20
Jan
2010
Author: David
In:
Do you know why we get a fever? This is a bit technical, but I will try this. When foreign microbes are found by your immunity system, it immediately go’s to work by releasing chemicals called “cytokines” in the bloodstream. These chemicals travel to the hypothalamus in you brain. The hypothalamus is the bodies’ internal thermostat. The cytokines inhibit heat sensing neurons and excite cold sensing ones. Basically tricking the body into thinking that it is too cold. The Hypothalamus turns up the thermostat. It does this by telling the skeletal muscles to generate warmth by contracting rhythmically and constricting the blood vessels in the skin, so that the heat is retained. (To us, that's shivering)
Here is where the magic happens. Most bacteria and viruses can only tolerate a very narrow temperature range. The higher temperature kills the bacteria stopping further spread of the virus. That’s not all… The heat also stimulates white blood cells to produce antibodies in the blood to further eliminate the threat. We are not quite done yet. When your body heats up you start to sweat. You skin is the largest eliminative organ you have. The toxins are forced into your sweat glands and excreted out of your body.
We have been conditioned to take medicine at the first site of fever. Doing so is actually making us sicker. The medicine tells the hypothalamus that all is well. Your body then cools down. This is bad. You are now giving that bacteria a chance to multiple and spread throughout your body. My suggestion is to allow your body to heat up and drink plenty of water to get it out of the system. Instead of being sick 3 to 5 days, it may only take 1 or 2 days to feel better. One more thing. If your temperature stays elevated for more that 2 days or it go’s above 104, consult your doctor.
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