Therefore, the cold virus spreads easily if there are cold patients in close proximity or in crowded places.
In addition to this route of respiratory infection, you can also become infected with the cold virus when you touch a towel stained with respiratory secretions from a cold patient and then rub your eyes, nose or your mouth with that hand. You catch a cold more easily in the fall and winter when you spend more time indoors, and in regions without winter, you catch a cold more easily during the rainy season. The flu may have some similar symptoms to the common cold, but it is caused by a different virus and has different symptoms, complications and treatment.
① Wind causes cell temperatures to drop, creating a temporary lack of protection
It is understood that catching a cold in oriental medicine is an attack on the evil of the wind, and various prescriptions are suggested to resolve it. When I was studying in an oriental medicine college, I remembered that, as a way of understanding this, I solved the Chinese character for wind and understood that the bugs hidden in the wind were viruses and that they infected them. However, at some point, I came to see the wind as the wind itself.
When the wind comes into contact with our body, it blows the body temperature away and cools us. However, a strong and continuous wind drops the temperature of skin cells dramatically, leading to a state of paralysis where cells stop. At this point, all cell functions are temporarily paralyzed and defenseless against external invasion. Soon, if it is exposed to excessive wind or constant wind, it becomes a situation where it is easy to catch a cold.
② The cold often creates gaps
People know that the rough image of a cold is that when the weather gets cold, the body cannot overcome it and catch it. In fact, the cold of winter shrinks the body, slowing our body movements and making us vulnerable to change. Soon, there is no problem when I feel cold and feel comfortable and natural, but when I feel cold and the cold penetrates the body, the capillaries around the skin and mucous membranes in contact with the external contract, and stagnation of blood circulation occurs, leading to a deterioration of the function of the skin, allowing gaps along
In the midst of this, the general cold is well overcome by one’s consciousness and unconsciousness, but the wind that penetrates the gaps of carelessness and the wind that I do not recognize breaks the defense and allows an invasion Short-term changes, such as going to the bathroom from a warm bedroom, when sleeping, or how you behave after taking a shower, become a bigger gap than a strong wind.
3. Internal causes still in the cold while allowing gaps
In general, the most commonly accepted cause of colds is said to be a decrease in immunity. Soon, our body has developed lymphatics that can protect the human body from the outside when breathing through the nose, respiratory tract and lungs. In particular, there is a huge lymph node called ‘Baldair tonsil’, and colds come easily when the immune function of these lymph nodes decreases. In particular, when breathing through the mouth, the temperature of the tonsils is lowered and the immunity is lowered quickly, so cold symptoms come easily and the symptoms become severe.
Next, there may be a decrease in basal body temperature regulation. Basically, the activity of our body depends on the temperature. In other words, cell metabolism depends on the temperature, and the activity of white blood cells, which can be said to be immune, also depends on the temperature. So, when the cell temperature drops by about 1°C, the immunity drops by about 30%.
In particular, the skin and mucous membranes that are exposed to the outside, which are responsible for the protection function of the human body, are responsible for the protection function when coping with changes in temperature and humidity in a humid state. It should be kept hydrated and hydrated. However, if the moisture of the mucous membrane is not maintained due to an inability to actively adapt to temperature changes or poor control of humidity, the protection is quickly lowered, making it easy to catch a cold.
① Allow gaps when food is old
The most common situation where adults and children catch a cold is when they are exposed to cold air, and the following happens most often when they feel sick after overeating or eating unhealthy food.
The mucous membrane of our body is an active organization that communicates with the outside together with the skin. These mucous membranes have one characteristic, which is that they function actively when they are relaxed. Therefore, when in a relaxed, pleasant, comfortable, and unburdened state, the function is active, the breathing efficiency is high, and the digestive power is also active, so you eat well and spent well.
However, when the digestive function is reduced due to tension, if you eat strongly or overeat even in an active state, the digestive mucous membrane receives an excessive burden, leading to hunger mild or severe indigestion. A state of stagnation refers to a state where the movement of the digestive tract has stopped, and the blood circulation in the mucosa of the digestive tract is stagnant. This stagnation of flow affects the entire mucosal circulation, and even the respiratory mucosa deteriorates, making it vulnerable to defense against viruses that enter during respiration.
For this reason, the easiest situation to catch a cold is when you eat cold rice (gimbap) while traveling and your body is tense because it is cold. At this time, it becomes a situation where it is easy to catch a cold together.
② Extreme tension and relaxation allow gaps
Our body goes back smoothly while maintaining balance in repeating appropriate tension and relaxation, activity and rest. However, if excessive tension continues, it will break down at some point, and if relaxation continues, it will stretch and lose its rhythm, and the physiological function will be disturbed. In particular, children who are easily frightened or nervous are prone to this tendency, and easily catch a cold by allowing gaps in the moment when they hate everything and are bothered by it .
In addition to the tension and relaxation of external factors, this situation also affects rapid emotional ups and downs. The most representative situation is a situation where the energy flows back in a situation where the person is upset because of unfairness, and then the pulse is released, and the situation where the energy disturbed by an outburst of irritation. At the moment, our body is in a defenseless state without the power to protect itself, and if the virus enters at this time, it becomes infected as it is.
③ If you can’t sleep properly, allow a break
If we divide our body into two sections, we are active during the day through the act of eating and damaging the body, and maintain our existence through the act of restoring and regenerating during sleep. Therefore, if you do not fully recover the burden of the day through full sleep, the burden that is consumed and damaged gradually accumulates, and at some point you face bankruptcy.
There are many standards for sound sleep, but the bottom line is how you wake up in the morning. When you wake up light in the morning, you are ready for the next activity through adequate rest and recovery while you sleep.
In addition, there are different situations in life where immunity is lowered, externally a situation where the daily temperature difference is large, and internally a state where energy is consumed due to overwork, etc. It is easy to catch a cold when you allow a loophole for the virus to enter.
