The New Zealand Government and front-line workers in our hospitals are doing an exemplary job in containing the spread of this virus. Advice on social distancing, regular hand washing wearing a mask in public and the tracer app have all helped us dodge the worst of this virus to date. However, missing from official guidelines is advice on how you can boost your natural immunity.
Many front-line doctors are frustrated by the lack of transparency about how health decisions are made and feel shut out of decision making. I am one of many integrative practitioners in Australasia who have signed an open letter to the Australian and New Zealand Governments offering our assistance. You can read the open letter here.
Those most susceptible to corona virus are people with co-morbidities like diabetes and heart disease, and the elderly. Poor nutrition and cold, damp overcrowded housing are also factors in transmission and infection. In addition to this, studies in the UK, Europe and Ireland have identified vitamin D deficiency as a significant factor in morbidity and mortality.
Researchers from Trinity College in Dublin have called on the Irish Government to change its position on vitamin D after investigating the association between vitamin D levels and COVID-19 mortality. The study showed that countries where people had lower vitamin D levels experienced the highest infection and death rates in Europe. Read the Full TILDA study
Dr Brighthope, who has spent decades advocating for vitamin supplements and pioneered the first postgraduate medical course in nutrition in Australia, is lobbying for change in Australia to mirror the reforms from overseas. He said vitamin D could be one of several key planks to limit the death toll and infections in susceptible cohorts such as the elderly.
“We know so much about vitamin D already, and the immunity benefits it provides in fighting a range of viruses including in the common cold, flu and pox families,” Dr Brighthope said. “We also know a safe and effective vaccine could be a long way off, if indeed we ever get one. It seems madness that in the meantime we are not using all defences available to us, especially one as cost effective as this.” Read the full article
For practical steps you can take to boost your immunity and minimise the risk of developing a severe respiratory infection, follow the links below to articles I co-wrote in March of this year. They include low, slow nasal breathing, humming to boost nitric oxide, adequate sleep, good nutrition and supplementing with Vitamin D, C and zinc.
These articles can be downloaded from our website:
Breathing to Boost Natural Immunity
Potential Immune Protective Effects of Nitric Oxide and Humming
Please note neither this post nor any linked articles claim that nasal breathing, humming alone will prevent or cure COVID-19. However, now more than ever it makes sense both for physical and psychological reasons to take any steps that may improve our health. Like the advice to wash our hands frequently, the advice to nasal breathe also gives us a sense that there is something we can do and a sense of control. And anything that makes us feel less stressed is also good for our immune system.
